Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Anna

It’s National Volunteer Week!

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This week is National Volunteer Week! Volunteering and interning at a chimpanzee sanctuary is rarely glamorous. It requires hard work, dedication, and deep empathy. And yet, time and time again, our volunteers and interns walk trough the front gate with those qualities and more. Each week we send out a quick thank you email to our sanctuary team with a photo of someone in action to celebrate any recent accomplishments (big or small). I thought I would share a few of the behind the scenes photos taken from our “Thank you of the week” emails.

Please join me in thanking our volunteers and interns for all their compassion and commitment to our residents. We are beyond thrilled to be working with you!

   

For more info on how to get involved in our volunteer program, please visit our website.

All about interns!

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This spring we enthusiastically welcomed 6 new interns to the sanctuary as part of our relationship with the Primate Behavior program at Central Washington University. CWU students start as Level 1 interns where they work 3 hours a week in our kitchen and foyer spaces, helping us do laundry, make enrichment, prepare the chimpanzee’s meals, etc.  If they are seeking to earn a Captive Care Certificate, interns move on to do Level 2 training at the sanctuary their next quarter. As Level 2 interns, they spend 6 hours a week learning to clean enclosures alongside staff (in addition to the tasks they learned as a Level 1). There’s also a bit of down time here and there allowing for some special moments of chimp observation. Here are just a few of our interns in action this past year.

Sienna organizing:

Cy staring intensely into Quaid’s eyes:

Katie scattering a forage:

KC mopping the kitchen:

Bonus! Gordo and Negra:

 

Two reasons to celebrate!

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Today just so happens to be two special occasions worthy of acknowledgement around here…

First off, it’s the first Thursday of April which means it’s National Burrito Day! We thank the creators of this day because it gives us just one more reason to celebrate our very own Burrito Chimpanzee!  Burrito spent his own personal holiday wildly bouncing one of his orange plastic balls, watching his favorite YouTube videos and being his usual charming self.

Happy National Burrito Day to all who celebrate. Here are a few more photos of that handsome guy!

 

Our second reason to celebrate is that it’s Dr. Jane Goodall’s 91st birthday today!

From Dr. Goodall’s official Facebook page: “This April 3rd, honor Jane’s 91st birthday by joining #GoodAllDay. Take a positive action—whether big or small—that makes the world a little better for people, other animals, and the planet we all share. Because every act of hope, no matter how small, has the power to change the world.”

What was your positive action to make the world a better place today? Share in the comments!

Bonus Willy B and Lucky photos from today:

A Miss-lead morning

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There comes a day in every caregiver’s career where you see a certain look in a chimpanzee’s eye.  The look of total determination from concentrate. If you see this look, you immediately know… your day just got a lot more complicated and you have a stubborn shifter on your hands. Missy is an infamously headstrong shifter and often chooses to stay in an enclosure rather than letting us close it off so we can safely enter it for morning cleaning. Over the years she has relaxed some and mostly chooses to shift with her group, but every now and then, the old obstinate Missy show’s her freckly face and we have to come up with a plan B for cleaning. Today was one of those days and she stayed in the Playroom at breakfast. Of course, she was perfectly happy to shift a bit later in our routine for a head of romaine lettuce so it all worked out in the end.

We all have a Missy in our life who adds just a little bit of challenge and keeps things interesting. A tip of the hat on this Tuesday to Missy and those with a similar strong will.

Unlike mother, unlike daughter

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Last week I went over the similarities between Missy and Honey B, the mother and daughter chimpanzees that live at CSNW. If you missed the blog, be sure to check it out here.

The major difference between Honey B and Missy is their relationship with caregivers. Honey B is significantly more interactive with her caregivers. It feels like she is always watching us and hyper aware of what we’re up to, sometimes plotting a mischievous “prank” to steal a cleaning tool. Nothing gets by Honey B.

Missy is more of a chimp’s chimp. She seemingly has little time and interest in our activities and would rather spend her day with her group mates, up and away from the human goings on.

Honey B:

Missy being groomed by Annie

Missy is an outdoorsy adventurous person and is often found sprinting up Young’s Hill. Honey B, on the other hand is more cautious. She has just recently started to go out on the Bray and hasn’t yet graduated to “explorer” status (all in good time though).

Missy:

Honey B venturing out: