Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Ellen Brady-McGaughey

Photo Roundup!

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Today has been a busy day. As I was starting to put together my blog, Jamie started alarm-calling, which most often means a snake has found its way through our snake fencing and is in the chimpanzees’ space. We quickly jumped into action to recall her group, asking them to come off of Young’s Hill and into the Greenhouse and their indoor spaces, and thankfully everyone except for Annie and Jamie was already inside. Annie made her way in quickly, and everyone was rewarded with strawberries while we waited for Jamie to be convinced that the humans could handle the snake problem and come back inside. Everyone is back inside now and enjoying their strawberries as a reward for participating in recall. Dessert before dinner, what a day!

Here are some photos from the day:

Missy enjoying her nest (reimagined from Negra’s earlier nest) in the Greenhouse this afternoon

Foxie with her doll

Mave taking some time for self-care, and grooming herself

Burrito with a block in his mouth, mid play-session!

Adventures with Honey B

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In today’s video, watch as Honey B explores her group’s outdoor habitat, the Bray! She seems to be gaining confidence in exploring this large outdoor space every day, and it is wonderful to watch.

Below are some lovely photos shared with us by a supporter, Christiane Leibrandt, who captured these beautiful images of Honey B during a recent visit to the sanctuary.

Thank you for these gorgeous photos, Christiane!

Annie’s 50th Birthday!

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Today has been a day full of celebration and goodies as our beloved friend Annie turned 50 years young! As Jenna talked about in her recent blog, we are not sure of her real birth date, but celebrate the occasion on September 10th each year. We went all out to celebrate this wonderful chimpanzee person with mini banana cream pies and tea in the morning, fresh sunflowers and grape vines as a mid-morning celebration, and banana nut bread mini cupcakes with a peanut butter and yogurt frosting with more sunflowers, corn, fresh peaches, tomatoes, green beans, and mini peppers for lunch. Come back tomorrow to see the video of the festivities! I’ll be sharing some sneak peek photos from the day below. Happy birthday Annie, you are so very loved!!

The birthday girl

A cupcake and sunflower on Young’s Hill

A banana nut bread cupcake with a view!

Annie with a portrait of her, surrounded by flowers, peaches, cupcakes, grape vines, and a “50” made out of apple.

A mini banana cream pie

Annie enjoying her grape vine, brought in by Dr. Erin!

Burrito loved the grape vines too, but for a different reason. They were perfect for a game of tug!

Negra made a nest with some blankets, then settled in to enjoy her grape vines.

Missy enjoying one of Annie’s birthday cupcakes during the lunch forage.

Annie eating a purple green bean she found during the lunch forage.

Annie on the move during her lunch forage.

The Domino Effect

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The other morning, I was turning on lights and greeting the chimps to start the morning. As I turned on lights for Gordo’s group, he jumped up and initiated a game of chase with me, and off we went! Somehow, as I was running to catch up to him in the front rooms, the fun was doubled when Rayne decided to join in our game. As we ran through their spaces, Gordo decided to take a rest, but pretty soon that quick game of chase between me and Gordo had turned into a train of chimps playing together, and I was just the third (well, fourth) wheel! Rayne, Honey B, and Terry chased each other, with Honey B grabbing at Rayne’s feet playfully as they went. Once they were done playing chase and sat down to play more, Gordo appeared again and joined in on the fun. It made me think of dominoes, as it only took that one quick game of chase with Gordo to start up a chain of play among his group. I hope you enjoy today’s video!

Is This Really Happening?

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As I close in on one year of working at the sanctuary, I am still welcomed with many “firsts.” This past week I was graced with two firsts for me that both made my day, and surprised me! Watch today’s video before proceeding to the rest of the blog so that I don’t spoil anything!

Here’s a picture of Negra with pasta sauce lips after a recent party, making sure there are no accidental spoilers!

Now for those exciting “firsts”! As you all got to see in the video, I had my first long play session with Gordo, where he showed me his play face and laughed quietly as he let me tickle him and play chase with him. This is a big milestone in our friendship, especially considering that not that long ago, I was the one that hand injected him to allow for his veterinary check up. We spent several months training for that moment, but I wouldn’t blame him for holding a grudge. Thankfully he seems to have forgiven me, for which I am very grateful.

My next “first” was getting a kiss from MISSY. I could hardly believe my luck! And somehow I also managed to snap a photo, for proof!!

A kiss from Missy!

Missy has allowed me a few, very special one-on-one interactions within the past few weeks that leave me feeling so happy and fulfilled that I could take on the world. One such interaction included her putting out her toes from both feet through the caging for me to tickle with the back of my hand, then turning around to let me groom her back. Another morning, as I walked in to greet the chimps, Missy quickly jumped up from her nest and raced to the front of the playroom. I wasn’t quite sure what was happening at first, but am not one to miss out on an opportunity to play, so I started running too in hopes this was my shot at a game of chase with Missy. Lucky for me, it was!

It is hard to believe it has almost been one year since I started working with the lovely chimpanzees, humans, and cattle of CSNW. I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to love and care for such amazing chimpanzees and sassy bovine ladies, as well as to work alongside such a fantastic team of humans. Here’s to many more special moments!

Remember that tonight, Tuesday, September 3rd, is the third in our discussion series “Primate Perspectives: Unpacking Chimp Crazy. This discussion will focus on the third episode of the series, which first aired Sunday night and will continue to be available to watch on Max. This week we will be joined by Brittany Peet, General Counsel, Captive Animal Law Enforcement at PETA Foundation. Brittany appeared throughout the series and was very involved in trying to place Buck in a sanctuary before his tragic end. Once again, this episode was difficult to watch and there is a lot to unpack. Join Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance and Brittany Peet at 6pm PT / 8pm CT / 9pm ET. Registration is required to join the Zoom meeting.

Willy B and Dora’s Day of Fun

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Willy B is a chimpanzee that constantly keeps those around him on their toes – both chimpanzees and humans. Often, you can interpret this to mean that Willy B may be disrupting the peace with a dominance display, which gets staff attention to see if the display may escalate to an altercation, and gets the attention of his group mates to avoid (or take part in) the potential impending drama. Today I was happy to catch Willy B keeping Dora on her toes in a different way…with a game of chase! Mave supervised, and eventually stepped in to play some herself. It is always a good day when Willy B is in a playful mood!

Here is a photo of Willy B from another day where he was feeling silly first thing in the morning, and held hands with Rayne while they waited for their breakfast. Look at that play face!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 3rd, is the third in our discussion series “Primate Perspectives: Unpacking Chimp Crazy. This discussion will focus on the third episode of the series, which first aired last night and will continue to be available to watch on Max. This week we will be joined by Brittany Peet, General Counsel, Captive Animal Law Enforcement at PETA Foundation. Brittany appeared throughout the series and was very involved in trying to place Buck in a sanctuary before his tragic end. Once again, this episode was difficult to watch and there is a lot to unpack. Join Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance and Brittany Peet at 6pm PT / 8pm CT / 9pm ET. Registration is required to join the Zoom meeting.

The Learning Process

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Here at the sanctuary, we utilize Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) to work with the chimpanzees to participate in their own care. The possibilities of applications for PRT are nearly endless, and help us perform many necessary tasks here at the sanctuary in a way that the chimps enjoy and can actively participate in!

The uses of PRT range greatly…we use PRT to station Jamie during meals to allow everyone else in the group to enjoy their meal, ideally without stealing or intimidation. We use it to apply lotion to Willy B’s dry feet and Rayne’s dry forehead. We use it to teach the chimps to present different parts of their bodies for us to observe for a variety of reasons, including asking Willy B for his right foot currently so we can get a look at how his toe is healing (which is very well!). And very recently, we have started utilizing PRT to train the chimpanzees to provide awake EKG readings utilizing the KardiaMobile, as J.B. discussed in a recent blog.

Willy B on his first day of EKG training, not quite sure what the human wants yet, but looking handsome while he ponders it!

Training for awake EKGs with the KardiaMobile is such an exciting and rewarding process. While it may look and sound simple to hold one finger from each hand to the device for 30 seconds, it is far from simple when working with a chimpanzee (they aren’t really known for their patience…). Willy B has so far been our star student where KardiaMobile is concerned. He is eager to participate when he sees the KardiaMobile holder, and has obtained several EKG readings. However, progress is not perfect, and a regular part of the PRT process is regression. Just because Willy B has mastered the KardiaMobile during one training session does not mean he will always do so from now on. Recently, I asked Sabrina to come with me to film KardiaMobile training with Willy B, as I was excited about the progress he had been making and wanted to show you all how well he was doing. He presented me with the idea for this blog instead! He has racked up several completed KardiaMobile readings, but during this session, he seemed to have forgotten he needed to present both hands at the same time, and somewhat comically kept switching out one hand for the other when I tried to ask for both hands. He even once presented a hand and a big toe at the same time (because you never know, maybe that is what this silly human wants!). We prepare for situations like this to happen when initially planning how to train a new behavior, so we “went back to kindergarten” and I tried asking for one hand on the KardiaMobile and the other to be presented at the same time anywhere in the caging. From there, I could ask him to present his hand at varying heights until it is presented over the KardiaMobile at the same time as the other hand that he has been resting there. At this point, I can try again asking for both hands to be presented over the KardiaMobile using the normal cue for this, and if he does so correctly, provide him with a jackpot treat (like a handful of blueberries, or several peanuts).

Willy B starts to get the hang of this thing! Soon enough, he’ll be presenting both hands.

Some training sessions, we don’t get to the end result we were hoping for, and that is okay. It is part of the process. Sometimes an individual is too distracted to focus on the task at hand, or confused about what you are asking them to do for some reason. Sometimes their friends are crowding them and preventing them from having the space to participate, or the social setting is not conducive to them being able to participate (for example, if high-ranking Jamie is sitting right next to low-ranking Foxie, and neither Foxie or Jamie are willing to relocate, providing a high-value reward to Foxie could get her in trouble with Jamie and possibly even start a fight. I need to be sure I can reinforce Foxie for doing what I ask before I start a training session, and under these conditions I would not be able to do so safely. Training can wait until another time when an additional trainer is available to train with Jamie at the same time, or Foxie is in a better location where she can receive her rewards for a job well done). While we attempt to work through these hurdles and have strategies to help them understand what we are asking for, sometimes the best tool we have is to ask for a simple behavior we know that the individual can do successfully, reward them with a tasty treat for their success, and call it a day!