Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for April 2026

Sock It to Me: A Willy B Story

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One thing about about Willy B, he rarely seems to get bored. He takes enrichment items that might be ignored by the other chimps and turns it into an hour of fun and play. In today’s blog video, he has a sock that was gifted to him by caregiver Diana for ‘Love a Chimpanzee Day’, and is his usual Willy B fashion he turns a simple sock into a game for himself and caregiver Kelsi.

Willy B Decoded

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Willy B is a creative spirit. You could even say innovative. Because of those qualities, he has absolutely no problem entertaining himself! Especially, if what he is doing is loud and slightly chaotic, it’s all the better for him. It’s just an environment he thrives in best. It would come to no surprise that when he keeps himself occupied, the games that he comes up with are just so Willy B coded: bouncy balls being thrown in all directions, boxes being dragged along the floor, slinkies being thrown around, or bouncing a giant tub again the wall. It’s just Willy B!

 

Introducing Bruce

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Let’s start with some news. The owner of the West Coast Game Park Safari, where George lived before we provided a home for him last year, plead guilty to 47 criminal charges, 43 specifically for animal neglect. His sentencing is scheduled for July. You can read more about this development in several media stories, including this piece from OPB.

Now, let’s get to the charming subject of this blog post: Bruce!

Bruce is cat who has been frequenting the sanctuary grounds for several months. He seemed rather feral at first, but he’s been showing us his softer side the last couple of weeks.

Jenna took this photo of him snuggling up to Ellen the other day:

Yesterday, I sat down with him for the first time in his newly-friendly state.

We think he’s just waiting for the support building to be built so he can sit on our laps while we work.

If you’ve been an avid blog-follower, you might be wondering about Barn Kitty (B.K,), who has been an on-again, off-again sanctuary presence for more than a decade. We haven’t seen him in several months. Sometimes he’s away for a while and makes a return. Perhaps this time Bruce is filling his void on a more permanent basis.

The Plum Tree Bandit

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Someone had been stealing branches from the ornamental plum tree we planted last year at the bottom of the Bray. Our forensics team scoured the ground around the tree for footprints, hoping for a hit off our database, but there were none. The list of suspects was long.

Honey B had the motive.

Willy B had the means.

George was seen in the vicinity on multiple occasions.

And wouldn’t you know, Gordo couldn’t provide an alibi for last Saturday.

One thing was clear—we were dealing with a pro.

My guess is that this tree, kindly donated by volunteer Patti (and destroyed by Rayne), is not long for this world. So I figured I should get some photos while it’s in bloom.

Here’s Mave and Willy B grooming.

And Mave returning from a walk.

Mave invited me for our usual Monday afternoon walk to the top of the Bray today. This has become one of those little rituals that I look forward to each week. But later in the afternoon, I saw that she had set off again all by herself. The only thing better than being included is knowing that she has developed the confidence to do it alone.