Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Diana

The story of the fire part 1

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It’s difficult to know just what to do right now. Things still feel overwhelming, but are slowly getting back to normal. Soon we’ll be able to sit down and talk about how we can be even more prepared for future emergencies – equipment we might need, etc. In the meantime, I felt that it was important to document what happened while it was still fresh in our minds. So, here goes part one:

Monday started out like any other summer day in Cle Elum. It was hot and windy. Jackie and Elizabeth were working in the chimp house. They were planning on using an exciting new donation – a snow cone maker – to make a special treat for the chimps during the peak of the heat in the afternoon.

J.B. and I had a day off, and I slept in. We live in the caregiver house on the sanctuary grounds, and we were planning on doing an easy hike in the afternoon. I was taking my time, making us later than planned (very typical). We finally let Jackie and Elizabeth know we were leaving the property and got into the car to drive to the trail head around 1:00. We smelled smoke, as though there was a brush fire close by, and we questioned (ok, cursed) why anyone would be burning this time of year under the dry and windy conditions.

When we reached the Taylor Bridge construction area to the west of the sanctuary grounds a couple of minutes later, we saw a flame under the half-reconstructed bridge. There were no fire crews. We pulled over and got out of the car. There was a construction crew member trying to shovel dirt on the fire and other crew members running around moving things out of the way. Another car pulled over near us and someone got out and was taking photos. The fire was quickly getting out of hand. I figured there would be a fire truck any minute and it would be all over. J.B. was clearly worried.

We turned the car around, drove a little ways back towards the sanctuary property, and pulled over again. We heard sirens approaching, and saw the fire engulf a tree, spreading flames many feet into the air. We were less than a mile from the chimp house. I was starting to get worried, but still thought things could be handled quickly with a fire truck. J.B. had entered a new state of worry and began implementing our emergency protocols. He called Elizabeth at the chimp house and told her the situation. He said she needed to bring the chimps into the building, which was designed to be fire-resistant, and close all of the doors and windows to seal out smoke, then she and Jackie should both start watering the grounds outside of the building. Then he called Sarah to let her know what was happening. She was at home in Roslyn, a town about 15 miles away.

We got back in the car and headed to the property as J.B. called our neighbors on both sides to warn them about the fire that was coming our way.

When we got home a minute later, we decided I would prepare to get our dog Honey B and  two cats, Peanut and Lou Lou, out of the house and J.B. would begin to water down the cedar shake roof of the house, then we’d go to the chimp house and help Jackie and Elizabeth, who had quickly gotten the chimps secured in the building and had the hoses out. I got the two cat carriers out from the garage and put them, along with Honey B’s leash, in the bathroom of the house and then went to the chimp house, where I joined in the watering of the grounds outside of the building. I reassured Elizabeth that it was all just a precaution and everything would be fine.

The smell of the smoke was getting stronger and we could see it rise above the trees. The wind was blowing northeast about 30 miles an hour. My sense of time was already becoming distorted, but it seemed like just minutes later when we saw a fire truck and a water tanker pull into our neighbor’s property to the west, about 1,000 feet away. Then we saw the ridge above his property in flames…

fire on ridge

Above photo: the flames on the ridge above our neighbor’s property

I am going to leave things here for now, but will continue the story soon. I don’t mean to leave it at a dramatic moment – I just want to get away from the computer and go say hello to the chimps. Luckily, you know it all ends with no one getting harmed.

Everyone in the path of the fire has their own story, some are nothing less than tragic. We encourage you to not only support the sanctuary’s road to recovery, but also reach out to help with donations to others in the area. We’ll be posting soon about how to do that.

UPDATE: Read Part 2

Still fighting (and playing!)

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I posted the below on our Facebook page about an hour ago. Our internet connection is off and on, and it seems easier to post there for some reason, so be sure to check our page and share our status updates that way: www.Facebook.com/ChimpSanctuary.

In that hour, we’ve fought off some more hot spots on and around our property and prepared for the next round. The winds were very minimal overnight and this morning, but have picked up again, making it easier for smoldering ground to turn into active flames. It’s all under control and we remain vigilant.

Here’s the update:

First and foremost, the chimpanzees are doing well. Perhaps slightly shell-shocked as evidenced by their staring at the grounds around the chimp house, but otherwise playful and very pleased with getting bottles of water and Gatorade. We are dealing with two major issues today:

1) the well water contamination, which we’re still working to figure out. In the meantime we are purchasing potable wat
er for the chimps and humans to drink and using non-potable water to spot clean inside the chimp house. Volunteers are taking laundry offsite to wash.

2) hot spots on the property by the driveway caused by tree roots that are still slowly burning. We are learning a lot about fire containment thanks to the help of Tim Perciful, who has provided advice and loaned us some tools. Our gator is now the official fire hot spot response vehicle!

We thank everyone who has helped by donating time and resources. If you want help, really the best way is to make financial donations (just click the donate button above or use this link: http://chimpsdonate.kintera.org/). We’ll continue to keep you updated!

Loving Negra & Shopping for Sanctuaries

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First – there’s still time to shop until your heart’s content at many fabulous businesses that are giving 10% of their proceeds to the Sanctuary Century 100-mile charity bike ride in Portland that will benefit Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Hope Animal Sanctuary and Out to Pasture Sanctuary. Lots of the participating businesses are online, so there’s no excuse not to blow some money on chocolate, vegan food-stuffs, clothes, jewelry and more. If you’re on Facebook, go to the Sanctuary Century 10% Fundraiser Day event page and hit “more” to see the list of participating businesses. If you’re not on Facebook, you can see a not-quite-complete list of businesses on this announcement from Herbivore Clothing Company. You can also just make a straight-up donation here: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/TheSanctuaryCentury/thesanctuarycentury2012

Now that you’ve shopped or are getting ready to shop or donate, below are some precious photos from today of J.B. interacting with Negra. It’s a very special occurrence to have these tender moments with Negra because she is the least interactive with her caregivers and often does not like to be touched.

We respect Negra’s wishes and only touch her when she asks to be groomed, which the chimpanzees do by pushing their bodies against the caging. We are big fans of safety at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, and we only do physical interactions with the chimps that do not put ourselves in a position to be bitten or grabbed, so that means that our fingers (or anything else attached to us, for that matter) never enter the fencing when the chimps have access to the other side.

JB grooming Negra's back

 

Negra was really enjoying this attention from J.B., as you’ll see from the three photos below. The chimps know the rules as well as we do, so they know what to expect when a human (only trained caregivers!) touches them, and they choose which parts of their body to present. They have each other for the big hugs and intense grooming sessions that help keep them a cohesive group of chimpanzees – they don’t rely on or need us for that.

JB groom Negra's neck

JB grooms Negra's belly

JB grooms Negra's belly 2

 

We’ve mentioned “getting kisses” from the chimps before. You can see what we mean by this in these two photos. You’ll notice that the only parts of J.B.’s body that he is letting Negra kiss are his elbow and the the back of his hand, and Negra sticks her lips out of the fencing in order to touch J.B., making things safe. This also allows Negra to invite J.B. to be kissed by putting her lips outside of the fencing, so we know when she’s looking for that kind of interaction and when she isn’t. Negra was giving J.B. some pretty long kisses today. Eventually, I felt like I might be intruding on a personal moment between them, so I decided to take the camera and let them have their privacy.

Negra kisses JB's elbow

Negra kises JB's hand

 

Brave Burrito, Cute Foxie, Smart Jamie

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The video in this post shows the smartness of Jamie and the cuteness of Burrito and Foxie. Burrito, by the way, was a brave explorer again today on Young’s Hill. We came in early to let the chimps out on the hill while it was still pretty cool outside. Burrito went exploring for quite a while – on his own and with Jamie. It’s interesting to see Jamie and Burrito together, because they are definitely not the closest of friends.

OK, first a photo of Burrito.

Burrito on the hill

And now the video, which was taken later, after we cleaned the playroom and set out the enrichment for the day:

Roslyn Troll and Doggie Olympics

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The weather was great. The competition was fierce. The times were good.

Supporter Monica B. found the BEST EVER mascot for the Roslyn Olympics. Meet Stanley the Troll Dog:

stanley

Check out some more of the photos from the Roslyn Olympics that J.B. took:

3 legged race

troll guess

troll toss 1

troll toss 2

trollphies

troll toss winners

3 legged race winners

troll relay

champions

Who’s coming next year? We’re going to try to get the park on the 2nd week in July on a Saturday. Big thanks to ARRF Animal Rescue and the sponsors of the 2012 games!

 

Pinterest Challenge Update

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I’ve mailed out quite a few misprinted t-shirts this last week to eager crafters across the country. I can’t wait to see the projects that everyone comes up with!

We still have plenty of t-shirts left, so check out the challenge on the blog and on Pinterest. Share it with others, and email me ([email protected]) to get your shirts.

I’m planning on making the deadline for getting projects back to us September 10th – Annie’s birthday. How does that sound?

 

Pinterest Craft Challenge

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I would call myself a Pinterest dabbler at this point. Aside from the endless recipes, I’m amazed by the craftiness of the pins that I’ve seen.

So, I had a thought today…

We have a BUNCH of misprinted t-shirts. We’ve had them since October 2009 and just haven’t come up with a way to use all of them.

Seems like a challenge perfect for crafters, whether they’re on Pinterest or not. It’ll be simple – I’ll mail you a shirt or shirts, you create something (bonus points for creating something the chimps will love), you send us back your creation, we’ll share it with others on Pinterest and vote on the best. We’ll come up with some prizes too. If appropriate, we’ll give your creation to the chimps to see what they make of it.

Go to the link of the pin on Pinterest that explains the challenge and share widely with your crafty friends. The more creations we get, the more fun it will be. I’ll set the deadline based on the interest we get in the project.

 

Here’s a photo of the shirts:

messed up t-shirt photo

The printer reversed the image on the shirts, which resulted in a demon-like image of Jody (too scary to show in full view). We don’t want people walking around wearing the shirts and we don’t want to do anything with them that preserves that image, though cutting the image out and using the web address would be okay.

Ready to craft? Just email me ([email protected]) and tell me how many shirts you need. I’ll answer any questions you have and give you some more guidelines if you want to make something for the chimps.