Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for January 2022

Photo Salad

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This blog is filled with some random photos from the chimp house today!

Do you ever feel like someone is watching you? I definitely had the feeling this afternoon and saw Honey B keeping her eye on me from behind the bamboo.

She’s always watching.

Willy B taking an after lunch rest.

Dora hanging out in the Greenhouse.

Gordo finishing the rest of his lunch.

Cy took his reading material out to the Greenhouse.

I tried all day to get a photo of one of the chimpanzees in Negra’s group. I finally got one of Missy all bundled up in her nest.

Perspective

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I didn’t have a blog post planned for today. Sometimes when I’m in this blank-slate situation, I look back on the blog at previous years of the same date to see what was happening in the hopes of inspiring an idea.

I chose January 15, 2019 to find out what was up. It was a literal walk down memory lane. Then staff caregiver/now volunteer caregiver Elizabeth gave an immersive behind-the-scenes view into what a morning was like at the sanctuary. The post featured then staff caregiver/now Chimp House Manager Anna with a supporting role from then intern/now Veterinary Assistant Sofía.

Elizabeth described the medical clinic trailer, explaining that it would soon be replaced by the stationary clinic that was a big part of the first phase of the expansion at the sanctuary.

Some things haven’t changed a bit from that post three years ago. Like then, the first thing the lead caregiver does is greet the chimps and work through a brief checklist while breakfast is being prepared. Negra can still almost always be found huddled under a pile of blankets.

Some things have changed a lot, though.

Burrito no longer displays every morning, but that’s not to say that he’s completely mellowed out. Today we witnessed a conflict where he swung and ran throughout his side of the building and chased after Foxie with an impressive amount of agility, determination, and energy (conflicts are a part of chimp life and everyone is fine).

The biggest change, of course, is the number of chimpanzees in this house.

Mave, Willy B, and Honey B arrived in August, five months after that 2019 blog post was written, and Lucky, Cy, Gordo, Rayne, Dora and Terry arrived in June 2021, almost seven months ago from today.

The building has expanded accordingly, with many more spaces for the new chimpanzees to enjoy and for the humans to clean up every day after they’ve been thoroughly enjoyed.

The new playrooms and greenhouses really are chimpanzee playgrounds, but it is quite challenging to get good photos of the chimps immersed in them.

Chimpanzees appreciate being up high, and their spaces were built with that in mind. Rayne in particular spends a lot of her time on the “leaves” of the artificial trees in the playroom.

Dora and Rayne were high up grooming on one of the leaves this afternoon. Normally, I would delete photos like the ones below, but I’m presenting them to show how difficult it is to get good photos of the chimps in these enriching spots.

Meanwhile, Honey B was inviting me to a game of chase in her greenhouse, where, despite the feet of snow outside, the grass and bamboo are still green.

I had to physically count on my fingers to verify that 2019 was just three years ago and to take a moment to appreciate all that supporters of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest have made possible. I’m in awe.

Included in this post is the featured (top) photo of Honey B that I also took today to demonstrate that the camera and the camera person is capable of taking a decent photo.

If the chimpanzees choose to be in private spots of their home that we can’t quite reach with our cameras, that’s okay with us. We can all be certain, even without frequent photographic evidence, that they value every  aspect of their home that’s been carefully designed and built to chimpanzee specification.

Happy Birthday, Marja!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Marja Strutz in honor of her birthday!

I can’t think of a better crowd to celebrate with than a crowd of chimpanzees!”

Happy birthday, Marja! All of us here hope you have the most wonderful of days! And thank you for thinking of the chimpanzees on your big day!

Negra snuggled in!

Rayne!

Mave with some lilacs!

Foxie and Orange Blossom!

For the Chow!

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This morning Negra thought we should all go back to bed! Sometimes, no amount of peanuts is worth it, but chow… chow can be motivating!

Negra tried really hard to keep her eyes open.

But the grogginess had overcome her.

Yet, she still tried her best to wake up! She could hear the smoothies being blended and the chow being counted!

For the chow Negra blinked her eyes open!

But alas she closed her eyes again!

One bonus of Rayne with a mouth full of chow!

 

In memory of Jack Boshak

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Heartfelt thanks to Danna Boshak, one of our wonderful pre-pandemic interns turned volunteers from afar, for sponsoring this special day of sanctuary in memory of her father, Jack:

“On January 13, 2021 we lost my father, Jack Boshak. Although he hated that I was 3000 miles away in Washington state, he was nothing but supportive of my decision to go back to school to study primate behavior. He loved hearing about Boss Jamie and was getting more interested in Honey B. As the father of four daughters it’s no wonder he was drawn to the strong women at the chimp house! When I returned to Washington, the first time I went back to CSNW to make paper braids in the shed Jamie was outside on Young’s Hill staring at my car as I pulled into the parking lot. It’s like she was knew I had sad news to share with her. She invited me to take a walk with her and then challenged me to a race down the hill. Or course she won the race, but I was the winner for having that special moment with Jamie to help me through a time of grief. Thank you to all the chimps at CSNW for being such a light for me and a huge thank you to the staff for all of your hard work and for sharing your knowledge with me.”

Danna, I remember the days that you’d drive out, sequestered in the shed, graciously making enrichment for the chimpanzees, always, still, helping from afar however you can. Thank you for continuing to help make so much possible in the chimpanzees’ days and lives, and for allowing us to share in this honoring of your father. All of us here are sending you and your family all the good thoughts for your hearts to find some ease and comfort, and hopefully, moments of joyful memories today. We are thinking of you and appreciate all you’ve done to bring joy to the chimpanzees’ lives. And I’d like to think Jamie, too, is revisiting memories of summertime races around the hill with friends as she waits patiently for winter to have its say, and for spring to return.

Honey B and Mave:

Jump Jump

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As we have discussed many times, Cy is an avid reader. With some kind donations of Shutterfly gift-cards we finally made Cy his book! The pages were filled with Mave’s group, Jamie’s group, the cattle, and of course lots of spreads of Willy B. Cy is constantly flipping through magazines and we have never seen him so startled that he jumps, but when he saw the pictures of the cattle he jumped out of his skin! The first time he even made me jump! Eventually, Rayne took care of it for him and ripped the book up. She is a true friend! Since Cy’s new book didn’t work out, we are running dangerously low on magazines. Cy has been dying to get his hands on some People magazines! If anyone has clean magazines they could spare, we (Cy) would greatly appreciate it!