Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Kelsi

Switching Things Up

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This morning, we decided to switch things up! In our “normal” schedule for sharing outdoor access, Jamie’s group goes out onto Young’s Hill from the time we show up to work until after lunch time (that is if Jamie allows us to close the Hill then). Once we have permission from Jamie and do a head count to ensure everyone is off Young’s Hill, we then allow Cy’s group access onto the Bray. This is a short term schedule until both Cy’s group gets more comfortable with the Bray and Jamie’s group gets more comfortable seeing the group of nine out there. However, the Hill and the Bray are two completely separate areas.

We wanted to experiment trying morning time Bray access for Cy’s group to see if a change in schedule would peak interest in other individuals who haven’t gone out yet. Though Mave, Dora, and Honey B didn’t go out, it was great enrichment for Jamie’s group! I am sure we will try this a few more times, as well as other ideas along the way. But really I think that they just need time. Once Cy’s group was off the Bray we did an early lunch forage for Jamie’s group, which everyone seemed to enjoy, especially Negra!

We have exciting news! We’ve been nominated in The Seattle Times, 2023 Best in the PNW Contest! Help us win this contest by voting today! You can vote once every day through June 30th by clicking here. CSNW is listed under the Services and Nonprofit category.

Negra did pretty well! She got a whole eggplant, sweet potato, and an endive and went straight back to the greenhouse to get cozy in her nest!

Foxie and her blue haired baby:

Burrito and Missy enjoying their forage together:

Missy and Foxie eating tomatoes:

Annie:

Burrito with a whole kohlrabi:

We put out a nut forage on the Bray for a little extra motivation. Willy B was very motivated!

Rayne was also able to score some nuts:

Look at this handsome Cy Guy:

Don’t forget to vote for us!

The Morning After Jubilee

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After yesterdays festivities, today has been pretty low-key for everyone. I think both chimps and humans are exhausted from such an awesome day of nonstop partying! If you didn’t see yesterdays blog, STOP EVERYTHING you are doing and look now! And if you missed Diana talking about Negra’s story, be sure to check that out too! Don’t forget that until the end of June all donations will be doubled until we reach $30,000. Follow this link to learn more about how you can help us reach our goal!

Cy on the Bray:

Lucky hanging out by the hammock:

Gordo heading back from exploring:

Willy B:

Guess who!

It’s Rayne!

How did we get so lucky to have such a sweet and kind soul like Terry?! It has been so fun to watch Terry grow in just the few years he has been at CSNW and watch him make new friends. I am not sure if we share this often, but he is quietly good friends with Honey B (maybe don’t tell Honey B). I often will see them on the cameras grooming or hanging out in the same area together. She even grooms with him from time to time! And I don’t know if I have ever met a gentler chimp than him. What I am trying to say is that Terry is just such a nice guy with a really good heart <3.

Defending the Title

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While Anna and I deep cleaned Playroom 1, we heard some laughing (breathy panting) coming from Front Room 4. We knew our usual suspect would be Burrito, which was true, but we assumed he would be playing with Jamie or Foxie. To our surprise, when we peered over it was Burrito and Negra playing! As many of you may know, Negra can get rough when she decides to wrestle and let me tell you, it may have turned into a game of Foxie and Burrito vs. Negra, but she was holding her own and Negra was NOT going easy on them. In all the years that I have been working at CSNW, it was been such an honor to watch Negra get to decide what she wants to do every day. Negra gets to make choices- going on Young’s Hill to forage for grass, napping all day if she desires, playing with Burrito, or even the choice of interacting with humans (besides meals and medical intervention, of course). It’s kind of crazy to think that our 15th anniversary of the Cle Elum Seven arriving to CSNW is just around the corner (6 days to be exact) and with that we will be celebrating our dear friend Negra’s 50th birthday! Let’s not forget our very sweet friend Terry shares the same birthday as Negra and is turning 33! This coming week is going to be a trifecta jubilee!

Speaking of the Trifecta Jubilee, we have some exciting news to share! Because we are hitting big milestones this year, we are also hoping to reach big fundraising goals! An anonymous donor has pledged $30,000 matching donations through the month of June! All donations given now until the end of June will be doubled until we reach $30,000. Follow the link to learn more about how you can help us reach our goal!

As we celebrate the Trifecta Jubilee, don’t forget to sign up for the special opportunity to, Sit Down with the Co-Directors, on Saturday, June 10th at 2 pm. Join J.B. and Diana as they discuss the joys of running a sanctuary and working with chimps, the difficult aspects of working with chimps in captivity, and any of your burning questions you might have for them! J.B. and Diana have dedicated their lives to these chimps and are truly incredible people to work for, it’s an honor to get to work along side them. So I hope you all take advantage of this amazing opportunity! 🙂

I wanted to take a moment to say that I think we all wish that in celebrating, Jody would have been with us on June 13th, we will leave room for acknowledgement for her absence on that day, but Jody was able to have 15 amazing years in sanctuary, which is more than we could have hoped for! We know that Jody would have wanted us to have a giant party for Negra filled with all of Negra’s favorite foods, like Hawaiian rolls, which of course will be on the menu!

Neggie this morning greeting us with sweet kisses:

Silly Foxie:

Gordo with a mouth full of grapefruit and peanuts:

Sweet laid back Mave:

Girl Time and Happy Birthday, Carrie!

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For today’s blog, I wanted to share a peaceful little moment while everyone else was out exploring The Bray. Though Mave, Honey B, and Dora may not be quite comfortable enough to go outside yet, at least they are spending some quality time together! Sometimes our days get hectic and busy, this video was a great reminder to slow down and enjoy the company of good friends. I hope this video brings you as much peace as it brought me.

We also want to give many thanks to Jenara Miller for sponsoring a day of sanctuary today in celebration of long-time friend of the chimps and bovines, Carrie Miller, on her birthday! From everyone at the sanctuary, we hope you have an amazing birthday Carrie!

Honey B:

Bubba:

Honey cow:

 

 

 

The Rayne Attraction

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Rayne seems to be very well-liked within her group, but also among the humans that care for her too. I don’t know if everyone is aware of how obsessed we are with Rayne, well, besides Rayne herself, she is probably aware of how awesome we think she is. There is something about her, it feels like Rayne can handle just about anything with grace. I think we are all drawn to her self-confidence. She can stroll out onto the Bray, something so unfamiliar and scary, and later leave with all the confidence in the world, like it was just another day. She is truly a friend you want to have around. Rayne is not afraid to stand up for her friends, she will encourage them to go out of their comfort zone even when it seems scary, and reassure her friends in times of need. Rayne really is a sweet and gentle soul, but when she does decides to display, oh man, is it epic! The other thing we love about Rayne is how socially savvy she is. Raynie can somehow allow Honey B scream and chase her during a conflict and miraculously redirect into play. She is always finding ways to bring out Willy B’s silly side, but also accept him for the socially awkward chimp he is. Personally, I think she is incredible because she seems to take people as they are: the good, the bad, and the in-between. Rayne also reminds me of my friend Tatu, who is her half-sister, and for some reason it brings me comfort.

Another thing we love about her is her sense of fashion sense. It is unreal!

Rayne standing bipedal on the Bray as a train goes by:

I don’t know how we got so lucky to know a chimp like Rayne:

Bonus photos!

Lucky on the Bray today:

Willy B in the grass <3:

Foxie with 5 dolls:

Annie watching her noisy neighbors:

Can you believe Negra is turning 50 this year? As many of you might know, our Trifecta Jubilee is coming up on June 13th! We will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Cle Elum Seven’s arrival, Terry’s birthday, and of course Negra’s 50th birthday! On Saturday, June 10th at 2pm, we would love for you to join us for a virtual Sit Down with the Co-Directors!

Birthday Girl Herself, Queen Negra:

New Beginnings

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I think it is time to celebrate something. This morning started off like any other. Jamie’s group went out onto Young’s Hill, including Negra! It was the perfect morning to forage for grass and feel the warm sunshine.

Negra:

However, later in the afternoon we closed off Young’s Hill because… Rayne’s group went out on the the Bray for the first time!!!!!! I don’t think any of us expected this group to explore so much the first time, it was amazing to watch.

Rayne walked out onto the Bray, not a hair was pilo, like she had always belonged there. It was really magical to watch her be so confident walking out into the unknown, she was truly at ease.

Terry explored so much!

Willy B surprised us! He never really explored much when he was in the the old courtyard, but today he explored everything, even the top of Esher.

There is so much more we want to share, but it will have to wait until tomorrow! All I want to say is that we are so proud of them, not everyone went out, it will still take some time for them to get comfortable, but today for all of us staff this felt sooo good!

We will be splitting Hill time between the two groups until Rayne’s group becomes more comfort and secure on the Bray, but we have started the process!

Bonus photos of Foxie:

Grief

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I guess I will start this blog on a personal note, and if you stick with me, I think I will make it come full circle. If not, I appreciate you all just being here reading the words that have been running around in my head :).

Grief looks different for every human and non-human. Grief has played a large role in my personal life and if I am honest my professional life as well. I would not be the person I am today without it. Grief and opportunity lead me to make some amazing impulsive decisions that at another time in life I may not have taken the risks or the leap. With the loved ones I have lost, the feeling doesn’t go away. Slowly, we heal and find a way to manage the void left behind. For me, their absence in life is always here, but I have learned that it is okay to acknowledge the sadness of a loved one you had hoped to share more memories with, over time it does get easier to cope with.

As I mentioned before, grief looks different for each individual. Some let the grief swallow them whole and come out of it when it is time, others mask with humor, or avoid, some make themselves so busy they can’t think about it. None are wrong, just different. For me, though I can express myself around others and share my feelings, showing those emotions is a different story. I tend to avoid my feelings and mask them with humor until I am alone, and then let the grief swallow me whole so that no one has to take care of me… because I do the care-taking. It’s hard to take care of the people who usually do the caring.

We as caregivers wear many hats and a difficult aspect of that is that we do see a lot of trauma. Some days we are just caregivers and other days we are jumping into help with an unexpected procedure or observing wounds to make sure it doesn’t need medical intervention. While other days, it’s a lot of emotional trauma of hearing the chimps scream and fight- hoping it doesn’t turn into an injury. This job can be hard because we cannot ask them to stop or always protect them from harm, no matter how much we try. Sometimes I don’t think we talk about the struggles that we endure enough. It isn’t always something we have time to unpack, we recognize it, make a note of it, but we have to continue to care for the other chimps. On the other side of the trauma, the things we endure can have incredible outcomes. Burrito is our miracle chimp, against all odds he made it and with everything he has been through, he has only gotten more hungry for life. Or making the group of 9, there were so many emotions during the intro process, watching them figure each other out, not knowing if it would work out, but here they are, one year together as a group. While we may have helped facilitate the intros, it is an incredible accomplishment made by Cy’s group.

For us humans (and the chimps too), I think as the days have passed by, we are slowly unpacking everything that unfolded. Everyone was working around the clock to help Jody and her family. Now that we have stopped moving the grief is settling in. The beauty of the individuals that I am so lucky to be surrounded by at CSNW, is though we may be unpacking in our own ways, everyone is there for each other. The community of CSNW is one of the warmest, most comforting places to be a part of. It makes someone like me uncomfortable to be vulnerable, accept sympathy, or even cry in front of someone not so hard. I am so unbelievably lucky to work with such remarkable people who can not only console the chimps who have lost such an important member of their group, but to also console each other when losing such a remarkable chimp like Jody.

Jody was everything that sanctuary embodied. Jody had gone through so many traumas in life. Jody didn’t owe us anything- especially her trust or friendship. But Jody was resilient, she was strong, she was brave, and she was so loving to the individuals she cared for. Jody stayed that way even in her final days. CSNW gave her security, safety, and love. Jody’s friendship was something to earn, but when she let you in, you were loved so fiercely and so loyally. For 15 years Jody enjoyed everything that sanctuary had to offer her and we are only better for knowing her.

I would like to share a few of my favorite blogs of Jody. One of my all time favorite memories of Jody is when she helped Foxie build the courage to climb up the Twister. Jody and Foxie worked on it for many morning before Foxie finally made it up there. I also loved a few weeks ago when J.B. found Negra out on a structure on the top of the Hill, that morning Jody made sure Negra went outside, almost as if they had a plan to get Negra up there and of course Jody was waiting for Negra to come back. Any of the great pumpkin heists! Watching Jody foraging for leafy greens. I also really loved this particular video of Jody and Negra playing!

Because my blog was not particularly uplifting, I will leave you with a few interactions with the chimps that have helped me get through this week.

The first day I came back from Jody’s passing, I was greeted by Negra. She was breathy panting, grooming my hands and my elbow. She would give me kisses for long periods of time. Negra would put her forehead on the mesh for me to knuckle rub, then her back to groom, and even her foot to knuckle rub. If anyone knows Negra, she really never gives her foot like that, like at all. Every time we made eye contact, we would just breathy pant together for long periods of time. We did these things together for at least 20 minutes.

Jamie and I went for one of the longest walks we had been on in a while. When I came back from the walk, I went through the greenhouses on Honey B’s side of the building. Honey B greeted me by giving me her belly and breathy panting followed by sweet kisses and grooming on the back of my hand. Honey B also was holding a plank of wood she had proudly found and wasn’t ready to give it to Caregiver Chad just quite yet. Gordo stopped by to tickle my hand and ask to play chase. Cy came by to look longingly in my eyes. Rayne came to inspect my toes (I was wearing one sandal and on the other was Jamie’s current favorite boot), and Terry gave me a very tender kind kiss. After I played a little chase with Honey B, I came back to Jamie where she was ready to receive her boot. After I gave Jamie her boot she went off to make a nest, which allowed Burrito and I played a mellow game of tickle, slow chase, and follow his lips- where he gives you kisses on the back of your hand and you follow this lips around all different parts of the mesh.

Yesterday, I was on Rayne’s side of the building for cleaning. I went upstairs to clean greenhouse 3 where Rayne met me. We sat across from each other through the double mesh. Rayne ate her breakfast chow while she stared into my eyes for a while. After, I started to clean again when Honey B showed up. Honey B and I, again much like Rayne, sat across from each other through the double mesh. She breathy panted and put her face on the mesh to give a kiss, though we couldn’t reach each other through the double mesh, I put my face up again the mesh to give a kiss back, Honey B and I did this for a while before she too moved on… I am sure to find some mischief : ). Gordo stopped by in between the kisses and wanted to play, but he didn’t want to wait long enough for Honey B and I to be done. And Mave stopped by in between to put her face up to the mesh and stare into my eyes before she left to find her Dora. After Honey B left, I started to clean again when Cy joined me upstairs. Cy and I played a silly game of chase and gazed into each other’s eyes. Eventually, everyone moved on and I finished cleaning.

These were some sweet moments that helped me in my moments of grief this week.

It’s easy to dwell, but the interactions I have had with the chimps this week are a good reminder of why we do what we do. I feel like everyone has come forward in their own small way to heal. I find solace in our dedication to the chimps. Each of them are beings with such depth, we owe it to them.

Silly Burrito:

Jamie in a giant nest:

And a few of sweet Jo <3: