Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

Katelyn

Summer’s last sigh

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The end of summer. How can it be? I am an autumn person through and through. If there were nine months of autumn and one month each of winter, spring, and summer I would be pretty happy with that. But this year, no one I know, myself included, feels ready to let summer go.

Given the many days of Burrito’s recovery (now thankfully healed and returned to his family), followed by the many days of hazardous, smoke-filled air (now thankfully cleared away), we are all beside ourselves with gratitude at the sense of ease, joy and freedom we’ve been having this week. The chimpanzees’ have continued to enjoy lunch forages on Young’s Hill and we’ve all been basking in the final gifts of summer, each of us sighing along with summer’s last breath:

Jody holds her reign as “Farmer Jo”:

Negra enjoying her lunch with a view:

Foxie:

Burrito:

Jamie:

Annie:

Diana mentioned on Saturday how we’ve been anxiously awaiting the chimpanzees’ grapes to ripen and have finally been able to harvest these beauties. Can you believe these gorgeous things?!

I went out to harvest some for dinner, but Annie, Jody and Burrito insisted they should be served immediately, garden to belly:

Everyone squeezed (politely, somehow) into the raceway (the chute that gives the chimpanzees access to Young’s Hill from the greenhouse) and lined up for their serving. Bunches of grapes aren’t the easiest things to serve through the caging so apologies for all the caging shots. But, their faces! A fleeting summertime gift.

Jo!! My favorite photo, look at her eyes! 🙂

Foxie:

Burrito’s tactic is just shoveling them in as fast as he can, naturally:

Missy and her sweet little runner’s legs:

(And fiddlesticks, I just realized that my photo of sweet Annie with her grape cluster didn’t take, and Negra chose to stay in her nest, though she did receive a few grapes via delivery).

Meanwhile, I could hear Willy B blowing raspberries from the other side of the grapevines, in the chute, where he and Honey B were anxiously waiting for their serving:

Honey B:

In the past couple of days that we’ve been harvesting the grapes we’ve learned that Mave in particular LOVES them. She chose to wait inside for hers and when I rounded the corner with them her hair was standing on end in sheer excitement (pilo-erect) making her glorious fluffy self even floofier! Here she is gazing adoringly at them:

Somehow the grape feast, being a hot ticket event, went off without a hitch. For the most part that is. Turns out the seven were not in a sharing mood and had a lot to say about the three partaking in the feast as well. That’s alright. I don’t like sharing, say, my cookies, so I get it. 😉

A bonus photo of Jamie enjoying her beloved boot book in her nest:

It’s been such a beautiful day. It’s nearly dark already and as I type this I hear geese flying overhead and the raspberry patch is a chorus of frog song – I suspect from the little guys I rescued and put in there earlier today. Betwixt and between. Wherever are you, and whichever season you happen to be saying farewell to in your part of the world in welcome of the next, I hope there’s beauty there. I’m convinced it’s there for all of us in one form or another. We just have to keep an eye and an ear out.

Smoky day games

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Much like the entire west coast, the air at the sanctuary has continued to range between very unhealthy to hazardous the last few days.

So we did our best to find some extra enrichment activities to keep everyone busy with their extra indoor time. For Mave, Honey B, and Willy B, this turned out to be peanut butter filled hanging frisbee puzzles. These are still relatively new to the three and they love them!

Mave:

Willy B:

Honey B (apologies for these pixelated photos, but she’s cute!):

Like everything Honey B does, she does it with passion. Her face and cheeks are covered in peanut butter. 🙂

In between hanging frisbees, the three made their own enrichment by supervising the construction workers, as demonstrated by Willy B:

The construction crew continues to amaze us with their hard work and progress. They’re incredible – pandemic, brutal heatwaves, wildfire smoke, it doesn’t matter, they are out there! And it looks entirely different every day. Things are moving right along:

Over on the other side, Burrito (left) enjoyed a lunch date with sweet Jody (right), who ended up spending the entire afternoon with him. Granted, she was also enjoying her “alone time” by building a huge nest and resting peacefully while Burrito played with his human caregivers. But believe me, no one provides better care to a chimpanzee, than another chimpanzee. And caregiver Jody is about the best you could hope for:

As the day ended we caught a few brief glimpses of blue sky with birds circling high again. It felt like a deep breath, mentally and emotionally at least. We can see the neighbors’ homes on the hills above us again. We are hoping these are signs that the smoke is beginning to break up and lessen a bit. That said, we are currently some of the fortunate few who aren’t currently threatened by wildfires. And while there are no words adequate for such experiences, please know our thoughts are constantly with all of you who are navigating the profound worry, fear and devastating loss they are bringing. From our hearts, we wish for your safety, well-being and recovery.

Happy Birthday, Tina!

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Tina Dilts sponsored a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees as a way to celebrate her birthday!

“I could not think of a better way to celebrate my birthday than pant-hooting and blowing raspberries with the Cle Elum gang!”

Happy Birthday, Tina! Thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees and generously sharing your own special day with them! We definitely recommend pant-hooting to celebrate and blowing raspberries to get everything you want. And you can always throw in Negra’s patented hand-claps for a little something extra! 🙂 We hope you have a wonderful day!

Burrito:

Annie blowing raspberries:

Negra:

Honey B:

For Carlene

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Joseph Garza sponsored this special day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in memory of his lovely wife, Carlene Olsen-Garza:

“My late wife Carlene, became an admirer of CSNW in 2010 with hope of one day being a part of the movement to save and support these noble creatures. Unfortunately her life was taken from us in 2014. So on what would have been her 63rd birthday, we honor her by helping our friends at the Sanctuary do what they do best.”

Joseph, you and Carlene are a permanent part of our chimpanzee family and we’re honored to be part of her beautiful legacy that you continue to share so graciously and generously. We are so thankful to you both for the lasting difference you’ve made, and continue to make, in the lives of these amazing chimpanzee people. We’re sending you and your family all the good thoughts and wishing you comfort and peace as you celebrate Carlene’s life and memory.

Jamie:

Burrito:

Foxie:

Jody, Foxie and Annie taking in the view from “Carlene’s Tower”:

Happiest Birthday, Keri!

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Today was sponsored by our wonderful and dear friend, former staff and current volunteer caregiver (on hold due to the pandemic), Keri Heniff, along with her husband, Bob Mark, and their sons, Cody and Skyler. Keri shared this beautiful, heartfelt message about her gift:

“I wanted to sponsor today in celebration of my next trip around the sun and to celebrate what has been and look forward to what will be.

The chimpanzees at CSNW have reminded me I’m never to old to explore new things; to continue to be resilient in the face of adversity; to have courage enough to grow and try new things; to relax and soak in the moments of the day; to trust in spite of fear; that it’s okay to snuggle up in a blanket (or 20) and enjoy the comfort it brings; to play like it’s the only mission of the day; and to squeak and moan at the sight of exciting food; and so, so much more. These chimps have brought so much joy into my life, for which I will always treasure.

And all of the human primates associated with the sanctuary; staff, volunteers, donors, followers old and new, continue to remind me what determination, humility, generosity, sincerity and a genuine concern for the well-being of these chimps (and bovines too) can do to bring together complete strangers. The common goal to support and love these beings unifies us and there’s nothing more that I could ask for in my upcoming trip around the sun.

So, cheers to today and the year ahead!”

Keri, we miss you every day and no doubt the chimpanzees feel the same. Know that you are part of our chimpanzee family, always, and we are so happy to celebrate this special day with you! You are a gift of a being and we humans and chimpanzees all, are so lucky to call you friend. And thanks for helping to remind us of all there is, even in these times – especially in these times, to celebrate in life. We hope you have the most beautiful day, one to remember in all the best ways.

Happy Birthday, Keri!!

Jamie:

Missy:

Burrito:

Negra:

Foxie:

Jody:

Willy B:

Honey B:

Happy Anniversary, Robin!

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Pat Salak sponsored a day of sanctuary to wish, “Happy 35th Wedding Anniversary to my wife Robin!!” Robin is one of our pre-Covid student volunteers from the Primate Behavior and Ecology Program at Central Washington University and among all those waiting patiently and hoping for the day volunteers are able to return to the sanctuary.

Pat and Robin, thanks so much for choosing to celebrate your anniversary by thinking of the chimpanzees and contributing to their care in such a thoughtful way. Happy Anniversary to you both!

Burrito and Negra:

Jody:

Willy B and Mave:

Honey B:

The seven:

A more easeful evening

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As you might imagine, it’s been an extra, extra busy day in the chimp house! Hopefully you’ve had a chance to check out the very endearing and very encouraging update Diana and J.B. shared earlier today of Burrito’s continued progress toward healing from the recent rattlesnake bite he received. We will continue to closely monitor him for potential complications over the next several days, so while he isn’t out of the woods yet, each day that passes with his steady progress allows us to breathe a little deeper.

As we mentioned earlier today, many of you have been asking how you can help and so we’ve added a medical fund to our upcoming HOOT! 2020 online auction to help cover the cost of Burrito’s antivenin treatment. We’ve seen your donations coming in these past days in his name and please know how deeply we appreciate your support, in all it’s many and varied forms. The love, support and well wishes that’s been wrapped around Burrito from near and far is felt by us all. And I believe, most importantly, by him. We are profoundly grateful to you for that.

I wasn’t able to capture a dang thing for photos today, but Chad came to the rescue again and has graciously shared photos he captured of these two lovely ladies:

Cute Honey B eating a beet:

Beautiful Jody eating some foraged wild-greens:

I did manage this one a few moments ago. After a full day of visiting and playing with his chimpanzee and human family from his recovery room, working ever so hard at healing, his paper boat emptied of grape snacks, Burrito has tucked himself in and is out for the night:

May we all rest just a little easier as we hold him in our hearts tonight.