Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Diana

Be Mine, Betsy

by

Lovely Betsy Cow is one of the bovine family of four we currently have at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Just like the chimpanzees, each of the cattle have their own very distinct personalities and roles within their group.

Betsy, as the video says, is the quintessential “mom” – much like Jody was for her chimp friends before she passed away.

Betsy is so motherly that she nursed Meredith when Honey had mastitis and she continued to let Nutmeg nurse for years, even after he was twice her size!

Also similar to the chimpanzees, Betsy had a varied past before reaching sanctuary. We know that she was used in the dairy industry for a number of years. We don’t know how many calves she had in total before she was purchased, along with Honey Cow, to be part of a reality television called Utopia where urban folks were brought to a farm in California to learn how to live a rural life. The series didn’t last too long, and when it ended, the producer wanted to send pregnant Betsy and the rest of the family to a sanctuary rather than back to the dairy. So, Farm Sanctuary was contacted, and pregnant Betsy, Honey, and baby Meredith went to their northern California sanctuary.

In 2018, after acquiring some more land, we were contemplating rescuing farmed animals to graze on the greatly expanded pastures. It just so happened that Farm Sanctuary was shutting down their northern California site and looking to place Betsy and her family!

Betsy is someone who I liked right away. Some animals (including humans) take a while to get to know and need a lot of space. Not Betsy. Though she’s she’s very vigilant, she is also curious and is usually the first to approach new people (and lick them, if they will let her).

She’s also the most likely to boldly walk out of her space if there’s a gate open (something Jenna and I both know well now), while the rest of her family watches with more apprehension. She has no hesitation going into the creek to eat the greens there or dunk her face in some mud.

I am so glad that Betsy found her way to us. She has brought me joy  since the day she stepped off the trailer.

Thanks goes to her admirers and current Betsy Buddies: Monica, Jackie and (human) Betsy.

You too can help us celebrate all that Betsy embodies by becoming her Bovine Buddy!

Become a Bovine Buddy

Be Mine, Jamie

by

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times, Jamie is a complicated individual.

I love her for (and sometimes relate to) her complicated nature. She has intense interests in very specific things – like boots, and books, and bonobos. And occasional interest in even more things, like mummies.

She is demanding. She gets upset rather easily, and doesn’t shy from showing when she’s upset.

She loves pears, and smoothie, and food puzzles. She’s so intelligent, sometimes it’s scary.

Funny story about the above image – we used to give the chimpanzees raisin board food puzzles that were portable, but Jamie realized that she could use the space above the playroom doors to throw things at the humans from above. A flying boot is one thing, but a flying hunk of Trex is actually pretty dangerous. Since then, all of the raisin boards are on chains and affixed to the caging with a secure lock.

Jamie with food puzzle

I don’t fault Jamie for being on the grumpy and demanding side. She is in an unfair situation, and I think, more than other chimps (as I’ve written about before), she is aware that her situation is unfair.

Jamie began her life, as far as we know, living with an animal trainer. She spent nine years in this world of limbo – somewhere between being a chimpanzee and being a human, and then she was sold to a research facility where she was used for hepatitis testing. You can read more of Jamie’s story on her bio page on the website or this post from many years ago.

But today, Burrito worked his wiles on Jamie and got her to smile and play. Here is the video:

Today was a good day. A relaxed and playful day. But even a challenging day with Jamie is a gift.

For me, Jamie was an easy chimpanzee to fall in love with, despite her challenges:

Thank goodness I’m not alone. Huge thanks to Jamie’s current ten Pals: Monica, Donna, Pam & Marc, Carrie, Sharlene, Kris, Therese, Dusty, Cori, and Heidi.

More people should become Jamie’s Pal!! She is the boss, after all! If my words about her have moved you, perhaps you will become her pal or gift a pal sponsorship for someone you love in honor of the month of love.

Test Your Knowledge of Chimpanzees and Other Primates

by

We have something a little different for today’s blog post! Our education committee, which includes board members Tara, Lori, and Jessica, created a quiz for you!

Here’s the explanation and the quiz (below) from them:

If you have been a reader of our blog for any period of time, you know that CSNW’s mission is firmly rooted in caregiving and education. We enjoy sharing the daily stories from our staff members who spend their time cleaning, preparing food, and engaging with our family of chimpanzees and bovines. We also share behaviors of wild chimpanzees that we observe in our residents, reminding us that they could have lived freely in the wild had their fates not been overtaken by human intervention.

Informing our supporters is important to ensure that the public is aware of the plight of primates worldwide because awareness brings about action and action results in change. The kind of change that primates need is myriad, but the more people are aware, the more likely they are to donate, demand, and direct the results needed to protect primates and ensure their existence for generations. In contrast, unawareness or ignorance can misinform well-intentioned animal lovers, perpetuation harmful practices (lie roadside zoos, primates as pets, and use in biomedical research and entertainment) that can lead to lives of misery and even extinction.

Whether you are a donor, mission supporter, or a curious reader, we invite you to participate in an interactive series of upcoming blog posts that will focus on education about primates.

To start, we invite you to test your knowledge of chimpanzees and other primates by taking an anonymous quiz. Your responses will directly impact our educational outreach by identifying the topics on which we should focus on next.

Test your knowledge of chimpanzees and other primates at this link or directly on the quiz embedded below.

You can be an advocate for primates by sharing what you learn with your friends and family, further spreading accurate information and breaking common myths. Sharing our blog posts on your social media can have an exponential effect!

Small Moments

by

The other day, I was sitting with Terry. He was in one of the front rooms, and I sat on the other side of the mesh from him. He was very intent on grooming my right hand and my left boot. He was making his quiet lip-popping grooming noises that he does. No one else was around.

In some ways, it was an ordinary moment. I’ve had hundreds, I guess thousands now, of similar moments with chimpanzees.

For whatever reason, it struck me then how extraordinary that moment really was. That I was sitting with an individual of another species, so close to my own DNA, but so different at the same time. That he was being so gentle and quiet. That we were sharing this moment together. Communicating. Bonding. Trusting each other.

I remembered in that moment the first time that I met Terry at Wildlife Waystation. I remembered promising him that we were going to bring him to a new home with his friends and that he was going to have so many new experiences.

Our relationships as caregivers with the chimpanzees are so complicated, as I’ve mused about in the past (my first musing about this on this blog was July, 2008, which you can read here).

Every once in a while, at unexpected times, seemingly out of nowhere, I’m almost overwhelmed by the experience of being with one of the chimpanzees, and I recognize what a remarkable job I have stumbled into.

The promise I’ve made these chimpanzees, though Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, is their lifetime care. I didn’t understand all that came with that when I started, of course. You can’t foresee all of the challenges ahead nor how they will impact you – that goes for most of life. I don’t have control over all of what’s to come, but I can work to keep my promise.

In that moment with Terry, I silently renewed my promise to him. I will do everything I can to ensure that he has the care he deserves for whatever happens in his future, and I will work to fill his days with hope, love, adventure, and a sense of home.

Thank you for helping us fulfill this promise to Terry and everyone here.

In Memory of Karen Creason

by

Many of you know the names Margaret Parkinson and Karen Creason. Margaret and Karen were early donors to the sanctuary. We first met them in person when they came to the open house event before the first group of chimpanzees arrived in 2008.

I remember them pulling up in the driveway with their car overflowing with blankets and toys for the chimpanzees-to-come and balloons sticking up and whipping around in the wind above their sun roof.

They stepped out of the car with smiles a mile wide, laughing and full of joy.

In the early days, they were kitchen volunteers in the chimp house, baking treats, making night bags, doing laundry, and charming us all.

Over the years, J.B. and I managed to insert ourselves into their lives, which was quite easy because they were so welcoming and also overly complimentary of our work. If ever we were feeling overwhelmed or down, a call or visit with Margaret and Karen would lift our spirits immediately.

Karen would remark over and over how wonderful we were and how delightful it was to be together as we shared stories of the chimpanzees. She had a particular connection with Negra.

Karen had many interests, and we would often talk about current events or movies or documentaries. She was a collector, an advocate, an artist, and a writer, and she lit up when sharing her latest writings or treasured objects with us.

She and Margaret last visited the sanctuary together in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. Of course, for these two, a plain ordinary mask would not do…

Karen passed away on December 31st, Margaret’s birthday.

Margaret was with Karen through all the difficulties that aging and declining health introduced. Their lives together are an inspiration for what love, marriage, and commitment can be, and we feel so lucky that they happened into our lives.

If you would like to make a donation in Karen’s honor, you can do that on our donation page or by becoming a Pal to Negra. I will be sure to let Margaret know!

Whatcha got on your feet?

by

As demonstrated in this video, in addition to Jamie’s long-held love of boots, we can usually rely on Terry and Lucky (in the other group) to check out our footwear. Honey B is an all-around curious type. And I’ve noticed Mave is very keen on foot coverings, but she is more subtle about it.

Go ahead, give us your guesses as to why so many chimpanzees are fascinated by human shoes!

New Year’s Eve? New Climbing Structure!

by

Thank you to that long list of supporters in the video above who donated towards new climbing structures in the Comfort & Joy online auction. What a fabulous day for some new adventure! I hope you all are looking forward to new things with the turn of the calendar tomorrow.

We have had a lot of new things delivered to the sanctuary recently! A huge shout-out to everyone who has purchased items through our Amazon wish list this month. Even with the wonders of modern technology and the efficient delivery of packages, we often don’t know who sent us wish list items. So, if you don’t receive a personal thank  you, it might be because your name wasn’t included as the gift giver. This time of year, we have quite a backlog of thanking to do too, so perhaps a thank you is on the way. In either case, please know how grateful you are for thinking of the chimpanzees and providing them and the sanctuary with much needed and much loved items.

Big thanks also to everyone who has made a donation of cash or securities this month. It’s heartwarming to receive your year-end support and read your messages about how much the sanctuary means to you. We appreciate every dollar donated and will put it to good use in 2024. THANK YOU!