Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
It was a quiet day for the chimps but a busy day for the humans. So enjoy today’s photo dump of random moments from the last few days.
Cy & Dora enjoying some downtime:
Lucky, saving this pepper for later:
Negra getting her beauty sleep:
Willy B brings his emotional support slinky to watch TV:
Due to her mobility issues, Negra has been camping out by herself overnight in the front rooms. Just as she would do in her favorite spot on the playroom catwalk, she’s been building comfortable nests with her fleece blankets and pulling one blanket over herself to block out the outside world. When we come to work in the morning, she’s…not quite ready for the day to begin. But that’s nothing a little amateur tap dancing can’t take care of.
Our deer herds have been gathering lately into a mega-herd of as many as 40 individuals. Lucky took an interest when some members of this herd strolled by the Bray this afternoon.
My day began with George and Dora tickling, wrestling, and laughing in the front rooms. Later in the afternoon, George was in demand again out on the Bray. Gordo is so happy to have a new buddy!
I wanted to punctuate the news about Negra with some other daily clips. We were certainly hoping that Negra would bounce back quickly. We first noticed Negra’s weakened legs (even more weak than they normally are) following a brief conflict in her group.
Since arriving, she’s had bowed knees and walked on the outside of her feet. You know she’s not one to exert herself very much. I’ve often marveled, over the years, at how those little legs of hers keep her upright.
She’s clearly having more trouble these last few days, though she doesn’t seem to be in pain, and she’s choosing to climb and move from space to space. We don’t want her to be in a position with the group where she feels she needs to run or jump, which happens fairly frequently with Burrito’s energy and Jamie’s bossiness (interestingly, Jamie very rarely challenges Negra, but when Jamie is mad at someone else, Negra often gets pulled into the drama). Dr. Erin is on the case, of course. She’s adjusting meds, reviewing footage, watching Negra move, and consulting with all of us and others.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried, but I’ve been worried about Negra since the day I met her over eighteen years ago when she was still living in that windowless basement. She seemed frail and old then at 35!
On the positive side, Negra has been in a good mood. She’s handing out back-of-the-hand kisses to staff and volunteer caregivers like she was in a kissing booth.
And she is enjoying the opportunity to eat at Negra-pace, away from the group, which is very, very slowly, with food tucked in her nest for later.
There are many videos we take that never make it to the blog because they just aren’t long enough. As the blog title suggests, today’s blog video is a really random compilation of short videos of sanctuary life. Enjoy!
10 months ago, George arrived at the sanctuary. Now, he lives with six other chimpanzees full-time and lives an entirely different life.
The other day, I caught George in an epic play session with Dora, which led to one with Gordo, then Rayne, then Cy, then Gordo, then Cy, then Rayne….. and so on.
George was truly spoiled for choice.
Spring is definitely in the air in Cle Elum, so much so that I can even hear the frogs making a ruckus in the pond by the cattle pasture! Let’s bid adieu to winter with a look back at some of the volunteers and interns who helped make the colder months more comfortable for the chimpanzees and our grateful staff. We included these photos in our weekly “Thank You” email updates to our volunteers throughout the winter and I thought it would be nice to share them as a collection.
Parker, Jay, Jordan and Nancy giving Honey B something to intensely stare at during her lunches.
Brandon keeping on top of the laundry folding:
Cristina scrubbing smoothie splatter off the walls in the kitchen:
Debbie sorting Foxie’s dolls:
Parker squeegeeing Playroom 3:
Lori showing off her sweeping skills:
Burrito playing tug-o-war with one of his best caregiver friends Elizabeth.
To learn more about our volunteer program or fill out a volunteer application, check out our website!
Today I am sharing some morning playtime outtakes from the recent “Play & Politics” blog, these didn’t make the final cut but they tell an important story. There was simply too much footage of the group playing, and enjoying each other’s company that we couldn’t fit it all in the original video.
