Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for May 2025

George, meet George

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Last month, the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA) held a fun little contest for a sanctuary to win a brand new Looky Lou enrichment mirror and feeder that was generously donated by Wildlife Toybox.

We won the contest because Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest donors are always so generous and caring!

Today, Ellen was George’s caregiver today and she set it up to see how George would react. He was very interested, as you can see from the video she took!

Thanks to NAPSA, Wildlife Toybox, and our donors for enriching George’s life!

Every day, he seems to be coming more and more out of his shell as he relaxes at the sanctuary. It’s a joy to see him get more comfortable and to hear stories from all of the caregivers each day.

Settling in with George

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In today’s blog video, see how George is starting to settle into life at CSNW!

I’ve been thinking a lot about George and all that awaits him. I am especially excited to see what he thinks of The Bray, which got me thinking about Willy B’s many (some recent!) milestones exploring The Bray. Here are a few more photos from his big adventure to the top of The Bray recently!

Getting to Know George

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Yesterday, Diana announced the big news about our newest sanctuary resident George. We are absolutely thrilled to get to know this young guy and we’re just starting to scratch the surface of his personality and find out some of his likes and dislikes as he hangs out in his current quarantine space.

 

Here’s what we know so far…

  • George is an inquisitive chimp. He’s interested in the sounds and sights of his new chimpanzee neighbors and spends a lot of time looking out the window and door.
  • He likes most fruit, especially grapes and cherries!
  • He enjoys endive, bell peppers, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. We’re trying lots of different vegetables to see what his preferences are.
  • He likes a good protein smoothie with breakfast and juice served from a squeeze bottle.
  • He hasn’t yet shown interest in nesting with the blankets or paper that we have provided him.
  • He seems to prefer that food is hand served to him, rather than scattered as a forage.
  • We’re slowly introducing enrichment items to him so we can carefully monitor him. So far he has shown a little interest in a durable dog toy shaped like a giant peanut.
  • He plays chase and grooms with caregivers
  • He gives sweet kisses to our wrists with his tongue poking out just a little.

There are some people out there that probably know George much better than we do and we are very interested in learning more about our new friend.  If you are someone that has worked with George, we’d really like to hear from you so we can provide George with familiar items as he settles in.

Please also consider donating toward George’s care and thank you so much to all the support that everyone has provided George so far!

 

Welcome to Sanctuary, George

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I sent out an email this morning about our HUGE news. You all got it, right? If not, get yourself signed up for the e-news now.

We’ve been holding onto this news for a little while, and it’s been tough not to let you all in on the information.

You know we share almost everything as it happens, so holding onto such a big secret has felt strange. But, we did not want to do anything to interfere with the ongoing investigations and removal of animals at West Coast Game Park Safari in Bandon, Oregon.

I know you are interested in learning everything about George and seeing more photos and videos of him. We are still getting to know him, and we are following strict protocols during the first phase of his quarantine, limiting his exposure to caregivers and keeping everything for him separate from the other chimpanzees.

Huge shout-out to all of the caregivers who carefully prepared for his arrival and have been doting on him when he wants attention and letting him be when he doesn’t. He has a lot of new friends here who look forward to giving him a whole bunch of “firsts” in the coming months.

You know that caring for chimpanzees is an unpredictable and expensive endeavor, and I hope that you will make a welcome donation for George to go towards his care.

I have known about George for a long time. He was born at Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife (no relation to Steve Martin the comedian). When he was just over a year old, he was used for posed photos at a casino. He spent a few years as one of many (over a dozen!) young chimpanzees used as the “star” of a long-running television show in Germany called Unser Charly (Our Charly).

Nothing about George’s infancy or childhood was normal for a chimpanzee. Once trainer Steve Martin and the television show had no more use for him, George was sent to West Coast Game Park Safari.

Like I mentioned in the email I sent out this morning, we can’t say anything about the conditions there that we observed firsthand (yet), but there’s a lot of information out publicly about the many USDA violations this roadside zoo has racked up over the years (helpful note: you can view inspection reports for any facility with a USDA license by using the search function on this page).

George replaced a previous male, Sam, who was taught to smoke. Sam passed away at the roadside zoo and George arrived in 2011, joining a female chimpanzee there named Daphne who had lived with Sam. Daphne died in November, 2023 and George has lived by himself ever since.

The Bandon game park is one many roadside zoos across the United States. Or it was… until last week.

I know that many of you in Coos County have been reporting your concerns about the animals there, and have gotten to know George. Animal welfare and animal rights organizations and rescues have spoken out in the hopes that action would be taken. The authorities that we worked with to get George out of there were full of compassion and allowed us to make sure that George was safe.

We want to thank all of you for all of your efforts and your concerns and for joining us in welcoming him.

More about George soon!

Separating The Individual and The Interest

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When we are learning how to identify each chimp, we pay attention to the little details: a pronounced brow ridge, how their hair falls on their head, any missing digits or abnormal features (such as half of an ear), their skin texture, the color of their hair on the back, and so on.

At CSNW, we also have objects that are paired with an individual, such as Foxie with dolls, Cy with magazines, and Jamie with cowboy boots and her Lucy bonobo book. However, we are taught during initial training, to never rely on these objects to identify a chimpanzee. For example, if you can see a chimpanzee holding a doll, but they are laying down and you can’t see any other features about them, we are not allowed to assume the unidentified chimpanzee is Foxie. Not only is this extremely important for safety purposes, but it’s also just not always factually correct to assume it’s Foxie.

Many of Jamie’s group members hold dolls. Of course, not anywhere close to the same frequency as Foxie does, but it still reminds us that we cannot rely on the objects.

Foxie with a doll:

Negra with a doll:

Jamie with a doll:

Burrito with a doll:

Annie with a doll:

Annie with doll

Missy with a doll:

Another example of this is Cy and magazines. Cy spends a lot of time reading magazines and you can often find him doing so. However, he is not the only one who reads magazines, so we should never use a magazine as a way to identify him from others.

Cy reading a magazine:

Rayne reading a magazine:

Jamie with a magazine:

Burrito with a magazine:

Honey B with a magazine:

Another identifier could be nest location, since many of the chimps nest in the same locations daily. However, we have learned this is also something we should not rely on. It’s important to always see their face or enough of their body, to positively identify each chimpanzee.

For example:

Negra always nests in the SE corner of Playroom 1.

However, sometimes another freckly face steals her nest…

We’ve been posting about “Fake Negra” for many years. Check out one blog from 2017 here.

Here is Fake Neggie (a.k.a Missy) next to the Real Neggie:

When you can only see the freckles peeking out of the blanket and it’s in Negra’s nesting spot, it can be quite confusing.

Missy:

Missy, still Fake Neggie:

The real Neggie:

Another identifier could be the FLOOF.

Mave and Terry commonly get confused by new volunteers because of their amount of floofiness. They both always look like they got a fresh blow out. It’s impressive.

Many people comment about how large Terry is, which he is, but both Cy and Willy B are bigger than him. He looks bigger than he is because of the floof.

Terry:

His hair is adorable in this photo:

Don’t confuse the floof! Terry’s half sister, Mave:

Mave (L) and Terry (R):