Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
As the self-appointed boss, Jamie rarely achieves total relaxation. Between monitoring all the humans coming and going from the sanctuary, and keeping her chimp family in line, she has a hard time letting herself go. But this afternoon caregiver Anna found her looking pretty blissed out.
Often when we set up a forage outside on Young’s Hill, we set aside a small bowl of food for Negra in case she doesn’t want to go outside. Though she’s become more at ease on Young’s Hill over the years, she doesn’t spend nearly as much time out there as the other chimps, and she’s far more likely to get spooked while outside. Even now, seven years after Young’s Hill opened, you’ll hear excited caregivers announcing “Neggie’s outside!” over the radio on the occasions when Negra pushes herself out of her comfort zone.
For today’s lunch forage, Negra not only ventured out but led the group onto the hill.
With Burrito (foreground) and Annie (background):
With Burrito (foreground):
Spring is here, the air is warm, the grass is soft and sweet, and the chimpanzees can’t get enough of the outdoors. The two-acre Young’s Hill offers a lot of room for them to spread out – so much so that we sometimes have a hard time spotting them out there. See if you can find the chimp(s) in these photos.
Negra, of course, is usually pretty easy to spot. Just look for the nearest pile of blankets.
Whenever we add a new feature to the chimpanzees’ home, we have to make sure it’s chimp-safe and chimp-proof. Jamie and Foxie can both be relied upon to give any new structures a thorough once-over; Jamie because she wants to try to take them apart, Foxie because she wants to make sure they’re safe.
It’s probably safe to say that there is nothing better on this planet than spring at the sanctuary. The doors are thrown open and a warm breeze blows through the chimp house. The chimps alternate between napping in sunspots and frolicking in the bright green grass outside on Young’s Hill. Everyone’s feeling light and free.
Spring has put an extra bounce in Burrito’s step today. Each time a caregiver passes by, he stomps his foot playfully and passes them this sock for a game of tug of war. Life is good.
We hear it’s National Burrito Day…
Raise your hand if you’ve ever made a vocalization similar to Jamie’s while enjoying a really good meal.
