Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chad de Bree

All Season Burrito

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My phone has been angry at me the past week or so. The memory is near capacity and it sometimes refuses to run some apps. The culprit of the memory consumption? Photos and video. Though I upload them to a cloud drive, I still have them on my phone because you never know when you’re going to need one to send to some one. It’s (personally) tough to purge the photos and video from my phone. As I delete 100, I take 100 more the next day I arrive at work. But, as I try to better myself at deleting things off my phone and trust the cloud drive, I found several videos of Burrito and I running around Young’s Hill over the past year. Watching these over again, I realized something. Every season is running season for Burrito! Please enjoy this montage of him running around Young’s Hill in the various seasons of Washington State.

Here are some bonus photos I took today and yesterday:

Foxie watching the produce delivery this morning from Young’s Hill.

Negra in the Greenhouse while the others venture out on their first patrol of the morning.

Jody foraging for some pine branches and wild roses on Young’s Hill this afternoon.

Jamie with her sweet pepper haul yesterday during Missy’s birthday.

Annie with her sweet potato haul yesterday.

 

Today’s Forecast: Rayne

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So there wasn’t any rain in today’s forecast, though I think everyone would appreciate some in the state, but there is Rayne!

There are so many aspects about Rayne that remind us of Honey B. The stare she gives you. Her confidence in knowing what she wants and likes. And catch her at the right angle and you would be fooled on who is who. Let’s not forget they are biological sisters.

Though Rayne and her group have been here over a month and they have shown us a great deal of their personalities, we really are still finding new things out about them. One thing we are learning about Rayne, she seems to love food puzzles. Just like Honey B.

Rayne with three Boomer Balls

As Anthony has mentioned before, Rayne and Friends are a little bit more destructive than we had anticipated when it comes to their enrichment. So we have been slowly been introducing them to new things, one-by-one. Boomer Balls have been the latest.

Speaking of new things, we recently found one Burrito seems to absolutely love now: KONG Zoo! A gigantic Kong!

With Burrito still recovering from his recent incident, we decided to give him two of his favorite new thing he was introduced to before the incident. When he has these, he can be found dragging them along with him, throwing them up in the air, rolling them along, and bouncing on them like a hopper ball.

Here are some of the photos I took when he first got a hold of the gigantoids before the incident:

Jamie also seemed to really like them when they were first introduced.

As posted yesterday, the introduction process between Rayne and her group, and Mave and hers has begun. And please bear with us through this process as they can make for a long day. As mentioned in yesterday’s post, we will most likely just be sharing some highlights of the process. We try to get photos and video if we can, but it’s important to give them the space they need to try to form a relationship without our interference or distraction.

The highlight for today was Mave met Rayne today.

They spent a lot of time grooming one another and reassuring each other when the neighbors were rowdy. Similar to yesterday’s meeting with Terry, Rayne didn’t seem to want to leave Mave, and Mave didn’t seem to want to leave Rayne when we thought they were ready to move on, so we gave them some more time until we knew they were ready. Overall it was a very positive meeting between the two.

Mave also met Cy today as well. Cy spent a lot of time grooming Mave and trying to get her to play with him. Just as with Terry, Mave was a tad hesitant to play with the big guy at first, though she did. But her preference was grooming, which Cy obliged. Overall a positive meeting between them as well.

After their meeting, Cy went back to perusing through his magazines.

It was an eventful day for all, so I hope you all have a great night!

Some bonus photos:

Missy trying to spy on the new neighbors
Foxie during her morning patrol of Young’s hill
Lucky sitting on the firehose in one of the front rooms

National Watermelon Day!

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Today is National Watermelon Day! A day in which we celebrate that delicious sweet summertime treat. Watermelon is the perfect treat during hot summer days because they are comprised of 92% water and are delectable.

Today, we decided to give the chimpanzee residents some of this delicious fruit for lunch and as an afternoon snack served up on some crushed ice!

Missy eating her lunchtime watermelon.

Cy enjoying his while trying to convince the humans to also play with him.

Negra about to dig in to her watermelon shaved ice.

Mave enjoying her iced treat.

Honey B inspecting her watermelon ice boat…

Before digging in.

Terry snacking on his afternoon snack.

Jamie being served her watermelon boat.

I was able to get that photo, before I was promptly reminded that is wasn’t photo time, but play time.

And as a bonus, a photo I took of Lucky watching me from the other side of the window as I cleaned the Mezzanine today.

Hi-Diddly-Ho, Neighborino!

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As you may have heard, the quarantine period for the Lucky Six has ended. This means we are able to give them access to different areas, while still keeping them separate from Willy B, Honey B, and Mave. So today, we gave Willy B and crew access back to one of the playrooms and greenhouses as well as the front rooms and outdoor chute, while Cy and gang were given the other playroom, greenhouse, and mezzanine. It was filled with a lot of firsts. The two groups met each other closer than they have been able to since being here. It was also the first time Cy and gang were able to check out the upstairs mezzanine.

With this, we know the question will be ask if and when they two groups will be merged. Something like that that takes a lot of careful planning, which we are currently doing. At this time, we do not know an exact date, but when the times comes, you will be sure to know.

Here are some photos from today:

Willy B looking out into one of the Greenhouses through the window.
Cy reading one of his magazines in the Mezzanine!

Mave looking down at her neighbors from the platform in her playroom.
Dora testing out different spots in the Mezzanine!

Betsy’s Bovine Birthday Bash!

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It’s a week of celebrations! Yesterday we celebrated Gordo’s 33rd birthday. Today we are celebrating Betsy’s 14th birthday!

If you remember from last year, we had tried to do something special for the cattle on their birthdays, which usually didn’t end the way we wanted them to.

Today, Kelsi and I decided we wanted to try again. We took the service Gator up to the barn to grab some COB (corn, oats, and barely) and alfalfa pellets to bring to sweet Betsy to celebrate her day.

As we drove onto the pasture to meet them, Betsy was the first to be alert to something new in the back of the Gator. When she realized what it was, she wanted all of it. We were able to make sure Nutmeg, Honey, and Meredith were also able to get some.

We all truly love the cattle here! Every one is uniquely special to us. We often look back at their lives and get into “Awww” mode when we find some of the old photos of their time at Farm Sanctuary. And since this particular page is titled “Betsy: Dairy Survivor, Reality TV Star, Devoted Mother, and Beloved Friend” I thought today would be a good day to share it.

Happy Birthday, Betsy! Here’s to 14 years, and many more to come!

Nutmeg and Betsy eating together.
Betsy eating some hay.
She’s a forest cow now!
Eating with her family from the back of the Gator.
Happy Birthday, Betsy!

And as one final message, Diana wants you all to know that she hears you about wanting a better blog commenting system, so she’s currently looking into options. If there are other websites that you comment on that have the features you like, feel free to contact Diana ([email protected]) as she investigates possibilities. And don’t forget to subscribe to the blog the new way if you haven’t already. Thanks!

World Chimpanzee Day 2021!

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If we look straight and deep into a chimpanzee’s eyes, an intelligent self-assured personality looks back at us. If they are animals, what must we be?”

-Frans de Waal

Honey B

Today is World Chimpanzee Day!

Several organizations within the sanctuary, zoo, education, and conservation worlds came together to create a day to honor our closest living relatives and to use the day to spread awareness of issues they face both in the wild and captivity.

July 14th was chosen as the honorary day because it was on this day in 1960, Jane Goodall first stepped foot in Tanzania to study chimpanzees. Though she had received backlash at first, her discoveries forced researchers to look at chimpanzees differently, and not just as another animal. From then, we have begun to truly see just how close of a living relative we are.

There are many things you can do to be an advocate for chimpanzees. You can donate to your favorite conservation organization, share your favorite sanctuary on social media, talk about your favorite chimpanzee to family, discuss what is a good social media post is and what is bad to friends, and the list goes on! To find out more about World Chimpanzee Day and how you can help, please check out World Chimpanzee Day!

We are truly honored as caregivers to know the 16 chimpanzees who call Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest home!

Burrito after one of our runs around Young’s Hill yesterday! (Did I actually tire him out? No. He immediately shot right back up after he saw me take this photo.)
Rayne watching a train pass by earlier this week!
Queen Negra!
Willy B getting lost in the grass finding some nuts in the Courtyard! He still hasn’t quite gotten used to the grass, though he will venture on it in short spurts.
Jamie adoring a raspberry branch she found in today’s browse!
Jody also enjoying a raspberry branch she found!
Cy soaking in some sun on the log in one of the new greenhouses!
Gordo enjoying his sugar snap peas during lunch this past Monday!
Mave! Is more of a caption needed?
Foxie, followed by Jody, Missy, Annie, and Jamie during today’s morning patrol around Young’s Hill.
Foxie, again!
Lucky in a box!
Terry!
Dora!
Honey B and Mave grooming in the outdoor chute!
Annie venturing out onto Young’s Hill!
Missy during dinner today!

Thank you all to our followers and supporters for always supporting, advocating, and honoring these magnificent individuals!

One Hot Day

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Today was the hottest day in our forecast reaching triple digits as the Pacific Northwest is currently trapped in a Heat Dome. As the temperature began to rise, caregivers were quick to offer the chimpanzees some solace in the this scorching weather. There were tons of icy treats, cool refreshing drinks, fans, and misters for the chimpanzees to enjoy.

Burrito, Jamie, and Jody enjoy a pool filled with Gatorade and ice inside their playroom.

Willy B also enjoyed ice in a Rock Around toy.

Mave (I personally think) had the best idea. Find the best place to lay down next to a sandbox (minus the sand) filled with Gaotrade and ice, take a few drinks, and lay the ice cubes on the floor next to you and enjoy at your leisure.

As we are still trying to get to know the new group of chimpanzees, we were curious what their decisions would be. For the most part, most of them have been spending a lot of time in their greenhouses usually grooming or napping.

Rayne and Gordo taking it easy in the shade.

Dora sitting in the shady spot right underneath the greenhouse platform.

Gordo on the same log amongst the bamboo with the stem from his breakfast bananas.

As the day began to come to an end, I was able to gather these last minute photos of how some of the chimpanzees were dealing with the last minute heat.

Negra ate her portion of dinner bell peppers inside.

Willy B, Honey B, and Mave spent the rest of the afternoon in a grooming party inside.

Can you spot everyone in this photo?

And Dora enjoying her evening food puzzle, a Kong, inside one of her playrooms.

As a bonus, a photo from yesterday I was able to get of Terry with fistfuls of beets and carrots.

And as one final bonus, a photo of Lucky (left) and Dora (right) exploring their greenhouse on the day they arrived here.