Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
As the video says, it’s been drama city the last two afternoons. It’s not the most fun to be around when chimpanzees are unhappy with each other, and it’s almost always impossible to know exactly what’s going on.
But, when we think about all of the hours in the day, the chimps spend most of them pretty peacefully. Maybe even more so than a lot of humans.
During these times of unease between the chimps, it’s nice to keep all of the tender, playful, and peaceful moments in mind.
When I stop by the chimp house, I am occasionally greeted by chimps excitedly waiting to play, groom, or go on walks, but the majority of the time, the overall vibe is one of indifference. I can pop into the foyer, grab a package or some receipts, and head back to the office without garnering much attention. The other day, however, as I stood in the foyer, I could hear Jamie stomping on the floor in the playroom. She often does this when she can see something she wants in the kitchen from her limited vantage point in the playroom loft.
I was pretty sure she wasn’t trying to get my attention. I never stepped foot in the kitchen, had no food on me, and was wearing the same old black rain boots that I always wear around the farm this time of year. Still, she kept stomping. As I walked into the chimp area to see if I could figure out what she wanted, she let out a low moan and raced down to the floor where I stood. She extended her fingers through the cage towards my boots. Then I remembered…I was actually wearing a different pair of black rain boots – ones that are, to my mind, very similar and virtually indistinguishable from a distance to most people. But Jamie is not most people.
There’s a lot going on here. First, there’s the fact that she can discern the subtle differences between plain black boots from a distance of 70 feet. Second, it’s clear that she has a pretty good memory of the boots she has seen me wear for these to be viewed as so novel and interesting. And finally, there’s the unanswerable question: Why does she care about boots so much?
As someone who owns two pairs of nearly identical boots, I’m not sure I’m in any position to question or criticize anyone else’s interest in footwear.
Burrito was a major distraction from Playroom cleaning for us this morning. Every time we saw him he was doing something wildly playful with one of his friends. I frequently abandoned poor Kelsi to do the cleaning by herself so I could grab some footage of the action!
Our heartfelt thanks to Carrie Miller and Sylvia Gandolfo for their long-time support and friendship of the chimpanzees and bovines (and humans!) and for always choosing to include us all in their lives in such a meaningful way.
“Happy 30th Anniversary to my dearest Via, who is my home wherever we are. Life is best when you get to share your good fortunes, like with all the good two-legged and four-legged people of CSNW!”
Happy Anniversary, Carrie and Sylvia, from all of us here! Thank you for sponsoring this day of sanctuary in celebration and for sharing your kind hearts. Have a beautiful day!
Here are a few special moments with your Chimpanzee Pals and Bovine Buddy:
Annie and Burrito!
Besties, Annie and Missy:
Burrito and Missy:
And beautiful Honey Cow:
Well, if you read the title you might be wondering, who didn’t shift? Or did they eventually shift? To answer your questions, yes and yes! This morning as caregiver Sofia and I were at the home-stretch of cleaning, we just needed to do the four front rooms. However, as I went to shift Jody decided she might want to stay in front room 2 and take a nap. Burrito being the gentleman that he is, did not want Jody to be alone, so he joined her on the bench. I think we all know that Burrito can’t stay still for very long, so Jody indulged him in a very lazy game of toe and ear grab. It was very sweet to watch them gently play and laugh with each other, so we shifted around them and cleaned all the other rooms. Once we were done cleaning the other rooms we gave them back access to the other front rooms, but it still didn’t look likely we would be getting that room anytime soon. I left for a few minutes and when I came back to check on them they had taken their game to the ground in front room 3. So long story short Jody and Bubba played a very sweet game and Sofia and I got to clean everything eventually!
Today is Wish List Wednesday! Today we wanted to highlight Jamie’s current favorite book (her stash is getting low):
This morning Burrito had a nice play session with Annie too:
Burrito:
Jody:
Burrito with Jody’s toes:
Willy B grooming himself:
For today’s blog, there really isn’t any theme or story. Just a random assortment of photos I was able to capture today before our monthly staff training.
And then there is Terry…
Don’t forget to check out our wish list! Christmas is fast approaching and things are being added almost daily to help us throw them a wonderful party this year! We are also in need some of the Shutterfly gift cards. We use these for multiple things, including purchasing Jamie’s custom made book of the caregivers’ XtraTuf boots.
Today’s enrichment theme (blanket forts) didn’t get the chimpanzees as excited as we caregivers thought they would be.
Instead, Burrito decided it was the perfect morning to goof around with a slinky!
Enjoy the video on this snowy winter afternoon.
