Turn up your volume and take a sensory journey with Jody as she guzzles her prized fresh coconut (video from last week’s party).
Mave’s Birthday Party!
Chad (our enrichment coordinator) planned Mave a special Hawaiian themed birthday party featuring pineapple bowls, banana leaves, a sand table and young coconuts! As you’ll see in the video, the coconuts in particular were a huge hit! Happy 32nd birthday to the delightful Mave!
Revitalizing Rain
We have had a remarkably dry spring this year in Central Washington. Fortunately for all things green at the sanctuary, we actually got a nice downpour of rain just before lunch today. During the precipitation, I went over to visit the “California 3” to see what they were up to. Mave and Honey B were putting one of their new playrooms to good use, grooming together on one of the leaf-like platforms that branch off from the large steel trees in the center of the room.
Meanwhile Willy B, who is always interested when a camera screen is nearby, helped supervise me from his nest in the Mezzanine.
This afternoon the rain cleared and it’s time for more outdoor adventures. Here’s Jamie with her tumbleweed that she collected with the intent of grooming new caregiver Sam:
Happy Thursday everyone, hope your day was just as refreshing!
Training (the humans)
Our new team members Sam and Sofía have been rocketing through our staff training program this week. Regardless of their background or prior experience, all new trainees start by learning (or re-learning, in Sam and Sofia’s case) our daily routine. They’re refreshing themselves on enrichment prep, laundry, making meals, and of course, cleaning the chimpanzees’ enclosures from top to bottom. Perhaps the most important part of their training right now is memorizing the map of all the doors that we operate in the building and learning the checks process so we can safely enter enclosures (without the chimpanzees being present).
Next up for Sam and Sofia’s training is getting to know the chimpanzees! After becoming door “checks reliable,” they will start serving meals and interacting with the chimps under (fully-trained)staff supervision and gradually phase into doing these tasks safely on their own.
The final hurdle before staff members graduate to “fully trained” in the Chimp House is learning to operate the remote pneumatic/hydraulic doors that we use when shifting the chimpanzees from one space to another (and all the safety guidelines that come along with this responsibility). This final stage of training is also when they will start being “Lead Caregivers” for the day. They will be in charge of keeping the routine moving along for the day and that’s the time when you will start seeing their blog posts pop up on your screen!
Welcome (back) Sam and Sofía!
All the waaaaaay back in January we had the pleasure of announcing that we were looking for 2 new staff members to come on board in time for the arrival of the incoming group of chimpanzees. This past week we excitedly welcomed Samantha (Sam) and Sofía as our newest teammates! While they are the most recently hired employees at CSNW, they certainly aren’t strangers at the sanctuary. They are both former interns and Central Washington University Masters graduates that are returning to us after gaining further valuable experience in the outside world.
Sam returns to CSNW as a full-time caregiver after working for several years as a caregiver at Project Chimps, a sanctuary located in Northern Georgia. She brings with her a wealth of experience working with a large population of chimpanzees that come from biomedical research.
Sofía is back at the sanctuary as part of our caregiving and veterinary team. In addition to her past primate experience at CSNW and CWU, she has many years of experience working in the animal science and veterinary fields. Oh and she happens to love cattle, a passion that will come in handy around here!
I will let Sam and Sofía tell you more about themselves in their own future blogs, but for now, please join me in giving them a warm welcome back to the sanctuary!
Bonus! Negra looked pretty glorious picking edible plants on Young’s Hill this morning: 
Earth Day
This morning the chimpanzees looked absolutely heavenly with the beautiful grassy backdrop that was Young’s Hill. Being surrounded on all sides by green seems like the absolute perfect way to celebrate Earth Day don’t you think?
“The Earth is what we all have in common.”
—Wendell Berry
Happy Earth Day everyone!
An ode to Foxie
Foxie is a unique character at the sanctuary. She is equal parts friendship and independence, with a dash of eccentricity thrown in for good measure. She loves fresh fruit and creamy avocados and has never said no to a morning smoothie. It’s a rare sight to see Foxie without a prized (and well loved) doll close by. She protects her friends and is remarkably brave, despite her skeptical nature. Foxie’s playful energy is a contagious delight within her chimpanzee family and she brings joy to all who know her. Cheers to Foxie Chimpanzee on this fine spring day in April!
