Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Elizabeth

An Imperfect Life

by

In Negra’s alternate life – the one she should have had – she was born in the wilds of Africa, enjoyed a long, lazy childhood by her mother’s side, spent her days traveling with her group, climbing trees, and playing with friends, and grew up to have and raise her own babies and grandbabies.

In Negra’s actual life, she was born in the wilds of Africa, captured as an infant – probably after watching her family shot to make her capture possible – and shipped to the United States to be used as a research subject. She spent her days alone in metal cages no larger than a bathroom stall and experienced the world through filters of boredom, fear, pain, and loneliness. She had three babies in a five year span, all of whom were taken away from her within days or hours of birth, never to be seen or touched again.

Negra was about 35 years old when she stepped out of her last lab cage and into her new home at the sanctuary. That was a little over eight years ago. I sometimes wonder if there is some equation to represent the value of sanctuary to Negra and the others. Does one day in sanctuary cancel out one day in the lab? We can only hope.

Negra shouldn’t be here. She deserved to be wild and free. But her lot in life was determined by forces out of her hands, and out of ours. All we can do, and what we must do, is infuse her imperfect life with as much love and warmth and joy and comfort (and blankets and peanuts and sunshine) as we can, and then root for her as she steps toward recovery.

web_negra_walk_yh_ek_img_7258

web_negra_walk_yh_ek_img_7259

web_negra_walk_yh_ek_img_7260

web_negra_look_at_camera_yh_ek_img_7261

A Day in the Life

by

9:00am: Up the winding driveway…

web_view_up_driveway_morning_ek_photo-3-8

Good morning, sanctuary!

web_sanctuary_morning_ek_photo-4-7

Ellie the elk started the day in her favorite spot under the observation deck:

web_ellie_under_observation_deck_ek_photo-3-7

Volunteer caregivers Denice and Sandra set to work preparing breakfast:

web_volunteers_denice_sandra_prepare_breakfast_ek_photo-5-9

Usually when we arrive for the day this time of year there are several chimps outside in the greenhouse. Today it was just Negra cuddled under a blanket:

web_negra_under_blanket_morning_gh_ek_photo-1-7

Soon breakfast was ready!

web_breakfast_tray_ek_photo-2-6

Our typical routine is to serve a small snack in the indoor front rooms first thing to entice the chimps out of the greenhouse so we can close it off for cleaning. Volunteer caregiver-in-training Yuri offered the chimps some grapefruit while I closed and locked the doors leading to the greenhouse.

Negra is not always a people person, but this morning as she ate her grapefruit she was feeling extra affectionate as she offered her back to Sandra for a knuckle rub and offered Denice a kiss.

web_volunteer_sandra_knuckle_rub_negra_pr_ek_photo-3-5

web_negra_kiss_volunteer_denice_ek_photo-5-7

We all checked the doors and locks to make sure it was safe to unlock the greenhouse:

web_volunteer_yuri_checks_ek_photo-1-6

and then got to work!

web_volunteers_sandra_denice_yuri_clean_gh_ek_photo-2-5

Afterward Yuri double-checked locks on the greenhouse door:

web_volunteer_yuri_check_locks_after_cleaning_gh_ek_photo-3-6

and we started the first batch of dirty toys soaking in the tub:

web_toys_soak_in_tub_ek_photo-4-5

and the first load of dirty blankets in the washer:

web_laundry_ek_photo-1-4

Then Yuri served the rest of breakfast in the greenhouse:

web_volunteer_yuri_serve_breakfast_gh_ek_photo-5-8

and wrote in his training notebook:

web_volunteer_yuri_write_in_training_notebook_ek_photo-2-2

Next we tackled the playroom, which is the largest indoor space at the sanctuary. We cleaned upstairs:

web_volunteers_sandra_denice_clean_loft_pr_ek_photo-2-7

and downstairs:

web_volunteers_denice_yuri_sandra_clean_pr_ek_photo-5-5

and when we were done, set up a little tea party for the chimps:

web_tea_party_pr_ek_photo-5-10

While we cleaned the playroom, the chimps enjoyed the warm greenhouse.

Annie:

web_annie_gh_ek_photo-1-3

Burrito:

web_burrito_bite_caging_gh_ek_photo-5

We run through a series of safety checks before giving the chimps access to Young’s Hill each day, so I did those while Denice, Yuri, and Sandra wrapped up the playroom.

web_check_locks_gates_yh_ek_photo-4-6

Foxie was the first to squeeze through the door to the hill as it was opening:

web_foxie_squeeze_through_door_y_ek_photo-3-2

But she was quickly joined by Jody, Negra, Missy, and Annie:

web_jody_foxie_negra_missy_annie_walk_onto_yh_ek_photo-3-3

Our last big cleaning task for the morning was the front rooms, which we started after a short break:

web_yuri_clean_frs_ek_photo-1-2

After some time outside, Foxie wandered into the playroom to spend some quality time with her dolls:

web_foxie_play_with_dolls_pr_ek_photo-4-2

and Jamie requested a drink of water from the hose:

web_volunteer_caregiver_yuri_give_jamie_drink_from_hose_pr_ek_photo-2-1

Since we had plenty of cleaners to handle the front rooms, Denice started on some kitchen tasks. She prepared some chow bags:

web_volunteer_denice_make_chow_bags_ek_photo-5-3

and put some potatoes in the oven for dinner:

web_volunteer_denice_bake_potatoes_ek_photo-5-1

After cleaning, Yuri and Denice picked some veggies from the chimps’ garden for lunch:

web_lunch_tray_ek_img_7132

web_volunteer_yuri_serve_burrito_lunch_gh_ek_img_7135

While Yuri served lunch in the greenhouse, Sandra kept the endless laundry moving along:

web_volunteer_sandra_laundry_ek_photo-3-1

After lunch, it was finally time for some fun. Sandra and Jamie groomed in the greenhouse:

web_jamie_groom_volunteer_sandra_gh_ek_img_7122

while Yuri and Burrito went for a walk around Young’s Hill.

web_burrito_perimeter_walk_with_volunteer_yuri_yh_ek_img_7143

After the walk, Burrito was in the mood for a little tug of war:

web_burrito_play_tug_of_war_volunteer_sandra_gh_ek_img_7138

A little later in the afternoon JB, Diana, and Katelyn came up from the office and we did some PRT (Positive Reinforcement Training) with the chimps.

Missy presenting her wrist for Katelyn:

web_missy_staff_caregiver_katelyn_prt_gh_ek_photo-1

We ended the day with a dinner forage in the playroom. Jamie used a plate to collect her food:

web_jamie_forage_collect_plate_pr_ek_img_7170

Burrito:

web_burrito_forage_pr_ek_img_7166

Annie:

web_annie_forage_pr_ek_img_7162

And finally, it was goodnight.

web_foxie_lie_on_bench_end_of_day_frs_ek_img_7172

On Patrol

by

One of the duties of dominant chimpanzees in the wild is to patrol the perimeter of their territories regularly to keep their group safe from intruders. Here at the sanctuary, Jamie leads the patrols. She’ll do it by herself if she has to, but she prefers to have a caregiver come along. Anywhere from a couple to a dozen times each day, Jamie and a human friend set off to systematically walk the perimeter of the two-acre Young’s Hill.

Today Grace, one of the chimps’ first volunteer caregivers at the sanctuary, returned for a visit after several years away. The last time Grace was here, the construction on Young’s Hill was not quite complete, so Jamie was eager for the opportunity to take a walk today with a beloved old friend. (Grace’s friend Colin, staff caregivers JB, Katelyn, and I, and Ellie the neighborhood elk went too.)

If you get motion sickness, you might want to skip this one. Otherwise, you’re invited to tag along on a stroll with this motley crew.

No blog post today, sorry

by

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is a pretty small operation. On any given day, there are one or two staff members working in the chimp house (one of the two staff members is designated the Lead Caregiver for the day; this is the person who operates doors, unlocks enclosures, posts to the blog, and generally calls the shots for the day), along with a couple of volunteers usually, and maybe a couple more staff members working in the office in the house on the sanctuary property. Occasionally someone’s out sick or we don’t have any volunteers scheduled, so there are just two of us to run the chimp house for the day. Considering how high-maintenance — and messy — these chimps can be, it’s quite a job for two people.

The first four or five hours of the day are spent scrubbing the chimp house top to bottom, with periodic breaks for walks around Young’s Hill with Jamie at her frequent request. After cleaning is wrapped up, the chimps have lunch, and this is usually when the Lead Caregiver starts thinking about what to post to the blog. Sometimes we’ll have captured photos or video of a great play session or some interesting behavior earlier in the day that we can’t wait to share, in which case we just sit down at the computer and get started. But sometimes the morning has been so busy that we don’t have time to think about the blog until early afternoon. In that case, we grab a camera and take a stroll around the chimp house to see if the chimps are doing anything interesting. When we write our blog posts, our goal is to share a story about something that happened during the day, or to share new information about one of the chimpanzees, or to share general information about chimp behavior. Sometimes after walking around with the camera for awhile you end up with a handful of decent but unrelated photos and then wonder how you’re going to make an engaging blog post out of them, or what you can write that hasn’t already been written a dozen times over the last eight years. It can sometimes be a little stressful when it’s already 2:30 and the chimps want your attention, and enrichment still has to be prepared, and dinner has to be made, and you have no idea what you’re going to post to the blog.

Today we were a little short-staffed in the chimp house. Staff caregiver Keri is out of town, so it was just me and volunteer caregiver-in-training Yuri getting things done this morning. By the time I had a moment to grab the camera and see what I could capture, most of the chimps had settled down for their post-lunch naps in nice, private places.

I was able to get a handful of decent photos…

Jamie
Jamie
Missy
Missy
Burrito
Burrito
Annie
Annie

…but I couldn’t think how I was going to tie them together into a blog post worth your time. While I was ruminating, Burrito was insistent that we should be playing tug of war. I was running out of time to think of something for the blog, but in the end I decided to put down the camera and play with Burrito. I knew you guys would understand.

web_Burritp_tug_of_war_GH_ek_IMG_6332

web_Burrito_tug_of_war_GH_ek_IMG_6335

web_Burrito_tug_of_war_GH_ek_IMG_6331