Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

J.B.

Summer in December

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We set out a chow forage after cleaning the greenhouse this morning, but for some reason only Burrito went out when I opened the door. That was fine with him.

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After breakfast, Missy and Annie sat in the doorway to Young’s Hill, trying to decide if it had warmed up enough yet to go out.

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Jody was the first to go out. At first she seemed a little uncomfortable, but as soon as the sun came out she began to relax.

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Jamie and Missy immediately set off around the hill.

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Annie came out too, clutching her blankets.

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Foxie hung out with her troll in her usual spot on the lower platform.

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This is downright balmy weather for Central Washington in December and the chimps seemed eager to spend as much time as possible outside.

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Everyone but Negra, of course. She took her time finishing her apple from breakfast and then made her way back to bed.

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Later in the day, a light mist started to fall, but Missy and Jamie kept at it. We are at walk number six now, and there’s plenty of daylight left. Got to take advantage of this weather while we can.

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Keep away

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This morning, I caught Missy in a rare moment of stillness.

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But not for long. Suddenly, she stood up and began scratching vigorously with both hands.

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Chimpanzees display self-scratching behavior when they are physiologically aroused. It’s thought that the scratching may be a response to sensations in the skin resulting from autonomic processes like piloerection (hair standing on end). In other words, something excites you, you involuntarily get goosebumps, and in turn you feel like scratching your skin. Often this occurs during times of stress, like when a subordinate male sits next to a dominant male. But sometimes the arousal is positive, like when Missy wants to play.

After scratching, Missy ran over to Foxie, took one of her trolls, and ran away across the shaky bridge.

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Foxie doesn’t like to walk on anything that feels unstable, so the best she could do was to climb up to Missy’s level on the platform.

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Missy wanted to keep the game going, so she ran back to Foxie and sat on the end of a beam.

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And then, when Foxie wasn’t looking, she disappeared down the ladder.

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Missy ran over to the tunnel, tempting Foxie come rescue her troll.

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Foxie didn’t respond, so Missy climbed atop the grassy mound, teased Foxie one last time, then took off up the hill.

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That did the trick.

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Foxie used to get anxious when the other chimps took her trolls, but now she enjoys it. In fact, she doesn’t even try to get them back right away. Allowing her friends to hold onto her dolls while they play chase is Foxie’s way of keeping the play session going.

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Missy took that as a cue to make the game even harder. She climbed back up where the troll would be tantalizingly out of Foxie’s reach.

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Again, Foxie did her best to get close to Missy.

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But after a while, she’d had enough, so she placed her one remaining troll on her back and headed back towards the greenhouse, perhaps hoping that Missy (and her troll) would come along too.

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Only Missy wasn’t following the plan.

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Foxie went back, but Missy was now holding her troll on top of the termite mound – another object that she doesn’t like to climb on.

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This game wasn’t fun anymore.

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Foxie had to resort to the only sure fire way to get her troll back: whimpering.

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Missy, being a good friend and knowing that Foxie was upset, ran after her to return the doll.

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Another day, another adventure on the hill

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It sounds strange to say, but I love it when the chimps are alarmed by something on Young’s Hill. I think they do too, in a way.

This afternoon, I went outside to see what the chimps were up to and I noticed that everyone but Negra was on the hill. Normally that wouldn’t be all that unusual, but it is very cold today and the chimps usually prefer to nap inside after lunch. Missy was pilo erect (her hair was standing on end indicating fear or excitement), and she was walking briskly back down from the top of the hill.

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My guess is that Hank the Hawk was in the area. Sometimes you can’t see him but you can hear his screech echoing through the valley. I can imagine how that might put a chimpanzee on edge.

Jody was trying to keep up with Missy as she zipped back and forth across the hill.

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Annie just sat there, staring into the distance.

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Foxie didn’t seem to know what was going on, but she and Dora came out for backup just in case.

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Burrito sat on a log just outside the greenhouse, watching all the other chimps.

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After a few minutes, he retreated to the doorway, either to warm up or to keep a safe distance from whatever may have been lurking outside.

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Jamie looked at me and gestured toward the building, which was her way of insisting that we grab some boots and set out on a patrol. As we headed back out, Missy took the lead.

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When there’s trouble afoot, Missy likes to head to the top of the hill and stand bipedally to survey her enclosure and the rest of the valley.

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I didn’t see or hear anything unusual on our patrol, and the chimps eventually seemed satisfied that everything was OK.

For now.

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The Thanksgiving Feast

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All week we’ve been giving thanks for the people and organizations that make this sanctuary possible. Yesterday, it was all about the chimps. Which means that here at the sanctuary, it was all about the food.

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You know who likes food?

This guy.

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He somehow managed to hold six baked apples in his hands while he vacuumed up everything else with his mouth.

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I’ve never seen him concentrate this hard on anything before.

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Burrito wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the Thanksgiving party. You’ll have to watch the video at the end of this post to see what Negra had to do to get this treat bag. All I can say is that it was very un-Negra like. But as you can see from her expression, it was well worth the effort.

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Foxie was joined by this little black-haired troll during the forage.

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After lunch, they went for a stroll on the hill together (if you don’t see the troll, look closely for some hair that seems out of place).

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There was no Thanksgiving food coma for Missy. Once the sun came out, she hit the hill to get some exercise.

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Many thanks to Patti, Sandra, and Katie for volunteering to help the chimps on the holiday, and to Patti and Denice for preparing the feast. As you’ll see, it was quite a hit:

7 Days of Thanks

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In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, we’ve decided to spend the next seven days giving thanks for all of the primates – human and nonhuman – that make this sanctuary what it is. To start, I’d like to recognize the folks that literally dedicate their lives to the well being of the Cle Elum Seven. No one has had more of a direct impact on the lives of these chimpanzees than the staff that care for them each and every day.

The other day I came across this photo of Jamie, taken just days after she had arrived at the sanctuary in 2008.

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It’s amazing how much she has changed.

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When I look at Jamie now, I see the effects of good food, exercise, and sunshine. But I also see a reflection of the people that care for her and the patience, dedication, and selflessness they bring to their work.

Caring for Jamie is not easy. She tests you nearly every day. While some people would consider getting to work with chimps a dream job, their dream version of the job probably doesn’t involve dodging mouthfuls of spit and handfuls of feces on a daily basis. But that is the reality. Jamie is a smart, strong-willed person with a need for control, and for 30 years she was robbed of her autonomy and with it, her dignity. Now she calls the shots. For the first time in her life she is surrounded by people who are willing to put her first.

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That, to me, is the essence of a caregiver’s role. And I’m amazed each and every day by how much of themselves the staff are willing to put into the care of these chimpanzees. Whether it’s cleaning, preparing meals, or taking one last walk around Young’s Hill after a long day, the sanctuary staff are willing to do whatever it takes to keep the chimps happy.

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There is a light in Jamie’s eye that wasn’t there when we first met her in that laboratory basement.

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To the people who work so hard to keep that light shining, we give our thanks.

Elizabeth:

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Debbie:
Charlotte Ross at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Katelyn:

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Keri:

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More avian enrichment

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Hank the Hawk has had some competition lately from a bald eagle that has been hunting at the sanctuary. Bernard, as we are now calling this new visitor, is almost twice the size of Hank, with a 6- or 7-foot wingspan.

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Last weekend, he touched down about 100 yards from Young’s Hill.

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We’re not sure if the chimps have noticed him yet, but the other day Negra was alarm calling like crazy as she looked out the window. Perhaps this is what she saw:

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The arctic blast is still making life here miserably cold, but today the air was still and the sun was shining, so the chimps took the opportunity to spend some time outside. Jody seemed quite content at first, despite the cold.

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She and Missy perched themselves on some stumps while Foxie and Annie explored the rest of Young’s Hill and Jamie patrolled the perimeter of the enclosure.

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After a while, however, Jody’s look of contentment dissolved into her characteristic sneer of discomfort, or “cold face” as we call it, and she headed back to the warmth of the greenhouse.

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You can almost see her cursing the arctic blast.

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Jamie, on the other hand, is not fazed by bald eagles or arctic blasts.

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Progress

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We’ve started to put the finishing touches on the veterinary clinic. This project, like many others here at the sanctuary, was kicked off with generous gifts from Karen and Don Young. It was completed with support from the National Anti-Vivisection Society and Marsha Perelman, and with gifts made at our annual gala from donors too numerous to name but equally as important.

Earlier this summer, our friends at Poppoff, Inc. donated their services to install sidewalks around the facility. This also allowed us to widen our entry gate and mount it on a wheel so that it would be easier to get the clinic trailer and other vehicles in and out of the security fence.

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Just recently, we built a pole barn shelter for the trailer to protect it from the elements. None of us are excited about the fact that winter is approaching, but at least we will be prepared!

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Speaking of preparedness…just look at the lengths that our volunteers will go to help us make sure we are prepared for any emergency. After we finished the sidewalks, volunteer Becca played the role of a chimpanzee as CSNW veterinarian and board member, Donna, and I did some drills with our newest stretcher donated by our local fire department. I promise that no volunteers were harmed in these drills, though we appreciate the courage it took for Becca to be our test subject.

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Finishing up the clinic has made me think a lot about where we are as a sanctuary. To be honest, there are times when progress at the sanctuary can feel painfully slow, if only because our hearts and imaginations are always one step ahead of our wallets. But then I remember that it was only six years ago that a small community of people with very limited resources was able to free seven chimps from the laboratory basement where they had been housed for decades. And in the time since, as that caring community has grown, we have transformed the chimps’ home, filling it with light from chimp-proof windows and warmth from greenhouse panels, and giving those seven chimps their first experience of grass underfoot and sky overhead on Young’s Hill.

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We’ve been experiencing a lot of that grass and sky lately. Hikes around Young’s Hill have only grown more numerous and more frequent over the years – always spurred on by Jamie, but lately joined by Missy, Burrito, Jody, and Foxie. It’s quite a climb to the top, especially when it’s the tenth walk of the day.

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But the effort is always worth it, because the view from the top is incredible.

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I’m convinced that chimpanzees experience awe. I have no doubt that when Missy looks out across the valley, with the river flowing by and the fall leaves changing color, that she is struck by the beauty and magnitude of it all. And watching her reminds me to step back and appreciate all that our small community has accomplished in such a short time. From a windowless basement to the top of the world in only a few years. And now an onsite veterinary clinic to boot.

Just think of where we can go from here.

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