Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for February 2026

Love for Rayne

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Rayne is next up in our Valentine’s series!

Rayne was born at Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP) on January 29th, 1990. Once the lab closed down she was sent to Wildlife Waystation. When Waystation closed in 2019, Rayne and her family moved to CSNW in 2021. These days she lives with her half siblings Lucky and Cy, along with a few others.

If you’ve spent any time around Rayne, you already know she’s the heart of her sanctuary family. She is that rare, grounding presence that makes everything feel a bit more whole. Rayne at CSNW isn’t just a blessing, she’s the friend everyone wishes for: steady, loyal and she has your back when you need her. When Cy is searching for some peace and quiet, Rayne is the one he often chooses to share that with, they will quietly look through magazines or work on enrichment together often. When she lived with Willy B and he was having a tough time resisting the urge to act out, she would respond with a calm patience most of us only wish we could muster. And there’s her frequent food trading ritual with Lucky, where they’ve worked out their own system for swapping food items that don’t want during meals.

Rayne enjoying a blissfully sunny day:

Taking in the view from her perch on the Bray:

Lucky and Rayne enjoying time together in the chilly weather:

Cy, Rayne, & Lucky hanging out together:

Rayne & Lucky looking down at their caregiver:

Cy & Rayne enjoying some quiet time together:

George and Rayne didn’t hit it off right away. Their first meetings were rocky—full of awkward moments and the occasional misunderstanding. But these days, they’ve found their rhythm. Most of the time, you’ll catch them racing each other around in a game of chase. If misunderstandings happen between George and someone else in the group, Rayne doesn’t automatically take sides. She steps back, assesses the situation, and sometimes, instead of jumping in with the others, she’ll offer reassurance George or simply stay out of it altogether.

Rayne currently has 9 chimpanzee pals who donate to her care but if you also want to donate to Rayne to keep her fully stocked up on her beloved sheets and make for more blissful days in the sun you can become her pal too! Become Rayne’s Pal here!

 

Love for Honey B

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What can we say about Honey B?  Honey B is playful, loyal, highly sensitive, so fun and sassy.  She is also intelligent, clever, sneaky, mischievous and unpredictable.  For all of these reasons, and so many more, we LOVE Honey B!

To a level unlike any other chimpanzee person at CSNW, Honey B keeps us on our toes.  Honey B may very well be systematically taking the Sanctuary apart, as we speak, one screw at a time.  Back in 2023, Honey B took down a panel in one of the greenhouses.  If you haven’t seen it, check it out here, Honey B gets down to business at 1:56.  At the end of each day, the Lead Caregiver has an extensive list to check off in order to safely and properly close up the chimp house for the evening.  Honey B’s antics have added some things to the list.  Such as the time she got a hold of the hose in the middle of the night.  Recently, when we were introducing George to Cy’s group, Honey B decided that “privacy” was overrated and made an adjustment to a paper covered window.  You can also count on Honey B to do what it takes to improve her living situation, whether it’s holding out in the front rooms for some alone time, or when she’s in the mezzanine with Willy B and gets tired of him throwing his bouncy balls around.

Honey B will be turning 37 on June 11th of this year.  She was born at the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery to our very own Missy!  According to our records, her father was Herbie, which means that she is half siblings to Cy, Lucky and Rayne.  In 1996, she moved to Wildlife Waystation in California where she lived with Willy B and Mave.  After the facility closed in 2019, Honey B, Willy B and Mave moved to CSNW.

After some unsuccessful introductions, thus far, Honey B is still living with Willy B and Mave.  But she has many friendships with chimps from Cy’s group.  Especially Dora!  When we think of Dora’s best friend, we automatically think of Mave, however Honey B and Dora have a great friendship!  While Dora spends a lot of time lying about, and grooming with Mave, Honey B is for raucous play!

Honey B and I didn’t always get along.  When I first started volunteering in 2019, Honey B and her family were rather new to the sanctuary.  I had never met a chimp before, and I thought that her intense stare and spits to the face were “friendly”.  I soon learned that that was not the case.  It wasn’t until the summer of 2024 – 5 years later – that Honey B decided, out of the blue, that I was alright.  Prior to that time, Honey B would spit in my face, so forcefully that it once went through my mask, up my nose and down my throat!  I have a whole series of photos of myself covered in Honey B’s smoothies.  If I was cleaning in a room adjacent to a space that Honey B occupied  – like when she holds out in the front rooms – she wouldn’t let me or my tools anywhere near the shared mesh.  She would occasionally lure me to her by wiggling her sweet toes at me – you can always get me with a toe wiggle – then scream in my face.   But, once Honey B decided I wasn’t so bad, our relationship blossomed.  I’m always excited when I get a new scratch to the back of my hand or elbow because I know Honey B will be thrilled to spend some time grooming/bonding.  It really is an honor to be friends with the spitfire that is Honey B!

We would like to thank Honey B’s 8 pals for their support each month!  We couldn’t do what we do without it!  Do you have a pal yet?  You can become Honey B’s pal, or any other chimp’s or cow’s pal by clicking here.

Happy Birthday, Keno, from Cathy!

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Thanks so much to Cathy Morrison for sponsoring this day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in celebration of Keno Granger on his birthday!:

“Happy Birthday to my nephew, Keno Granger, who was raised in Cle Elum. Even though he is older today, he stills hikes and camps in the mountains surrounding this wonderful area.”

All of us here wish you a happy birthday, Keno! Have a fantastic day and thanks for adding to the lives of the chimpanzees!

George, taking in his whole new life:

Willy B bravely exploring the Bray in the spring:

Missy and Annie:

Jamie on an evening stroll on Young’s Hill:

Love for Negra

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Today I get to continue the love blogs by talking about my good friend and sanctuary Matriarch, Negra Chimpanzee. It’s nothin’ but all hail the queen on today’s blog!

Negra is best known for her love of giant cozy nests and her ability to stay in those nests for many hours of the day. There are about 3 different nesting spots you can find Negra in, depending on the time of the day…

Her greenhouse nest:

Or her catwalk nest:

A throwback photo of her loft nest:

She is highly motivated by lettuce, peanut butter, baked sweet potatoes and that elusive special party dinner roll.

Negra vacillates between sweet old lady chimp and impatient moody senior citizen on a daily and even hourly basis. You don’t always know what kind of Negra you are gonna meet in the morning but we love and accept her two sides just the same.

One of my favorite memories of Negra is working with her during our Positive Reinforcement Training sessions. Negra is particularly spicy when it comes to participating in the training and it was a pleasure making progress with her.

A memory of our younger selves. Here Negra receives a spray treatment for an injury:

Also, watching Negra progress in confidence going outside has been AMAZING.

One of her most recent outdoor victories, climbing aboard Carlene’s Tower:

Like so many older chimpanzees, Negra was born in the forests of Africa, where she was captured as an infant. She spent most of her life in biomedical research laboratories, though with each passing year that chapter grows more distant. In the labs, she was involved in hepatitis vaccine research and was also used as a breeder. She gave birth to three children, all of whom are now, thankfully, living in sanctuaries. Her daughter Angel resides at Save the Chimps in Florida, along with her son Noah, who is also one of Burrito’s many half-siblings. Her daughter Heidi was the last to reach sanctuary and now lives at Chimp Haven in Louisiana.

Negra on her first day at CSNW. She truly seems to age backwards:

Negra currently has 10 loyal chimpanzee pals who generously donate towards her care and could certainly use more to help keep up her supply of peanut butter Kongs and fleece blankets. Follow this link if you are interested in becoming Negra’s Pal. We can’t thank you enough.

All hail the queen!

 

Happy Birthday to Mark Dyce-Ryan!

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Many thanks to Mitchell, Hana, Lulu, and Simba Ryan for sponsoring a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in honor of Mark Dyce-Ryan! We really appreciate you all choosing to celebrate with the chimps!

“Happy Birthday Mark! What a wonderful way to share and celebrate your special day. Ever since your first visit, you have been hooked on these incredible beings. Thank you for your kindness, BIG heart, and love for all creatures on this planet. Love, Mitchell, Hana, Lulu & Simba.”

Thanks so much for your support of the chimpanzees Mark! All of us here at the sanctuary hope you have the best birthday yet! Mitchell, Hana, Lulu, and Simba have also gifted you a Chimpanzee Pal sponsorship and you are now officially pals with George!!

George and Gordo:

George joining Cy, Rayne, and Terry on the Bray:

George!:

Love for Betsy and Honey

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Today, as part of our Valentine’s Day series, let’s fall in love with Betsy and Honey.

I wanted to share about Betsy and Honey together because they are the bovine moms of our sanctuary pastures (Betsy is mom to Nutmeg and Honey is mom to Meredith) and they are both foodies. But what I love most about these two wonderful bovines is their personalities are so very different!

If you find your heart bursting with love after today’s video, you can become a bovine buddy by visiting the link here.

Love for Gordo

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On this February 17th, let’s take today to celebrate our love for our very own Gordo Chimpanzee!

Gordo was born on July 19, 1988 at the aboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP) to his mother Andrea and father Les. Through his parents, he has had a few full and half siblings at other sanctuaries, including being half-brother to our very own Dora!

Like the other chimps born at LEMSIP, Gordo’s start to life began with being taken away from his mother shortly after birth and raised in the nursery with other infant chimpanzees and living in a small suspended cage.

From left to right, infant chimpanzees Arden, Regis (of the Fauna Foundation), Gordo (in front of Regis), Kareem (of Project Chimps), and Digger with their nursery caregiver. Photo found in the book “From Elephants to Mice” by Dr. James Mahoney.

 

When LEMSIP closed in 1996, Gordo and several others were sent to the Wildlife Waystation in Southern California. When he arrived, he lived in a small group including Mave and her longtime cagemate Goliath. According to the records we received, Gordo was separated from the group due to fighting with Goliath and placed in a group with Cy, Rayne, and Lucky, with Terry and Dora joining shortly afterward. This group would remain intact all the way through 2021, when Wildlife Waystation closed and the group, known as the Lucky Six, moved to Washington State to call Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest home.

Though I consistently tell everyone Lucky was the first chimp I met when this group arrived, it was actually Gordo I technically first met. When the ramp of the trailer carrying the chimps came down, we were trying to decide the logistics of who to unload anf bring doors first. When I stepped foot inside the trailer, the first transport cage I walked in front of had a chimp breathy panting and butt pressed up to the caging asking for reassurance. I asked who this was and J.B. replied, “Gordo.” The butt pressed to caging thing hasn’t ended and is a now a classic trait Gordo does when he wants reassurance from the caregivers. This doesn’t happen often. As when he first arrived, Gordo still does prefer the company and attention of his groupmates over the humans’, though now he has definitely opened up more to the humans since.

One of the first things we learned about Gordo was his affinity for boxes.

Gordo has really adopted the mantra of “If I fits, I sits!”

Also, “Even if I don’t fits, I sits!”

How did I end up being the one to write about Gordo? Easy. If there were a personality quiz that lined me up to any of the chimps, I am confident I would align with Gordo more than any other chimp living at the sanctuary. Like to socialize, but also love alone time, especially after socializing. Likes to stay out of drama, but also can’t stop watching drama… and maybe egging it on sometimes depending on mood. Mostly serious, but sometimes goofy. Independent but fiercely loyal. Laugh at our own jokes. Yup. I would definitely align with a Gordo personality trait.

One of the jokes Gordo plays on me is spitting at me at every meal service. I know they’re jokes and not out of anger or spite because Gordo has two very different spits. Similar to several others here, like Foxie, Honey B, and Terry among them, there are two spit settings. There’s the very accurate and small spits. These are attention getters or calls to play. Then there’s the mouthful, high rate, high area coverage types of spitting. These are the ones that show discontent. On average, I would say I get maybe 15-20 spits on average from Gordo and any meal I’m serving.

After serving a meal to Gordo, I usually come out looking like this:

He has remarkable aim, if you’re wondering. He usually runs away chuckling after a spit, usually running away to load up on with more water. To be fair, if the roles were reversed, I would probably do the same to him too because I think he would understand.

Gordo is indeed a funny, funny guy! I am so grateful for the 7 supporters who call him a Chimp Pal! If you would also like to become Gordo’s Pal be sure to sign up! All you support helps provide care for Gordo and the other residents of the sanctuary. I hope through these blogs you get to know Gordo like how I know him!