Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for July 2024

Front Room Shenanigans

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A few weeks ago, Krissy posted a blog titled ‘Wrestle Mania!‘ about a morning here in the chimp house where we had three different pairs of chimps in Jamie’s group playing in three different front rooms. Today, I wanted to share some more footage with you from that fun morning- plus a few more clips I’ve snagged since then! Despite both groups of chimps having access to multiple enclosures, indoor / outdoor spaces, and their big outdoor spaces, there’s just something about the front rooms that they all seem to love. 🙂

Bonus Photo:

Rayne sitting in her tub (in the front rooms, naturally)

99 Reasons to Volunteer at CSNW

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Prior to the last 2 months, I had been volunteering at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest for 4.5 years.  I can easily say that it was the best way I spent my time!  It was so incredibly meaningful for me that I decided, at 52 years old, to pursue a career change and am now a full time staff person!  How lucky am I?  So I compiled a list of reasons that YOU TOO should become a volunteer.  We’d love to see your smiling faces  🙂

  1. Burrito
  2. Terry
  3. Foxie
  4. Annie
  5. Cy
  6. Jamie
  7. Missy
  8. Gordo
  9. Dora
  10. Mave
  11. Honey B
  12. Willy B
  13. Negra
  14. Lucky
  15. Rayne
  16. Diana
  17. JB
  18. Anna
  19. Dr.Erin
  20. Kelsi
  21. Grace
  22. Jenna
  23. Chad
  24. Katelyn
  25. Sabrina
  26. Ellen
  27. Krissy
  28. Deer families
  29. Marmots for days
  30. Raven shenanigans
  31. Frogs – you may have to save them from the playrooms (Negra will eat them!) **
  32. Snakes – no wait, that’s a different list!
  33. Volunteering is incredibly rewarding
  34. Free snacks!
  35. Raspberries – the kind you blow, not the kind you eat, also known as a Bronx Cheer
  36. The property is breathtakingly beautiful!
  37. Only one chimpanzee throws poop 
  38. Bragging rights – your friends will be so jealous (which is why they should become volunteers, too!)
  39. We share 98.76% of our DNA with chimpanzees – so that makes us family
  40. Jamieween
  41. Trifecta Jubilee
  42. Enrichment prep parties – such as pumpkin carving for Jamieween
  43. Making chow bags (actually, that’s why WE want you to volunteer)

    Volunteer Katie making chow bags
  44. Volunteering is FREE
  45. Friendship
  46. Strengthens our community
  47. Volunteers know the inside scoop – they’re part of the team
  48. Plenty of parking
  49. Troll toss with Foxie ***
  50. The sanctuary couldn’t do it without volunteers!
  51. Learn chimpanzee facts that you can use at cocktail parties  (do people still go to cocktail parties?)
  52. Watching meal service from Mechanical Room 3
  53. Satisfaction gained through a job well done
  54. Witnessing sweet moments between chimps
  55. Dancing with Terry ***
  56. The opportunity to bond with another species
  57. Combats depression
  58. Taking walks around the hill
  59. Grooming ***
  60. Volunteers make the staff very happy – think Norm entering Cheers
  61. Tug-o-war with Burrito ***
  62. Most of the time, the spit flying at your face is just water
  63. Gain career experience
  64. Espresso machine
  65. Meet new people
  66. Negra kisses ***
  67. Camaraderie
  68. You can make a difference
  69. The rare opportunity to groom Missy ***
  70. Gardening
  71. We have ice!
  72. And air conditioning!
  73. Bipedal Annie
  74. You get to go home early!
  75. You become a more interesting person
  76. Lunch forages
  77. You’ll want chimp tattoos
  78. You can check out books from our library
  79. Cows
  80. Teeth clacking during grooming
  81. Chimp laughter
  82. Looking for enrichment outside of chimp house (finding old dolls/boots/magazines)
  83. Barn Kitty – look but don’t touch!
  84. The excitement of Cy’s group when we roll out the food cart for meals
  85. Acquiring chimp art through online auctions, and such (first to know)
  86. Burrito’s toes
  87. Lizard (Travis)
  88. Gordo/Rayne in a box
  89. Gatorade pools
  90. Willy B eating lettuce/bok choy/celery, and such
  91. Making forts **
  92. Making paper braids – just kidding, they’re a nightmare, but lots of enrichment is fun to make!

    Volunteer Sarah S making firehose knots
  93. Annie bird noises and hair/face washing
  94. Otter pops
  95. Making nests **
  96. Dora’s head bobble
  97. It makes you happy!
  98. Watching the big boys display – gets your heart pounding!
  99. IT’S JUST PLAIN FUN!!!!!

Now that you are ready to fill out an application to volunteer, you need to know about the different levels of volunteer:

*Level I – tasks include doing laundry, washing dishes, preparing enrichment, lunch prep, putting produce away, etc.  Please note, Level I volunteers do not interact with the chimpanzees, besides a polite head nod.

** Level II – in addition to Level I tasks, Level II volunteers assist in cleaning enclosures.  Please note, Level II volunteers do not interact with the chimpanzees, besides a polite head nod.

***Level III – In addition to Level I and II tasks, Level III volunteers serve meals and engage in protected physical and non-physical interactions with the chimpanzees.

You can fill out an application to become a Level I or Level II volunteer.  Trustworthy and dedicated volunteers are invited to train to become Level III volunteers – while all levels are rewarding, you and I both know that the real magic happens when you work to become a Level III volunteer.  It’s so worth it!

A Meeting of the Girls Club

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I was lucky enough to stumble upon a meeting of the Girls Club last week, aka Mora B, aka Mave, Dora, and Honey B. I was walking around the sanctuary to give out some juice before heading to lunch myself when I found these 3 ladies lounging in the shade in the chute. Dora initiated play with me, so I sat down to enjoy the moment. She tapped the back of my hand with her (super cute) toes, let me knuckle rub her arm and back, and then I took my phone out so she could look at herself in my camera. While she was admiring herself, Honey B realized the camera was out and joined the party, which turned into playing with Dora while occasionally still watching themselves on the phone. I hope you enjoy watching all of this play out in today’s video, and be sure to stay until the end for a special guest appearance at Girls Club.

Happy 4th of July!

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Happy 4th of July everyone! The chimps here at CSNW had a day full of fun and food! Longtime volunteer caregiver Patti made the chimps vegan ‘hotdogs’ out of carrots, while caregiver Ellen made them a shortcake out of their usual chow biscuits, fruit and whipped cream from coconut milk.

If you are celebrating today, we hope you all have a fun and safe holiday this year!

Gather Around the Gatorade Pool

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Everything fun happens around the watering hole or should I say, Gatorade pool! The chimps had a nice, quiet, and relaxing day. I think they may be resting up for the big fourth of July celebration tomorrow! Make sure to tune in for all the fun tomorrow!

Before I go, here are some bonus photos 🙂

Burrito:

Miss Mave:

Rayne’s toes, waiting for smoothie:

Negra enjoying her pudding cup:

A Day in The Windy City

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Some may know Chicago as the “Windy City”, but if you’ve ever visited or lived in central Washington, you know Cle Elum or Ellensburg could also be in the running for that title too! Central Washington is the windiest place I’ve ever been. In many of today’s clips, you can hear the wind ripping behind us and even see Annie’s hair blowing. Despite it being so windy, it was an absolutely beautiful day with the high being in the 70’s. It is supposed to get in the 90’s next week so we’re enjoying the cool wind while we can! Don’t forget to watch today’s video (above), there’s a play session of Jamie and Foxie in there that’ll make your heart burst.

Some photos of the day!

Annie’s proper form for her “bird noises” (so you can practice at home if you want):

Dora eating apples at breakfast:

Foxie received a new Strawberry Shortcake doll this morning and this was her during the lunch forage:

A new doll vs. a well-loved one:

Foxie and Missy at breakfast:

Negra in her Greenhouse nest:

July!

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I have no idea how it can be July, yet here we are! All of us here at the sanctuary are given a steady river of opportunities to celebrate and it’s you, our extraordinary supporters, who make this possible. While we have the birthdays of two of our cherished sanctuary residents to celebrate this month, there is also a chance to celebrate all the special beings who we serve, the very reasons the sanctuary exists, those who you make everything possible for. And to all of you with a July birthday, we hope it’s the best one yet! We appreciate you so much!

The chimpanzees always enjoy a fun celebration on the 4th of July and there will be the special treat of foot squeak inducing vegan hotdogs included on this year’s menu! Word on the street is that there will also be buns, but don’t tell Negra or she will start clapping at us now. 🙂

Missy and her watermelon bowl heist from last year! Look at her!:

Rayne:

Negra claiming hers:

Then we have World Chimpanzee Day on July 14th! “World Chimpanzee Day was first founded by a group of NGOs, including the Jane Goodall Institute, the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection, and the Lincoln Park Zoo. This year, like every year, is a day of celebration of chimpanzees and the people who have done so much work to help save them.”

Just a few of the gorgeous chimpanzee people who we celebrate here every day:

Annie!:

Jamie:

Cy:

Rayne exploring the Bray:

Honey B:

Next up are the birthdays! Endearing Gordo turns 36 on July 19th! We’re envisioning a day of bunny-hoppin’, so start practicing now.  And if bunny-hoppin’ is not your thing (no judgement), maybe you can pull up a box to enjoy the festivities from that day. 🙂

Gordo is a quirky, delightful, handsome guy. He is another chimpanzee person who does things in his own way and time and in the three years since he arrived here it makes our hearts swell to see him continuing to feel more comfortable, and especially, more playful. With us, yes, but also more importantly, his chimpanzee friends. Gordo isn’t someone who will typically run up to greet the humans or immediately engage us in a play session like some of the others do (unless you’re wearing a troll mask), but that doesn’t mean he’s not interested. I mean, sometimes he’s not and he might be more likely to deliver an impressive blast of water to your face. Envision humans bunny hopping and breathy panting and Gordo giving us a blank stare like he feels sorry for us (he probably does), or us quickly exiting when he heads for the water spigot. But more often than not he’s waiting and watching to see if you’re truly going to be present with him and pick up on his subtle cues, like quietly knocking on the floor as you make eye contact with him and waiting for him to make a move. I respect that about him.

And he’s surprising us more and more. Just the other day I walked in to greet the chimpanzees and out of the blue he immediately launched into a game of bunny hop chase which he continued all through lunch, laughing and at one point even presenting himself for a quick knuckle rub. And I wasn’t even wearing the troll mask! 😉

And if you missed it, Gordo recently made his first trip to the clinic for a health check this spring and amazed us all by not only choosing to participate and excelling throughout his PRT (Positive Reinforcement Training) in preparation, which Ellen wrote a great post about, but so much so that when the day arrived he accepted anesthetic hand injections allowing us to entirely avoid using the dart gun. I cannot express how incredible this is and we couldn’t be more proud of him (and our PRT team)!

Gordo also courageously experienced his first time going out to his group’s outdoor habitat, the Bray, last spring. Now it’s common to see him at the highest point on the structures taking in the view of the valley below, or to get a better look at the beautiful neighbor ladies next door.

He’s had a huge year and we can’t wait for a celebration of all things Gordo. By now you might be wondering, “How am I not Chimpanzee Pals with this amazing guy?!” Well, here’s your opportunity if you happen to be interested and able. 🙂

And the day after Gordo’s birthday, beautiful Betsy turns 17 on July 20th!:

Diana and Betsy:

This has been a year of profound loss and change for Betsy and her tiny herd. As many of you know, her sweet son, Nutmeg, died on March 21st of this year after being found down one morning and subsequently unable to regain his mobility. If you missed this, Dr. Erin shared a heartfelt post with more information here.

As is common with bovine mamas and their children, Betsy and Nutmeg were extremely bonded throughout his life and we know Betsy misses him terribly. I would say Betsy is the bovine version of Jody, den mothers in spirit if you will, and it’s heart-lifting to see her close relationships with Honey and Meredith which surely must be bringing her comfort.

Betsy (R) and her cherished forever baby boy, Nutmeg (L), in their summer pasture a couple of years ago:

Ellen and Betsy:

As is evident by these sweet photos, Betsy is also someone who has warmed up to the humans over the years and has become more tolerant of our desire to offer her unsolicited scritches or hugs when she sees fit. When Betsy and her family arrived, it never crossed our minds that they might not be interested in said scritches and hugs. I’m not sure if the “if not huggable, why hugged shaped?” thing applies here, but it made sense to us at the time. But of course, they are unique individuals and we were still learning. And here’s a funny/terrifying to me story at my own expense.

It was the first winter they were here and I knew nothing of being around or caring for bovines, so I was excited, but very much on the further end of the nervous scale (you already know I might as well have tied a target flag around my head). But I figured “scritches and hugs”, right? No. Betsy was not having it. One day after finishing up with their meal service, Diana and I were inching our way down the very icy and snowy field when I caught sight of Betsy in my periphery running up alongside us. I knew this was her way to say, “Go on, git!”, but expected/hoped she’d veer back toward the others. But donning her sassy pants, this bovine woman charged me and pulled a solid Honey B-style “hip check” by butting me right in the hip, her back legs flying up in the air for added emphasis. I won’t lie, I was devastated and terrified! Message received, Miss Betsy!

Well, you won’t often catch me in open proximity to the bovines now, though if I am I seem to have generally been granted favor to occasionally receiving Betsy’s endearing licks and being able to offer a scritch here and there. And when Nutmeg was ailing and we all took turns sitting with him around the clock, I fully expected her to be very protective, understandably. But Betsy and her family were gentle and quiet with us which was miraculous to me given all we had to do to attempt to help Nutmeg stand up, and though they kept a solid eye out, nothing can convince me they didn’t know we were there to help. Even me. It was a true honor to stand with them in those deeply sad days.

We are so rarely given the opportunity to get to know bovines as the unique, intelligent and sensitive individuals they are and to be able to appreciate their inherent value just for being who they are  and living their own lives as opposed to what they provide for humans. Even as someone who has never known another way than to hold reverence for our fellow animals, to witness them and the enduring bonds they hold with one another is a true gift, not one most of us ever have the chance to see. We’re so grateful for the life here in sanctuary you make possible for Betsy and her tiny family. For them, and for us.

And if you’d like to become a Bovine Buddy with this queen, or any member of her family, here you go.

Happy July everyone! I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but rest assured you will hear about it along with the daily happenings here on the blog. Be sure to sign up if you haven’t already. Thank you as always for being here with us and we hope you find every bit of beauty and joy July and summertime (or wintertime on the flip side) has to offer!