Archives for November 2025

November!

November 4, 2025 by Katelyn

Well, we’ve barely recovered from “Jamieween” and yet we find ourselves solidly into November celebrations!

November 2nd was the 7th anniversary of the arrival of our tiny bovine family! Dr. Erin and her son, Dylan, brought some favorite fresh browse and treats for them to enjoy with their celebration.

Meredith enjoying her fresh willow alongside, (l) Ryan, one of our two amazing Facilities and Grounds Tech staff members (the other being Teresa!), and (r) Dylan, son of Dr. Erin, who often graciously helps out when extra hands are needed:

Betsy sporting her gorgeous winter floof, Dylan, and Dr. Erin:

It’s hard to believe this tiny bovine herd have been here seven years! The fact that this sweet family is able to live out their lives together, surrounded by peace, individualized care, and respect for the unique beings they are, is no small thing. All of which you make possible for them.

Honey, Meredith, Betsy, and her beloved “baby” boy, Nutmeg (who sadly passed away last year after an unexpected health crisis) enjoying their glorious summer pasture:

Nutmeg is greatly missed by his bovine and human family, but by none more so than his devoted mom, Betsy:

Sweet Lucky is turning 34 on November 6th! Mangoes have been stocked and party prep is already underway for our beautiful Lucky Lou:

Unlike her brother, Cy (alpha of their group), Lucky often prefers to quietly observe things from afar. But don’t for one second think she doesn’t see all. This behooves her in engaging in one of her favorite things to do: launching onto the caging seemingly out of nowhere as unsuspecting humans (the newer, the better) pass by and scare the daylights out of them. Maybe even try to grab them for added effect. I’d think it must feel pretty delightful. 🙂

But Lucky is sweet and curious and she will just as likely engage you in a super surprise game of chase (once even wearing a box as a kind of “tutu”), or sit quietly with you and groom, especially if she can check out your shoes and/or feet.

She’s also half-siblings with Rayne (below, r) and Honey B:

We celebrate beautiful Honey Cow turning 18(!) on her celebrated birthday of November 10th:

Enjoying some browse with her daughter, Meredith (r):

Honey and her family (Meredith and Betsy) enjoyed a long season in their spring and summer pastures and while they’ll be heading back to their winter pasture soon, they will be welcomed by a new barn. It’s always wonderful to see them at the furthest reaches of their pastures in the warmer months, enjoying their own little world and all that the varying seasons offer them.

The chimpanzees and cows always enjoy a big celebration on Thanksgiving Day (or as Negra probably calls it, “Hawaiian Roll Day”), which lands on November 27th this year. We are always in awe of all we have to be thankful for, all that you each make possible for the extraordinary individuals who call the sanctuary home, and for we humans, who have the immense privilege of caring for them.

Sweet Terry on a Thanksgiving past, gazing at his Field Roast:

And book-ending our November celebrations is Willy B! He will be turning 35 on November 30th! If you’ve been following us for awhile you’ll be aware that Willy B doesn’t always make choices that might be the most easeful for himself or his fellow group mates. But honestly, when you look at each of the chimpanzee’s histories, it’s endlessly incredible that they are somehow the resilient people they are and that their extraordinary selves still find a way to shine through into these lives they find themselves living.

Willy B has truly come so far in the last couple of years. It would take immense courage to go from never touching the earth, to tenaciously working your way up to feeling comfortable exploring a two-acre outdoor habitat all on your own. It makes our hearts sing for him and we have a lot of awe for this guy:

Handsome Willy B!:

As always, we are so grateful to you all for being here with us and for all the ways your support and presence shines through. I hope you know the difference you each make in so many lives. Have a beautiful November, friends!

Scenes from George and Rayne’s Day on the Bray

November 3, 2025 by J.B.

George recently spent a full day with Rayne. Rayne is a wise, confident, and well-respected chimpanzee who gives George a lot of grace but isn’t afraid to hold him accountable when he gets out of line. George and Rayne have had many short meetings before, and while a few of those meetings began with brief conflicts, they always ended on a high note. This longer meeting was no exception. After a bit of arguing through the mesh, the pair got together and settled down for a day full of socializing, eating meals together, and running throughout the 2-acre habitat (both with each other and with the chimps next door!). Learning the rules can be tough for someone without much social experience, but George couldn’t ask for a better teacher.

The State of a (forming) Union

November 2, 2025 by Ellen Brady-McGaughey

We are continuing the process of introducing George to Cy’s group of 6, and are preparing for a very exciting next step. Now seems like a good time to provide you all with a synopsis of what we have done so far, and where we hope to go next. If all goes well, George will soon be living with other chimpanzees full-time.

We began our introduction process with short (~1 hour) afternoon meetings with George and each of the individuals of Cy’s group, first focusing on Cy, Terry, and Rayne as those that we thought would be the most accepting of George. We wanted to give George positive introduction experiences to set him up for success before introducing him to others who may be more difficult. George did very well with Cy and Terry to start, and over the course of multiple meetings had some misunderstandings, all of which they were able to navigate. In these initial intros, he struggled the most with Rayne, which we later saw to be a trend with other females when he met Lucky and Dora. With the males, he was often quick to engage in play, and later would allow himself to be groomed, whereas the females seem to find him to be more of a threat (understandably – his displays are impressive!) and often sought reassurance or to groom, which he seems more uncomfortable with than play. George was also uncomfortable with being groomed in certain areas, and would quickly disengage when individuals tried to groom him in those areas. The females were generally less accepting of this behavior, and would become upset.

Cy grooms George

Once George had met Cy, Terry, and Rayne on multiple occasions, we started to include individuals from the remainder of Cy’s group into the introduction schedule. George met Gordo and we were happily surprised by how well they did together, and how calm Gordo remained even when George displayed repeatedly. George met Dora, then Lucky, and as we went, we changed our introduction plan to accommodate what the chimps were showing us that they needed. We introduced George to Mave to help him learn how to interact with females, as Mave is generally more confident than Lucky and Dora, and Mave showed us she was willing to hold George accountable when he acted inappropriately. We lengthened the time of the introductions, and let misunderstandings and conflicts play out more without closing the door to separate the chimps, though we were prepared to do so if needed. This is difficult to do as the human observer – we want to protect our chimpanzee friends, and conflict feels scary. But conflict is an important part of chimpanzee life, as is the reconciliation that follows. We needed George to learn (or show us he knows) how to reconcile after a conflict, before we could feel confident in future integration into a larger social group. These longer introductions allowed the chimpanzees time to reconcile, and George showed us that given time (and without the option to just ignore the other individual because they were no longer sharing space), he can do it.

During this stage, Terry and George had several conflicts during their introductions, but were given time to reconcile and by the end of their time together were again playing and grooming. This is promising for George’s future as he joins a larger social group, as he was able to navigate each of these situations successfully.

Terry grooms George

From there, we moved to all day introductions of one individual of Cy’s group with George (for Terry, Cy, Gordo, and Rayne). We chose to continue afternoon introductions with Dora and Lucky, as we thought they would be more successful in all day introductions down the line, with Cy there as well to lessen their anxiety. During these all day introductions, they got to experience more of a normal day together. They ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together and were given access to the chute and The Bray. They spent more time without direct supervision of the humans (though we were monitoring them from afar via video monitors).

Gordo grooms George

The next step? Cy comes to live with George, and we will begin to build the group around them. Before adding in more individuals, we will give opportunities for Cy to assert his dominance over George to help him understand where his place will be within the larger group. A lot of this will come simply from living together full time. Cy may demand first access to his favorite foods at meal time (like corn), to get the first look at the newest magazines, or to be the first one to interact with the humans. From there, we will continue to follow the chimps’ lead as we navigate the introduction process. I’m excited for the opportunities ahead, and hopeful for George as he begins another big step in his journey here.

The Privilege of Her Company

November 1, 2025 by Kelsi

Yesterday, we celebrated Jamieween, one of our biggest holidays of the year! As Jenna mentioned Jamie runs this place, so of course we go all out! And because she runs this place, I wanted to dedicate another blog to her.

I think many of you know by now that I absolutely adore Jamie and love any opportunity to celebrate her. There are countless reasons why she means so much to me. Jamie is wonderfully complex. I often share stories about her silly side or the moments when she’s especially sweet, but I also recognize that not everyone gets to see that part of her. Jamie can be a bully, stubborn, and even a little manipulative at times—but those traits only add to her depth. I love that she’s tough and unapologetically herself. She’s not vulnerable with everyone, and I’m not sure what draws her to certain people, but I’m forever grateful and deeply honored that she chose me. It’s something I will always treasure.

Yesterday, I came in to prep food and help organize the party while everyone else was cleaning. I greeted Jamie with a “Good morning and Happy Jamieween!” before diving into party prep — starting with a blood orange mocktail, among other treats. Once the drink was ready, we thought Jamie should have the first taste, and she gave a food grunt of approval! She seemed so excited, and I think she could tell her celebration was coming soon. Without missing a beat, she requested that I put on a boot and join her for a walk.

As we set off, Burrito, Missy, Annie, and Foxie came along too. But as we began to climb up the steeper part of the hill, everyone took a different path, leaving just Jamie and me to walk together. Walks with Jamie have become less frequent lately — though don’t get me wrong, she still spends plenty of time outside patrolling and exploring. It’s just been a while since we’ve done one of our classic ten-plus laps around the Hill.

Maybe it’s because we staff members have more to do these days as the sanctuary continues to grow. Or maybe when we expanded the Hill, it changed her routine a bit. It could even be that she’s just busier now — with more humans and more chimps to manage, there’s a lot happening compared to when it was just the original seven. We may never know exactly what changed, but that only makes me more grateful each time she asks me to go for a walk.

These are some of my favorite kinds of walks — just Jamie and me, meandering together. This one felt especially meaningful, a walk just for the two of us. I had forgotten my phone, so there were no photos or videos — it was truly just her and me, in the moment.

Walks with Jamie feel sacred to me. They’re a privilege. Being asked to join her feels like the highest compliment — that she wants me, specifically, to share her presence (and trust me, you know when she doesn’t want you to be in her presence!).

JB recently wrote a really beautiful, reflective blog about Jamie and her after-hours walks, that really resonated with me. He was so right, when Jamie wanted to go for her ninth walk in the blistering heat or her third stroll of the evening, we might’ve been thinking about all the things we still had to do, or even looking forward to settling into our own nests for the night. But nowadays, I find myself feeling the opposite — I’m the one wanting to ask her, “Maybe just one more?”