Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for December 2021

What a Year

by

Each year, our wonderful friend and amazingly talented graphic design volunteer, Kathleen, sends us a custom advent calendar for the chimp house.

I know that for many of us, 2021 has felt like another lost year at best. But for the past month, this calendar has served as a daily reminder that we have so much to be thankful for.

Behind one door, we were reminded of Jamie and Burrito’s newfound friendship.

A Blossoming Friendship

Behind another, we saw the cattle experiencing the simply joy of an open pasture.

The 3rd Annual Running of the Cows (and One Steer)

We were reminded of the time Jody put on a master class in foraging on Young’s Hill on Love a Chimpanzee Day.

The Celebration

We got to see the chimps explore new playrooms and greenhouses,

Into the Thick of It

and enjoying some time outdoors.

The Wolf of Walnuts

We recalled the day we welcomed six more chimpanzees to the sanctuary,

They’re Here! They’re Here!

and the process of getting to know them.

Two Ways to Spend a Rainy Day

There were reminders of challenging times as well. Burrito was bitten yet again by a rattlesnake,

Not Again

but he survived to grow even stronger and, somehow, even happier.

Exhilarating Day

We were reminded of times the chimps met new human friends,

When Honey B met Luna

and began making new chimp friends.

Let’s Try This Again

2021 was not the year we had all hoped it would be, but thanks to you there was still so much to celebrate. And whatever happens next year, you can be sure that there will be even more highlights and accomplishments to look back on next New Year’s Eve. Which makes me wonder…what will Kathleen use for her advent calendar photos next year? Cy’s group exploring The Bray, their new open-air habitat? Willy B climbing to the top of Ryan’s Lookout? Honey B racing throughout the new 5,000 sq ft flex-fence outdoor enclosure? Jamie climbing a towering pine tree at the top of the renovated Young’s Hill? We can’t wait to find out!

Happy New Year, everyone, and thank you for your ongoing support.

In Honor of Louis Stephen and Kathleen Hero

by

Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Caroline Hero in honor of her late parents, Louis Stephen and Kathleen Hero.

This day marks the end of the current year and the start of a new one to come, and I continue to hold onto hope that good things are coming. It’s been very difficult losing our parents, not to mention Covid lurking at every turn, but being a supporter of your beautiful sanctuary and helping give these beautiful animals a new life has helped immensely. I hope this day helps to mark the start of a new year filled with fresh starts, health, love, happiness and fun. God bless all of the Cle Elum family both two legged and four and thank you for making our World a better place! With great respect and admiration, Happy New Year from my siblings and I.”

Caroline, we truly are so sorry for your loss. Thank you for honoring them by sponsoring today and the tremendous support you have always given to the chimpanzees and cattle!

We hope you have a great and safe 2022!

Caroline’s Bovine Buddy, Betsy!

Betsy with her son, Nutmeg!

Betsy and her cattle crew!

Missy!

Mave!

Dora!

A wrench in the plans

by

No day at the sanctuary is off to a good start when you have to call JB to do some emergency maintenance. His plate is full enough as it is and to top it off, we’re in the middle of a cold snap/snow globe situation in Central Washington which requires additional plowing work.

This morning I begrudgingly called for his help over the radio. “Anna to JB. Door G won’t close all the way. There is a 2 inch gap at the bottom and it refuses to go any lower.”  The remote controlled door simply ground to a halt with nothing visibly blocking its progress.

Any door issues we have, we take very seriously and get them fixed as soon as possible. JB would need to take a panel off the door to examine the inner workings of the hydraulics and if he couldn’t fix the door himself, we would need to call in an expert (in the middle of a blizzard, don’t forget).

JB agreed to come do some trouble shooting of the chimp door later in the morning after we finished cleaning the playrooms. Luckily, we had an alternate plan for shifting Honey B, Willy B and Mave and we didn’t need that particular door to be closed to protect staff and start our work.

About a half hour into our cleaning process, Kelsi came to find me. The broken door mystery had been solved.

Do you see what Kelsi spotted?
A small toy nail sitting in the groove of the door, neatly tucked just out of sight of the door operator.
Exhibit A: The blockage

Now only one question remains. Was this an accidental coincidence? Did this toy casually roll into the door’s track, creating an unforeseen holdup in the morning cleaning routine? Possibly… We will never really know for sure…

But my bet is this was no act of serendipity. And there is just one suspect I have on my list that is equal parts mischievous and stubborn enough to pull off such a prank.

Suspect #1: Honey B the obstinate. Seen here casually putting her arm in a doorway to prevent room 7 from being closed off.

 

The Bees Knees

by

The thing about Honey B is that she really is the bees knees. I admire Honey B’s spontaneous nature, her silly demeanor, and when she sets her mind on something she won’t let anything get in the way. Honey B decided that yesterday front room 7 did not need to be cleaned. She was kind of right as it really just had toys and a lot of paper, just the way she likes it. However, today I really wanted to clean it for not just Honey B, but for Mave and Willy B too. It didn’t look promising at first, but eventually she shifted over for us.

Honey B in front room 7, just the way she likes it:

After all the front rooms were cleaned we handed Honey B and Mave extra rolls of wrapping paper from their Christmas party!

Mave was very pleased about this!

I will leave you with one last Honey Bees photos.

Cold Snap

by

The Pacific Northwest is experiencing a cold snap this week. Today the high is 18ºF with a low of 5ºF tonight. With temperatures such as these, the chimpanzees have sought refuge in the upstairs areas of their respective playrooms where it is nice and warm. They are all napping as I write this.

With days like today, it can be difficult to get photos of the chimpanzees. The upstairs areas are notoriously difficult (read pretty much impossible) to take photos of. I was able to get a few opportunistically throughout the afternoon, mostly during lunch when they all came down.

Terry eating his carrot during lunch.
Willy B working up his display toward Cy’s group during lunch service.
Dora waiting for her turn to be served her lunch.
Rayne eating her primate chow on the highest leaf platform on the tree in her playroom.
Mave and Honey B grooming after lunch.
Mave!

Micro/Macro: The Sequel

by

Today’s post is a sequel to a blog entry I penned back in October: Micro/Macro.

In case you’re short for time or simply don’t want to delve back into the archives, I’ll briefly summarize the first post with this TL;DR (“too long; didn’t read”):

Macro photography is the practice of photographing objects so they are magnified at a ratio larger than 1:1. It’s good for taking pictures of small subjects or zooming in on select portions of larger things. I personally rented a versatile macro lens for my Nikon camera (they call theirs a “micro” lens) and used it to take close-ups of the chimps. Some of these images turned out nice.

Well, it probably won’t surprise you to know that I eventually purchased the micro lens for myself (partially because I’m committed to improving my skills and partially because I’m a helpless sucker for Cyber Monday deals on new tech gear).

The lens arrived on Christmas Eve and I immediately brought it to the sanctuary the next day. Some of the chimps were once again patient enough to model for me as I reacquainted myself with the new glass. Half-sisters Honey B and Lucky were extremely interested in the lens and kindly tolerated my company as they relaxed in their indoor areas, resulting in the following photos:

Honey B looks down into the lens
A close-up of Honey B’s eyeball
Honey B foraging and unwrapping gifts on Christmas Day
Lucky
Lucky’s fingers
Lucky’s toes (her feet are crossed)
Lucky

‘Twas the day after Christmas

by

‘Twas the day after Christmas when all through the chimp house, not a chimp was stirring, not even a Lucky.

The stockings were picked through and dismantled from the trees without care. In hopes that the party cleanup crew would soon be there.

The chimpanzees were nestled all snug in their nests, while visions of more presents danced in their heads. Cy with his magazines and blankets had just settled down to watch the movie Shrek.

Out in the yard there was such a loud clatter. Jamie sprang from her nest to see what was the matter. It was just me, making too much chatter.

The chimpanzees all had such a great Christmas! So many new presents! Today was very laid back and a lot of resting after the huge celebration yesterday.

Dora, Rayne, and Terry having a little grooming party this morning. Lucky joined too after I took this photo.