Archives for June 2023

If You Give Burrito a Skateboard…

June 25, 2023 by Grace

We talk a lot on the blog about sweet and silly Burrito and all the antics he gets into! Whether it’s playing chase all day, taking us on runs around the hill, or running around with a slinky around his back foot- he often seems to have a bottomless reserve of energy.

Burrito on Negra’s Cabin during today’s lunch forage:

His silly personality and constant energy often makes me forget that he is technically considered geriatric. Burrito was born on January 6th, 1983 in a laboratory where he was used in hepatitis B vaccine research at just one year of age. He was then moved to the Buckshire Corporation where he was kept as a ‘house chimp’ before being leased out to an animal act. A year later, he returned to the laboratory.

His life has not been easy in any way, nor has it been the life he deserved to live in the wild with his family- yet we can rely on him to always make us smile. Even with something as small as a skateboard. Amazing, isn’t he?

Two quick reminders! We have been nominated for the 2023 Best In the PNW Contest. 🙂 Voting goes through the end of the month and you can vote once every day! Please take a moment and vote for us by clicking the link here, if you feel so inclined. CSNW is listed under Services -> Nonprofits.

We are also still working to reach our $30k fundraising goal for this month, as a generous donor pledged to match donations made in June up to $30k in honor of all the big June milestones! We are so close, but haven’t reached it yet- please consider making a donation today to help us reach this goal.

BONUS PHOTOS:

Gordo enjoying time on The Bray this morning:

Rayne also enjoying the morning sunshine on The Bray:

Jamie foraging for strawberries during today’s lunch forage:

“Who saved who?”

June 24, 2023 by Jenna

Being a chimpanzee caregiver is exhausting, both physically, mentally, and emotionally. There are many evenings, where after a day at work, I feel like I have nothing more to give, so I engage in some form of self-care, have some dinner, and go to bed. However, with any hard day as a chimpanzee caregiver, there are also 100+ positive, happy ones. Any time I’m feeling fatigued or exhausted, a quiet or fun moment with any of the chimps is enough to fill my hypothetical “tank” right back up.

I’m so grateful to work with chimps. Every day I work, it reinforces the reason why I chose to work with chimps in the first place. Because they are fun. Every day is something new. I love that.

You know those bumper stickers that say, “My rescue dog saved me” or “Who saved who?” with a paw-print next to it? While us caregivers pour our heart and soul into this job, I feel like it is important to note how much the chimps give us too.

Photos from today!

Burrito:

Foxie:

Missy (and toothpick):

Honey B:

Changes and an Employment Opportunity

June 23, 2023 by Anna

First the not so good news from the sanctuary… Sofía has plans this summer to relocate to the east coast and continue her vet tech career closer to family. We wish her luck with the next chapter in her life and thank her for all her hard work and dedication to the cattle and chimpanzees’ health and well-being over the last several years. We are all so grateful! I will let her write her own goodbye on the blog in the next couple of weeks.

With Sofía’s departure, we have a specialized job vacancy on our staff. We are now currently hiring for a Full-Time Medical-Veterinary Assistant/Chimpanzee Caregiver. Please share the job posting on our website far and wide so we can find that certain person who wants to work as a chimpanzee/cattle caregiver, but also has medical experience to contribute to their healthcare.

Here are some photos of Sofía in action over the years!

Burrito to the Rescue

June 22, 2023 by Sofia Castro-Loza

Burrito is the type of chimp that really enjoys interacting with caregivers, although he would happily interact with his group as well. But with the caregivers, not only is he always down to play chase, he is also up for a game of tug of war. It really doesn’t matter what type of day your are having, this guy will come to the rescue and will make sure to make your day ten times better. He makes everyone around him happy, and will fix anyone’s day in a heartbeat.

While playing with Burrito, Jamie was patiently observing from the window, and then made her way down to be closer to the action. She is known to be a bit of a fun police, however today she stayed back and observed Burrito and I play for what felt like forever. I love it when everyone is in a great mood!

I mean look at this silly dude!!!!!

Jamie always close by monitoring all play sessions

And by close by I mean really close by

Complexity

June 21, 2023 by Kelsi

There is no one quite like Jamie. Like us, she is a complex individual. She is incredibly smart and also known to be earnest, inflexible, a tad bit controlling, and strong-willed (which there is nothing wrong with). Jamie, on her own terms, can also be a jokester, silly, thoughtful, and sweet. All of these characteristics that describe Jamie vary day-to-day or even hour-by-hour. You never know what Jamie you are going to get. I am sure that is something we can all relate to.

Yesterday, Jamie was in an amazing mood. She was being so sweet to her caregivers- breathy panting and excited to greet people, grooming their boots, and giving what we call, “smooshy face” (pressing her face to the mesh and usually will offer a kiss if you extend the back of your wrist). It would be completely unrealistic for us to expect this kind of mood from her all the time, which is why it makes it all the more special when Jamie decides to bless us with her sweet “smooshy face”.

To be honest, I love every side of Jamie. Whether she is keeping us here until 10 o’clock at night on Young’s Hill, playing keep away with Foxie’s dolls, threatening to throw poop at her caregivers, throwing poop at her caregivers, or asking (maybe insisting) to put on her favorite boot to join her on a walk around the Hill, Jamie is pretty frickin’ cool!

This morning, as I let Jamie’s group out onto Young’s Hill, Jamie stayed back. I thought this was a little peculiar until she began to gesture to our small-raised garden bed. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t anything blooming yet. Right when I told her I didn’t see anything, Jamie gestured towards the black current bush, next to the garden. Ohhh, duh! Jamie is so observant, I didn’t even notice it had fruited yet! Though the berries were not quite ripe, I gave her a few.

At breakfast, the smoothies were pretty thick because of the chia seeds and blueberries. Since Jamie likes to hold her cup when drinking smoothies, she was having some difficulties getting it out. I offered her a spoon to use as a tool. When she was not using the spoon, she would hold it with her foot until she needed to use it again. I am not sure why, but it gave me a little chuckle and she seemed very thankful for the tool because we take smoothies very seriously around here.

Don’t forget to vote for us in The Seattle Times, 2023 Best in the PNW Contest! You can vote once every day through June 30th by clicking the link below. CSNW is listed under the Services and Nonprofit category.

Switching Things Up

June 20, 2023 by Kelsi

This morning, we decided to switch things up! In our “normal” schedule for sharing outdoor access, Jamie’s group goes out onto Young’s Hill from the time we show up to work until after lunch time (that is if Jamie allows us to close the Hill then). Once we have permission from Jamie and do a head count to ensure everyone is off Young’s Hill, we then allow Cy’s group access onto the Bray. This is a short term schedule until both Cy’s group gets more comfortable with the Bray and Jamie’s group gets more comfortable seeing the group of nine out there. However, the Hill and the Bray are two completely separate areas.

We wanted to experiment trying morning time Bray access for Cy’s group to see if a change in schedule would peak interest in other individuals who haven’t gone out yet. Though Mave, Dora, and Honey B didn’t go out, it was great enrichment for Jamie’s group! I am sure we will try this a few more times, as well as other ideas along the way. But really I think that they just need time. Once Cy’s group was off the Bray we did an early lunch forage for Jamie’s group, which everyone seemed to enjoy, especially Negra!

We have exciting news! We’ve been nominated in The Seattle Times, 2023 Best in the PNW Contest! Help us win this contest by voting today! You can vote once every day through June 30th by clicking here. CSNW is listed under the Services and Nonprofit category.

Negra did pretty well! She got a whole eggplant, sweet potato, and an endive and went straight back to the greenhouse to get cozy in her nest!