Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

Archives for January 2023

A Plum Day

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Today started off as any other. Caregivers arrived, served breakfast, and began their tasks of cleaning of the day prior. When the door leading to Young’s Hill opened, the members of Jody’s group were eager to set off on their morning adventures.

Burrito, of course, wanted to take his morning run. Cold doesn’t seem to bother him one bit when it comes to his morning exercise. Between his sprints, he would take a break and seem to just take it all in.

As we were nearing the top, I caught something out of place in my peripheral vision. Something that stood out like a sore thumb amongst the brown and yellow foliage of winter.

This purple-haired figure on top of a moving black mass could only be one thing…

It’s Plum Pudding hitching a ride on Foxie!

After reaching the top of the hill, Foxie and Plum Pudding headed back to the Chimp House…

But not before a little thrilling adventure!

Plum Pudding ended up in a perilous predicament!

And only Foxie could save her!

This rescue was so dramatic, Jamie had to be a bystander to witness it all unfold!

But nonetheless, Foxie would not give up on her Puddin’! She was able to rescue her and whisk her back to safety!

Bonus Photo of Cy during a game of chase!

Happy Birthday, Meg!

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Heartfelt thanks to long-time friend of the sanctuary, Meg Lunnun, for sponsoring a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees and bovines and humans in celebration of your birthday! And we will happily take your wishes for a sunny day, at least in spirit. 🙂 We are so grateful for all who help keep all our lives and hearts light and joyful in so many ways.

Happy Birthday, from all of us, Meg! We hope your special day is a magical one!

Burrito:

Foxie:

Honey and her family:

Missy:

Annie:

Jody, Missy and Jamie:

Happy Birthday, Rosalie!

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Our sincere gratitude to Timothy Allen for sponsoring a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in honor of his wife, Rosalie Allen, on her birthday!

“In honor of Rosalie Allen – Supporter of Non-Human Rights. Rosalie is a passionate supporter of the Sanctuary and other animal sanctuaries in the USA and worldwide. She taught music for many years and currently directs the Handbell Choir at her church. She loves the CSNW blog and enjoys sharing the antics of the Chimpanzees with her husband, who is sponsoring this day as a Birthday Present. She loves the work you do and appreciates all of the wonderful humans who work there.”

Happy Birthday from all of us here, Rosalie! Thank you for all you do to bring beauty and compassion to the lives of others. We are so thrilled to have you both as members of the chimpanzees’ extended friends and family. We truly appreciate all that you help make possible in their lives. We hope you’re having a wonderful day of celebration and appreciate you sharing your special day with us!

Willy B and Rayne:

Dora:

Foxie:

Burrito:

Gordo:

Smiles All Around

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There are many amazing benefits to working or volunteering with the chimps (and cattle) here at CSNW. Don’t get me wrong – the days can be challenging (Anthony spoke about that wonderfully here), but it’s not lost on me how lucky I am that I get to come to work and hang out with 16 of my best friends… And the humans are pretty cool, too. 🙂

Like all humans, though, all of us have good days and bad days. In those moments where we are just feeling down, we are reminded of another perk of this job – we can (usually) rely on our chimp friends to get us smiling! Whether it’s Gordo’s bunny hop, Lucky’s excited greetings, Negra’s bed head, Annie’s bird noises, or a plethora of other small moments- no matter what our mood when we get to work, we often leave feeling content, happy, and fulfilled. I hope the daily blog gives you those feelings, too!

Missy, enjoying the brisk sunshine today out on Young’s Hill:

Rayne having a lil’ nap in the Riverview Greenhouse:

Zoomed out of Rayne’s lil nap- oh, hello Cy!

Negra looking past me to see what’s for breakfast:

Another of Missy outside, because I couldn’t pick just one:

Lucky resting inside while her caregivers cleaned:

Jamie watching Burrito run out onto the hill:

Gordo enjoying his breakfast avocado:

Hello, handsome Cy:

Annie spying on her neighbors whilst sporting the latest fashion:

Rayne’s 33rd Birthday!

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Today is Rayne’s 33rd birthday! Please enjoy today’s video of all the chimps celebrating the exciting occasion! Rayne is confident, beautiful, sweet, a friend to all, a gentle groomer, a “mall walker”, and an impressive nest maker (just to name a few). We hope she enjoyed her special day!

We’d also like to thank Paulette Wrisley for sponsoring the day for Rayne’s birthday. Thank you so much, Paulette!

 

Keeping up with Burrito

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I followed the chimps up the hill this morning as they made their way to the wooded area. Burrito followed Jody closely as they made their way through the gully and up along the fence line.

Foxie was not far behind.

Missy, of course, had made it to the top before anyone even noticed she was gone.

When we arrived at the top, Burrito appeared determined. He may not be ready to climb a tree just yet, but he was going to do something adventurous. He climbed past Missy and went to the roof of Carlene’s Tower.

From there, he took in the view of the Yakima River and the distant town of Cle Elum.

But then he was off to do other things, like climbing the log pile with Jamie.

The group returned to the greenhouse. Jody brought with her a piece of pine bark with scars form the Taylor Bridge Fire and what look like holes from a woodpecker.

Throughout the morning, the group (minus Negra, of course, who remained in her cozy nest) would continue to make trips up to the pines. Annie is still wearing her waist band, as you can see.

After lunch, Jamie brought her sweet potatoes for a picnic and took some time to inspect the insect and chainsaw markings on the logs.

On their fourth trip up, it was clear that Burrito was not slowing down. Missy chased him across the log bridges and nearly captured his toes.

Next time, Missy.

They stopped to rest together.

In the original side of the building, there’s a small interior room called Front Room 4 that has a view into the kitchen and foyer, where we work throughout the afternoon. Burrito has learned that if he tries hard enough to get our attention, the humans can’t concentrate and must abandon their attempts to write the blog.

And so long as you’re not doing anything, you might as well take a walk with Burrito, right? Great! He’ll meet you outside then.

He waits for you to arrive, and then he’s off to the top of the hill once more.

Impressions

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It’s officially mud season, and boy do we have a lot of it this year. Construction on Young’s Hill and The Bray finished too late last year to replant grass in the disturbed areas, so what was dust last fall when the chimps went back outside is now a squishy, slippery mess. One benefit of the mud, however, is finding the chimps’ hand and footprints all over the hill.

Unlike a lot of the animal tracks we find around the sanctuary, the chimps’ fore and hind limb prints are very distinctive from one another, due to the fact that chimps use the middle phalanges (not the knuckle itself but the area between the first and second knuckles) of their hands for walking while, like us, they use the soles of their feet.

Here are some hand prints:

Footprints show the entire sole of the foot with the big toe extending almost 90 degrees from the other toes.

There was a time when most of the Cle Elum Seven, who previously knew nothing but the concrete and bars of their laboratory cages, wouldn’t dream of stepping in mud. Times certainly have changed. It’s not as if they enjoy being dirty, however. When they return from an adventure outside, they promptly clean themselves up by wiping their hands and feet on walls, caging, cardboard boxes, or anything else within reach. And then leave it for their cleaning staff to take care of 🙂