Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

Katelyn

A light through the woods

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A corner was turned. Burrito has made significant improvements today, much more alert, eating and drinking well, spending time allowing the girls to groom him throughout the day, pant-hooting with the girls occasionally (or at least getting up to watch them), and we even got a small, soft, laugh. He has a long way to go, but cautious optimism embraced, all our hearts are buoyed.

A short post for a busy day, but we know when you’re worried about someone you care about it always helps just to be able to see them. So here are a couple snapshots of the patients.

Burrito: It’s hard when you’re feeling so very groggy and a little bit loopy and find you have sweet potato stuck to the bottom of your foot that you’d really like to eat, but aren’t quite sure how to reach it…

Honey B has been basking in the care of Mave, who has been diligently following her all day, tending to her wounds non-stop. Honey B has spent much of the day sitting atop her little wheely-cart and zipping around during meals and looking out windows. She still has some healing to do, but she seems back to her clever, quirky self and we couldn’t be happier:

Happy Birthday, Susan!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Caroline Hero for her sister, Susan Hero, in honor of her birthday! Caroline shared this lovely message about the family’s gift for Susan:

“Today is in honour of my sister Susan who always puts everyone else first before herself. Her heart is so focused on doing things for others that she forgets that she too is just as important, and I would like her to start taking care of herself. This day is to not only show her how important self care is, but to show her how much she is appreciated and loved by her family. She loves watching how these beautiful animals are becoming a family of their own, and how well cared for and loved they are by your dedicated team. I want to thank her for her love and dedication to her family and wish her a very Happy Birthday!”

Caroline, thanks so much to you and your family for sponsoring a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in celebration of Susan! We so appreciate you adding to the chimps’ lives in such a compassion way.

Susan, we hope this is the best birthday yet and all of us here send you hoots and hollers of birthday well wishes! Thank you for making a difference in the chimps’ lives with your support and for sharing your own special day with them.

Our newest family members:

Beloved Mave, kicking up her heels:

Endearing Miss Honey B:

Handsome Willy B (doing a vampire impression?):

Little big things

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Today we humans, well, okay, this human, did a victory lap around the chimp house because the chimp Gods smiled upon us all. For this one blissful day the chimps have been utterly calm, at ease and quiet today. No fights have ensued, no screaming, no biting. Everyone has shifted with relative ease (with the exception of Mr Willy B, who has seemingly claimed two of the front rooms as his own personal bachelor pad and refuses to leave) which has allowed us to clean the chimps’ home to our hearts content.

First order of business this morning was Anthony kindly removing half of the plastic strips covering the entrance to the chute which vexed Foxie to no end last night. Today she mustered her courage and even though each passing required hair standing on end and pushing herself again the doorframe so as not to touch the remaining offending flaps as she quickly raced through, she did in fact race back and forth all day long on her own. Brave heart. And so Jamie, Jody, Foxie, Annie and Missy have joyfully spent the day coming in and out and racing around Young’s Hill to their hearts’ content.

Over in the original building, Willy B, of his own choice, enjoyed the day in his increasingly wild looking “bachelor pad” (every time he exited and I approached to close it off, he quickly leaped back in!). Negra has contently been napping in the sun in front of her favored playroom window, Burrito and Mave spent at least a couple hours grooming one another in the next sun puddle over, and the very second that Burrito left Mave’s side, Honey B slid right in, hooting softly and spooning Mave in contentment. (After all, who among us doesn’t want to spoon with Mave?). And later in the afternoon, with the other ladies off Young’s Hill (to avoid any unnerving kerfuffles at the raceway leading to the greenhouse), Mave and Honey B headed into the late afternoon sun-warmed greenhouse, scooping up blankets as they went and made nests to each other, enjoying peaceful afternoon naps.

As I write this, we have one hour to go before lights out and it’s about time for the chimps’ internal clocks to go off, meaning the chimp house is about to erupt in hooting and hollering and general ruckus raising in excitement for dinner, and as a call and response to one another in opposite sides of the building. Today was just one day and things literally change in the blink of an eye or the sound of a hoot or a scream. But to see each of the chimps seemingly feeling truly at ease today, enjoying activities they normally do, but understandably haven’t had a lot of concentration for in some time, it’s been a gift. A brief lull for everyone to catch their breath, be at peace, enjoy the beautiful autumn day, their friends and the things they love. It all may sound like not such a big deal. But given the last few months, sometimes it truly the little things that are actually the truly big things.

Here’s Jamie feeling snoozy, hiding behind one of her brilliant kitchenette forts, warming up after enjoying a brisk autumn day outside:

The ties that bind

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Honey B and her mother, Missy, are very different people. We so look forward to them being able to spend more time together and to be able to see the direction they choose to take their relationship with one another. But something I love most about knowing the children of the chimpanzees, or at least having their photos, is the gift of seeing the similarities. Seeing that despite only having had hours together at birth before being horribly and heartbreakingly separated, of having lived most of their lives apart, it’s still there, in their eyes, or the way they hold their hands, or even things that they like and dislike. Each other.

Honey B:

Her mama, Missy:

Honey B:

Missy:

In honor of Jamie “Boss Lady” Chimpanzee!

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This amazing day of sanctuary was sponsored by Shirley Wooten, Chimpanzee Pal to the boss lady herself, Jamie, in honor of Jamie’s 42nd birthday today!! Shirley shared this really lovely note about her gift today:

“Happy Birthday Jamie! Thank you to her caregivers and to the supporters of CSNW for giving Jamie choices, lots of space, more freedom than she has ever had, and the enrichment her active mind needs. Thank you for giving her the opportunity to be the leader she was born to be, Jamie is a very special lady and I hope she has a very special day.”

Shirley, thank you SO much for thinking of Jamie and sponsoring her honorary Halloween birthday, or as it’s known here at the sanctuary, Jamieween!!

If you’ve ever had the honor of meeting Jamie here at the sanctuary or have gotten to know her through our daily blog, you know she’s one of the most intelligent, creative, amazing (and sometimes intimidating) people you will meet. To the Lady Trickster herself, Happy Birthday, Jamie! We could not be more in awe of, or in love with, you.

A win!

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We had a small, but big “win” today in the ongoing saga of introductions with our chimpanzee family. Burrito’s injuries had healed sufficiently to receive the okay from our vet, Dr. Erin Zamzow, to have a meeting with Willy B so we introduced the fellas 1:1 today. And while we had no idea how things would go, we walked them through one step at a time and just took things at their pace, based on what they told us they were comfortable with.

While Negra, Mave and Honey B were sequestered comfortably in the front rooms and Foxie, Jamie, Missy, Annie, and Jody were in Phase 1, we allowed Willy B and Burrito to spend a few minutes meeting at the mesh between the greenhouse and the front room where Burrito has been residing while he heals. Willy B pulled out all the stops in chimpanzee lingo and gestures toward Burrito;  breathy panting, bobbing his head, allowing Burrito to approach at his own pace and showing nothing but friendly excitement and interest in meeting him. It took Burrito several minutes to work up his courage to approach Willy B, but when he did it was another very successful interaction where they spent several minutes intensely grooming through the caging.

Then the big step came of holding our breath and opening the door a fraction to see how each responded. With no signs of aggression, we opened the door up and gave Burrito access to the greenhouse with Willy B. It took Burrito a bit to feel comfortable heading out there with that big guy, but Willy B was calm and patient and Burrito finally followed his courage into the greenhouse. It took a long time for them to approach each other and when they eventually met it was brief and then they separated.  Though they both continued to demonstrate positive, sometimes even playful interactions toward one another, they weren’t having contact. Which isn’t what you want to see. So we waited. And waited. And waited. And then…we heard it. Breathy panting! A welcome vocalization of greeting, reassurance and excitement. And when we peeked in they were grooming! They spent close to two hours like this! Eventually both were ready for dinner and everyone is back in their respective spaces for the night. But we couldn’t have asked for it to have ended better.

It’s important to remember that just because this first 1:1 meeting went extremely well, it’s absolutely no indication that subsequent meetings will follow suit. In fact, it’s pretty much guaranteed that a fight is going to ensue at some point. And as soon as we add any other chimpanzee to the mix, dynamics change again. But for now, we all needed a win. And more importantly Willy B and Burrito did, too. And did we ever get one.

The “bro-fest”:

It’s been a long day for everyone so we leave you with a few photos of the guys for now and a video to come tomorrow!

Rain, nap, repeat

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The rain has poured down all day long here and is expected to continue through the night. It’s predicted to be sunny and a bit warmer the rest of the week so until then the chimps have been napping, grooming, enjoying pineapple coconut juice water buckets, food puzzles and some silly games with the humans as they continue to rest, recover and wait out the rainy day.

Burrito preparing for his after breakfast nap: