Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
We are always thinking about how we portray the chimpanzees. It’s easy to forget that our videos and social media posts reach people who don’t know much about the sanctuary, or sometimes much about chimpanzees in captivity in general.
When I was starting to put together today’s video, I had that in mind, and instead of just sharing a charming and playful Burrito, I decided to put some context around my interaction with him.
What do you think?
Burrito’s group of six have been loving their early morning excursions out onto Young’s Hill. In today’s video most of the group goes on a patrol of parts of the hill while Negra hunkers down to enjoy some grassy snacks.
Negra enjoying the early morning out on Young’s Hill:
And later she indulged in a little grass forage:
Gordo has a routine physical exam in his future, as he has not yet had a physical exam in his time at CSNW and it doing so will allow us to have a better understanding of both his heart health and overall health. Because Gordo has not experienced an exam here before, we have made it a priority to prepare him as best as possible using Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) so that his stress throughout the process can be as minimal as possible. In order for his exam to occur, he will first have to be separated from his group, and then sedated to allow for him to be safely removed from his room and evaluated by Dr. Erin and a team of other professionals that she will assemble. When we last checked in on Gordo’s training progress in March, he had been doing well presenting different parts of his body when asked, and was learning to come to his station marker.
Gordo being perfectly Gordo!
I am happy to report that Gordo has exceeded all of our expectations and progressed rather quickly through his training for allowing an injection (to allow for him to be sedated for his exam), as well as for being separated from his group! We started by simply asking him to participate in PRT in whatever way he felt most comfortable, which ended up being during meal times where the rest of the group was otherwise occupied and he was already used to coming up to us for his meals. We placed a station marker (which for us is a frisbee with a handle on one side and 2 hooks on the other so it can hang on the caging) on the caging wherever he chose to come up for his meal, and rewarded him for staying there throughout the meal, as well as for touching it when asked. Throughout the meal we would also ask him to present other body parts, especially focusing on his arms and legs as these would be ideal locations for him to eventually receive an injection. We also practice “target” regularly, where he is asked to touch the end of a pvc tube, as this can also be a good way to communicate with him when we want him to move somewhere else (by holding the target at the goal location and asking him to move to it by saying “target”). We use a clicker to communicate to him when he has done something correctly, and follow the click up with a reinforcer of some kind (his favorites are peanuts and fruit). Once Gordo seemed to have a good understanding of stationing, we started to ask him to station in different places to be sure he knew the same rules applied with his station in various locations. He caught on to this quickly, and we were soon able to start asking him to move from his usual mealtime spot in the Oakwood Greenhouse (or the chute/the Bray, depending on the day!) to the front rooms, where we will eventually ask him to separate from his group to allow his exam to take place.
During these daily training sessions, he has progressed from presenting his arms and legs while at his station, to letting his trainer poke him gently with a chopstick, then a capped needle, then blunt needle, and after many sessions together (and as of this week!), a real needle. He has allowed the “injection site” to be cleaned with an alcohol wipe, which can be quite an unusual experience when you don’t know what to expect. He has also allowed Dr. Erin to come along for some of our sessions, and has allowed for her to poke him with a blunt needle as well which is a very big deal as seeing your veterinarian with a needle in hand can be a very scary thing! We did, on the first session where Dr. Erin held the needle, first show him Dr. Erin poking me with the blunt needle so that he knew there was nothing to be scared of. He did seem anxious initially, but calmed down and allowed her to touch him gently with the blunt needle, then quickly inspected his leg after the brief touch, and finally slurped down his beloved surprise smoothie (a jackpot for a job VERY well done!). This has been such a rewarding process to see him succeed at every little step, and to see his confidence grow, seemingly both in doing PRT as well as in his group in general.
Gordo relaxed, eating his lunch at his station marker. You can see in the back left corner of the photo that the shift door to this room is closed, as he is being briefly separated from his group as part of his training to lessen his stress when he must be isolated for his upcoming physical exam. This was the first time we closed the door!
A lovely bonus of training with Gordo multiple times a day has been getting to spend extra quality time with him and getting to watch him savor his favorite foods. He is such a fun and unique person to get to know, and I am thankful for this extra time and trust-building we have been able to have together.
Gordo enjoys some green onions during breakfast
Our next steps will be to continue training together as often as we can, mostly working with a blunt needle for the injection training portion, and only intermittently using a real needle as we do not want to poke him often with a real needle. Dr. Erin will continue to come along when she can and practice injection training with Gordo as well. We will continue to practice separating him from the group in the front rooms for several minutes at a time a couple times a week during meals, so that when the time comes for him to be separated for his exam, he will hopefully feel less stressed than if we had not practiced and trained for this. I am so proud of all that Gordo has accomplished in his training already, and hope that all of his hard work pays off when the time comes for his exam! He really is a superstar of PRT (and of our hearts!).
We love forage season! It’s the best time of the year, when the weather is warm enough for chimps to hangout outside! Personally, it’s my favorite time of the year to take pictures of the chimps! I love seeing the grass contrast in the background. Please enjoy these photos of the chimps having a great day!
Burrito getting a bird’s-eye view of his neighbors while eating his kohlrabi:
Later he snagged some sweet potato:
Jamie did very well for herself (the green onion in foot is the best):
Annie bird:
Negra was the first one out this morning and the first one out for the forage:
Foxie eating a carrot:
Foxie in the green grass:
We even got a glimpse of Rayne from Young’s Hill:
Rayne really enjoyed the forage:
Bonus photos of Mave working on a Giant Kong:
*Event coming up* if anyone is in the Washington or Seattle area, we will be tabling at the Planted Expo at the Seattle Convention Center this Saturday, April 20th and Sunday, April 21st from 10 to 5. This will be our first time at Planted and we are really looking forward to it, so come say hi!
First off! Thank you so much to the Upper Kittitas County Senior Center for having us last night for a presentation on all things sanctuary at the Centennial Center! We really enjoyed connecting with our local community! Also, way to go staff members Kelsi, Grace and Jenna for putting together a fantastic talk.
Make sure to watch the above video too! Today seemed like a particularly good morning for Burrito and Jamie. They were almost inseparable from breakfast till lunch.
Earlier this week, I was conducting my security checks to enure it was safe to give the chimpanzees access to Young’s Hill first thing in the morning. As I was checking a few locks that lead to Young’s Hill, Negra was sitting at the door that leads to the outdoor enclosure, clapping at me. This is more often than not Negra-speak for “Hurry the expletive up!” (I just assume Negra curses like a sailor when communicating with the humans.)
As the good loyal subject that I am, I obeyed my queen’s wishes and put a little more pep into my step. When I finally got the clearance to let them outside, Negra was the first one out, and she was moving with a purpose. Why did she want to go outside so badly? She had left some things out there from the day prior. (Also note, please watch J.B.’s video from yesterday.)
Cauliflower! Negra remembered there was leftover cauliflower from the previous day’s forage. And Negra was on a mission to find all the leftovers, regardless of the fact breakfast was about to be served.
This was a little different than the normal foraging for morning Spring grass. Just like Burrito this morning.
Burrito’s morning forging was interrupted by screaming from his neighbors, so he jettisoned back to home base to watch.
With all this foraging, I decided, “What the heck? I’m sure they’ll like another one. I’m sure there will be something leftover for her tomorrow morning.”
And just like the other day, Negra was the first one out. There was chow biscuits to be had and neighbors to snoop on after all!
Even Missy made sure to keep an eye on her neighbors to not miss anything exciting they might do.
But to others, the food was more important. Especially when one of those food items is pears!
As some of you know, Jamie is a fiend for pears.
We are pretty sure Jamie was able to find every pear slice out there.
For Foxie, her pears were carrots.
And for Burrito, his pears were shallots.
My apologies! I could have sworn I got photos of Annie, but I guess I was mistaken. Just know that she was eyeing all the kohlrabi.
With one final grab at a whole kohlrabi, Negra headed back inside.
She didn’t even break eye contact from the Bray on her way in.
As the day begins to wind down and dinner is being prepared, I will leave you with two bonus photos!
Jamie fishing some raisins out of a pool we left her.
And Missy, right above Jamie, fishing raisins out of a raisin board.
Join us in celebrating Jason Merritt today! Jason is connected to the sanctuary in many ways. His wife Krissy and he live locally and they have been supporters of the sanctuary for years. Krissy is also an extremely dedicated volunteer, currently transitioning to paid staff (more on that in a later post).
Jason is an all-around handy guy. He’s done some work at the sanctuary, and offers his talents and assistance to other locals. Recently, in lieu of being paid for work for another sanctuary supporter, Jason offered that they instead make a donation to their mutual chimpanzee friends, so this sponsor-a-day is in honor of his generosity.
Thank you so much, Jason!
