Please enjoy a random assortment of video clips from a beautiful weekend in Cle Elum at and around the sanctuary!
Introducing Bruce
Let’s start with some news. The owner of the West Coast Game Park Safari, where George lived before we provided a home for him last year, plead guilty to 47 criminal charges, 43 specifically for animal neglect. His sentencing is scheduled for July. You can read more about this development in several media stories, including this piece from OPB.
Now, let’s get to the charming subject of this blog post: Bruce!
Bruce is cat who has been frequenting the sanctuary grounds for several months. He seemed rather feral at first, but he’s been showing us his softer side the last couple of weeks.
Jenna took this photo of him snuggling up to Ellen the other day:
Yesterday, I sat down with him for the first time in his newly-friendly state.
We think he’s just waiting for the support building to be built so he can sit on our laps while we work.
If you’ve been an avid blog-follower, you might be wondering about Barn Kitty (B.K,), who has been an on-again, off-again sanctuary presence for more than a decade. We haven’t seen him in several months. Sometimes he’s away for a while and makes a return. Perhaps this time Bruce is filling his void on a more permanent basis.
What’s Happening in the Chimp House Today?
It was a delightfully “normal” day. If such a thing exists, when caring for sixteen chimpanzees. I hope you enjoy the video of a glimpse into the day!
Here’s that Dancing Queen in the sunshine
Today is Sponsored for HRH Negra
Thank you to long-time supporters Syd and Diane Marcus who sponsored today in honor of Her Royal Highness, Queen Negra, with this message:
We have loved Negra since the day she came to the sanctuary. She brightens every day with her presence, wisdom and courage. Negra is a true Queen who means the world to us. We love her so very much.
Honoring Biruté Galdikas
Last month, the world lost Dr. Burité Galdikas, a scientist and conservationist who had studied and worked to protect orangutans starting in her 20s. She was 79 at the time of her death following a battle with lung cancer.
Dr. Galdikas passed away in Los Angeles, but her main home was in Borneo, where today she will be laid to rest.
Orangutan Foundation International, the organization she founded, will be live-streaming her funeral at this link: https://www.youtube.com/live/zH_g7hOs9L4?si=p7Y-cmWsRVvBlw6j
The formal funeral will start around 8:00 p.m. PT / 11:00 p.m. ET. The stream should be available starting around 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time, during which time some semi-ceremonial preparations like the digging of her grave may be shown. OFI shared that there may be some open-casket time during and before the funeral.
Biruté’s contributions to the understanding of orangutans and the perils they are facing in their wild habitats in Borneo and Sumatra and her tireless work to help them, cannot be overstated.
Every profile of Dr. Galdikas mentions her association with Dr. Jane Goodall, who died last year at 91 after decades of non-stop speaking engagements that highlighted chimpanzees and humans’ obligation to protect the natural world, and Dian Fossey, who was killed in Rwanda in 1985 while studying and protecting gorillas. These three influential women were often referred to as “The Trimates.”
We were honored with a visit from Dr. Galdikas exactly eight years ago today, on April 14, 2018.
Here’s a photo that Katelyn took of Dr. Galdikas with then interns Jake Funkhouser and Ruth Linsky, both of whom continue their ape advocacy and conservation work and primatology education by pursuing doctoral degrees, with Ruth working closely with Dr. Galdikas and the orangutans in Borneo.
I’ve read several obituaries since her passing, and this one from The Guardian I particularly liked for it’s depth of information and, especially, for this quote from primatologist Mireya Mayor upon meeting Dr. Galdikas at a wildlife film festival where they were both being honored, “She seemed like someone who had stepped out of the forest temporarily … her heart and mind were still there.”
scenes from the day
Jamie was hanging out on the catwalk of the playroom:
George was sitting by a window grooming himself in the Marmot Mountain playroom:
We have a lot of photos of Lucky from this angle. She’s sitting on the “tree” structure in the Oakwood Greenhouse, looking down while being groomed by her brother, Cy:
I liked this close-up of Lucky’s chin:
Negra spent time with Annie today in their greenhouse:
A lot of people have reached out asking about Negra, her declining mobility, and her health. Thank you all so much for loving her.
We are definitely in a “hope for the best and prepare for the worst” mindset right now, and we wanted to be sure you, too, were prepared, as much as that’s possible. We can’t predict how much time she has left, and her quality of life considerations are unique to her. She’s never been very active or overly social, so being separated from the group is probably easier on her than it would be on most of the other chimpanzees.
Today, she still got out to the greenhouse and climbed to the top of the structure – not as easily as she used to, but she did it. She ate some of her favorite foods, she was visited by some old human friends, and she let Annie groom her.
We’ve added some hand-holds and hanging fire hose in the front rooms so she has more to hold onto when climbing up to the benches, and we’re working on some other modifications to help her get to where she likes to spend time.
Here she is this afternoon in a nest up high on a bench in one of the front rooms:
Personal Space (lack of)
When I was watching this trio grooming, it occurred to me that humans differ from chimpanzees in the amount of physical closeness they have with each other, and that I don’t really know what it’s like to have so little personal space.
Then Honey B asked to groom me. She was including me in this important social behavior they were sharing.
I will never stop being humbled by this job.
