Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
We don’t often see Gordo playing with his friends. Gordo is a bit of a loner. He often spends time near his friends, but not in a pile-o-chimps like we see with many of the others.
Today, we got to see Gordo’s playful side, and we simply had to share with you!
Do you have your eye on anything special in the Comfort & Joy auction? Do tell! I am bidding on many of the ornaments. Don’t outbid me! 😉
Regal is a word that often comes to mind when I think of Negra. Negra’s presence exudes a quiet power that captivates everyone who meets her. She is not only respected among her group, but she is a symbol of strength, resilience, and grace. Negra may not be the the loudest or most active person in her group, however she is valued for her wisdom and calm demeanor. She has truly earned her title as Queen within her family. No matter how Negra decides to spend her day- nestled in a warm nest built of so many blankets you can barely see her, sitting in the warm sun on Young’s Hill, or simply enjoying a bag of chow, it is all done with the luxury and elegance she deserves.
Negra yesterday in the portrait studio:
Negra foraging on a sunny, but chilly fall day:
Just for fun let’s have a few more regal moments with Negra:
Don’t forget to check out our Comfort & Joy Quid Pro Throw online auction! We have some amazing items of Negra, including the beautiful blanket of Negra in the sun or the very popular Negra porcelain ornament. You can even bid on items for the chimps, like the wearable nesting blanket for Negra, of Negra!
This morning, while on a walk with Chad, Burrito took it upon himself to climb one of the trees at the top of Young’s Hill. We’ve seen this at least one other time before but this might be the first time we’ve been able to capture it on video. It’s a very quick video, but totally worth the watch. Go Bubba go!
In other sanctuary news, Kathleen, a wonderful and long-time CSNW supporter, generously wrote us a beautiful testimonial about her experience winning the Behind-The-Scenes Pass in an auction a few years ago. Thank you so much to Kathleen and happy bidding to everyone bidding on this year’s backstage pass!
“I was the very fortunate auction winner of the behind-the-scenes at CSNW back in 2013 (if my memory serves me correctly!). It was such an incredible experience that it is hard to describe. Even as the day unfolded before me, my experience felt like blur. An emotional system overload of wonder and joy! Keep in mind, that during my visit, the sanctuary had not expanded yet. I had the privilege of entering the home of the original Cle Elum Seven. And I met den mother Jody, making my memories all the more special to me now.
Meeting Diana and J.B. in person was such a pleasure and being able to ask them questions and learn details about the chimps, as well as their plans and dreams for the future of the sanctuary (I believe all of those dreams have since come true and perhaps they even surpassed them.), gave me insight and a new appreciation into this “little” sanctuary I supported full heartedly.
I shadowed Anna in the kitchen, the two of us working hard to prep a very large produce delivery that had just arrived when I did. It might sound silly, but there’s a lot of work and time involved in cleaning, drying, cutting all the produce to the exact size needed so the caregivers can pass each individual vegetable or piece of fruit through the squares of their mesh caging. Once the food is prepped, it is stored in their commercial sized refrigerators. I have a photo of Anna posing in front of the fully packed and ready to burst refrigerator, in a “Ta-daa” pose! But I knew it was just another day for her. For me, wow! Preparing their food, was an undescribable joy, because nothing makes me happier than watching them enjoy their meals—food grunts and squeaks soooo much better in person!!!
The other thrill was being able to recognize each chimpanzee. Even from afar. The blog had taught me well. I had the privilege of a lifetime when Jamie, after staring at my footwear and deciding black sneakers with white rubber toes were not acceptable, selected boots for me to wear on a patrol around Young’s Hill. I waddled and clopped around the outside of their perimeter with one boot on while carrying the other because that is what Jamie wanted. The boot I wore may have been four sizes too big. The best walk ever! J.B. was at my side sharing so much information my heart and my mind were having trouble keeping up with all magnificence!
I saw the one and only Queen Negra clap for her night bag…..she did this as soon as meal service began! I saw charming Burrito with a little toy wooden block in his mouth, play a cheeky game of chase with J.B. And while I was preparing food, little Foxie, who was the first one to come and check me out, came up to the glass window of their downstairs room and spied in to the kitchen and spit water on the glass. Just what I anticipated! She did not disappoint!
It is hard to recall all the details from that day, there are far too many, and as I said in the beginning, it all becomes this wondrous blur. But the one thing I will never forget is the beautiful earthy scent of the chimpanzees. They smell wild. They smell like the forest. They smell like the earth in an ever so subtle way—only if you are almost close enough. This is a once in a lifetime experience. I’m considering bidding on it again! I apologize for being greedy in advance.”
I think it will come to no surprise, that Cy is a pretty handsome guy!
Don’t forget that our Comfort & Joy Quid Pro Throw Online Auction is going on now! I am obsessed with all the porcelain ornament, especially the Cy one!
If you’ve been following the blog, you know that we are in the process of re-introductions for Cy’s group (you can read more about the re-intro process here: Rayne Joins the Men, Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself, and The Matchmaker). Cy, Willy B, and Rayne met the different benchmarks that we are looking for, so today Lucky joined them. They all seemed happy to have Lucky in their little group, especially Rayne!
The re-intro process means a change to our normal shifting schedule, as we shift the two groups on their side of the building around to clean the different spaces. The logistics are a bit different each day and this morning Lucky got to have some time by herself to allow for her caregivers to clean some spaces before she was reunited with Cy, Willy, and Rayne. She often hangs back from shifting to hang out by herself and today she seemed to really enjoy the time away. She made a comfortable nest and seemed to enjoy having some photos taken! 🙂 I couldn’t pick just one or two, so I thought I’d share many.
Don’t forget that our Comfort & Joy Quid Pro Throw Online Auction is in full-swing! Speaking of Lucky, she is featured in our auction on a Porcelain Ornament and also on a scarf for you and for the chimps! Be sure to check them out to see some amazing artwork from Thyra Rutter from Arte for Elephants and get in on the bidding action.
There’s a drive-up window in Burrito’s playroom where he can order up play partners any time he wants. Even if no one is in the kitchen we’ll catch a glimpse of him on the security monitor, so he knows we won’t leave him waiting long. It certainly makes getting things done difficult at times but what could be more important that keeping Bubba entertained?
As I followed him out to the hill, I was happy to see Honey B and Terry hanging out together on the Bray—and even happier to catch Terry doing not one but two of his patented gorilla displays! He was really feeling his oats this afternoon. As he should, now that he is the (temporary) dominant male in his group.
Have you checked on our Comfort & Joy Online Auction lately? You can pick up some cool stuff for yourself or bid on items that we can give to the chimps and cows, like this cool Easy Swing Cow Brush!
First, bask in comfort (and joy) by bidding on the latest item we’ve added to the Comfort & Joy online auction: a blanket for you and a matching blanket for Negra featuring the beloved image from an original painting by Margaret H. Parkinson entitled Negra in the Sun.
There’s just ten days left in the auction, and we’re continuing to add items regularly, so check in on the auction and bid often!
Next, today we celebrated Honey Cow’s 17th birthday! Enrichment Coordinator Ellen made a special treat for Honey and her family – pureed pumpkin, served twice-baked potato style in a pumpkin bowl shell.
All of the cows are known to be a bit suspicious of us humans and the odd things we try to convince them are food. As reported and documented (see photos below) by their server, Ryan, they gave Honey’s birthday treat some, “complimentary sniffs”, but didn’t taste them in his presence. Perhaps they were just waiting for him to leave before partaking in a private birthday celebration.
I really love the cows so much. You might think of herd animals as being more uniform in their behavior, but Honey, Betsy, and Meredith have such different personalities and ways of going about life. Honey can often be described as the Jamie of the cow family – she does not put up with any funny business and will let you know if you’ve overstepped your boundaries. Yet, in some ways, she’s the most cooperative when we need to shift the cows into a particular area. Just like Jamie. I’ve come to realize that a lot of Honey’s assertiveness towards humans is more threat than actually wishing people harm, and, I think, she actually likes to be around people.
Another thing that Honey really likes is rubbing up against brushes. We have a really cool brush with automatic swinging action in the online auction that you can “bid” on so that we can buy it for the cows. It costs about $900 so we could use more people bidding on it. Check it out here!
Honey:
Betsy:
Meredith:
Finally, for this multi-topic blog post: primates have been in the news a lot this last week.
We are beyond THRILLED with the news of the last 23 remaining chimpanzees living at an Air Force base in Alamogordo, New Mexico will be finally moving to Chimp Haven! We’ve been following the chimpanzees in Alamogordo for years, hoping for this decision for more than a decade.
You can read about the news and some of the history of the facility and the work to get the chimpanzees moved in this article from the Humane Society of the United States. That article also notes two sad facts: 21 chimpanzees have passed away at the Alamogordo facility in the last five years, never having an opportunity to experience a sanctuary life, and there are still 48 more government owned or supported chimpanzees at two other facilities.
Not mentioned, because they are not supported by the federal government, are the 88 remaining chimpanzees living at New Iberia Research Center (NIRC), awaiting their sanctuary retirement; Project Chimps has been able to rehome over 100 chimpanzees from NIRC and has a contract to rehome the remaining chimpanzees as they are able.
A great resource that shows where all of the captive chimpanzees live in the United States is the Project ChimpCare map, created and maintained by Lincoln Park zoo.
By way of taking a bit of a break from all of this text, here are a couple of photos I took recently.
Another of Rayne in her box (the same photo session as the photo at the top of this post):
And this one of Burrito. He and Jamie often walk along these logs at the top of the new Young’s Hill as part of their perimeter walks now. Burrito likes to stop for a minute and sit down so the humans can catch up:
Another primate news story that has garnered widespread attention is the 43 young female rhesus macaque monkeys who escaped a warehouse and breeding facility for laboratory monkeys in South Carolina owned by Alpha Genesis. Read more about this from CBS. Born Free is requesting that the monkeys, once captured, be moved to their sanctuary.
These two stories are reminders and indicators of the status of primate research in the United States.
For chimpanzees, invasive research has ended, and the decision about the Alamogordo chimpanzees means there will be fewer than 50 chimpanzees living in federally funded biomedical research facilities and fewer than 150 total living in research facilities. Compare that with the 742 chimpanzees living in accredited sanctuaries.
The situation for monkeys is very different. Alpha Genesis alone owns about 5,000 monkeys, and the total number of monkeys (of all species) held for research purposes in the United States exceeds 100,000. It is staggering to think about that many individuals. Perhaps this latest escape will raise important questions about our use of monkeys.
