Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Enjoy this video of a variety of short play clips from around the sanctuary over the past couple weeks. Also, here are some photos from the chimp house today!
Dora enjoying the Greenhouse.
Willy B relaxing after breakfast.
Mave and Honey B in the afternoon.
Jamie watching Lisa and Burrito play chase.
It was a pretty laid back day around the chimp house today. Everyone must still be resting from Jamieween and Lucky’s birthday! The weather was cold and mostly cloudy today, so it was a good day to just lounge around. In the afternoon there was a window of some sun and the chimpanzees in Jamie’s group took this opportunity to explore Young’s Hill. They were out there for awhile, but then it was back to resting again.
Missy watching the others on Young’s Hill.
Burrito between sprints around the hill.
Foxie with her doll.
Jody took her golden beets from lunch onto the hill.
I couldn’t decide which photo of Annie I liked the best, so I added them all!
This is how I found Willy B lounging this morning when I was opening up the chimp house.
Katelyn took these great photos of Honey B interacting with the foot box today.
Just as I was adding the title of this blog “Quiet Days” Willy B started rolling this scooter back and forth. I think it’s dinner time!
Jamieween is finally here! Today we celebrated the one and only Jamie’s 44th Birthday, as well as Halloween! Today was full of scarecrows, pumpkins, pomegranates, shrunken apple heads, birthday gifts for Jamie, and much much more! The chimpanzees here had quite the celebration today. Enrichment Coordinator, Chad did such a good job planning all of this for them. A huge thank you to everyone who bought items for today off of our wish list! Everything really added to the celebration today. Also, thank you to all of the care staff who helped get these great videos and photos!
I hope that Jamie and the rest of the chimpanzees here enjoyed themselves today. I know we all enjoyed watching them. Back in the day my time as an intern here only breached the surface of who Jamie is and I’m getting to know her so much better. I’m still leaning some Jamie language, but its a fun ride and it is a privilege to be able to help care for her. She is definitely a special chimpanzee.
Jamie’s group had a 2 part celebration that began in their Greenhouse. Willy B enjoyed time in the Courtyard with his scarecrow while Mave and Honey B celebrated inside. The Lucky Six enjoyed their pumpkins and Halloween bags full of things like nuts and cabbage.
Shrunken apple heads!
Jamie enjoying her pumpkin bags next to her new book.
Jamie gathering as many as she can.
Missy taking over after Jamie moved on.
Annie investigating the scarecrow.
Missy enjoying her pomegranate next to the scarecrow.
Burrito with his corn on Young’s Hill.
Foxie with her pomegranate.
Foxie made sure her doll got to enjoy the forage.
Negra found lots of Brussels sprouts.
Jody trying to carry as much as she can to enjoy her food back in the Greenhouse.
Jamie found three pomegranates!
Terry enjoying the celebration.
Lucky found some goodies.
Cy taking a break from reading.
Dora with her forage finds.
Gordo and Dora.
Rayne took hers to the Greenhouse.
Mave and Willy B are excited about pumpkins!
Mave and her pumpkin.
Honey B enjoying her stash.
Willy B found some pumpkin bags before making his way to the scarecrow.
Willy B ready to dive into the pumpkin head!
And…….Burrito ended up being the Great Pumpkin Thief this year! As you can see in the video he brought it down from a platform on Young’s Hill, but it rolled away. It ended up rolling into the fence and we had to bring everyone inside so we could get it unstuck. After spot cleaning the seven’s playroom we put it back inside to see who would grab it. Jody really wanted it and tried several times, but Burrito was the winner this year.
October is flying by! I still feel like just the other day it was 100 plus degrees outside and now it’s cold in the mornings! Today it didn’t seem to warm up in the afternoon and most everyone (humans included) spent as much time as they could inside. Lots of naps were taken, Burrito played, and Cy read some magazines. It feels like winter is right around the corner! At least with the way October is moving Jamieween will be here before we know it! I’ve heard a lots about this fun day and I’m ready for it.
As a reminder don’t forget this week coming up, Tuesday October 12th, is Giving Day for Apes! The donation window has already opened up, but on the 12th lots of things will be happening throughout the day. There’s lots of prizes that the participating sanctuaries and rescue centers can win so make sure to stay tuned! If you want to read more about Giving Day for Apes you can here.
We also have our own fundraising page here.
Enjoy some photos from the day.
Jody resting after breakfast in the front rooms.
The cold didn’t hold back Burrito today! I always say I wish I had the kind of energy that he does. Even first thing in the morning he’s ready to go!
Burrito in a tub!
Jamie keeping an eye on the neighbors.
Lucky making good use of the oversized comfy wolf blanket.
Cy resting while we clean.
Rayne joined the bench party. Left to right: Cy, Lucky, and Rayne.
Cy’s morning rest didn’t last long. He had some celebrity gossip to catch up on.
Introductions are in full swing again! Jen Feuerstein who has been consulting with us on introductions is back for the week. It was a very interesting and exciting day as we ended up doing three different introductions. This many introductions led to a busy day so I apologize for the short blog with a few photos. I do promise a video later this week of the introductions today!
Overall the introductions went well! First, we did a reintroduction of Honey B and Gordo that involved lots of playing. Next up was Willy B, Mave, Cy, and Lucky. There was some displaying at the beginning, but eventually everything calmed down and lots of loud chimp laughter could be heard from Willy B and Cy. Lucky and Mave played a little, but mostly groomed each other on the bench in the picture below. The last introduction for the day was Willy B, Honey B, Cy, and Lucky. This introduction had a minor conflict at the beginning, but was followed by some play between all, especially Honey B and Lucky. All of these chimpanzees did amazing today!
Lucky grooming Mave’s back during one of the introductions today.
Mave enjoying the Greenhouse this morning.
Negra wasn’t ready for breakfast just yet.
Just like the title says this blog involves boxes, BidWars, and blankets! Gordo enjoyed his lunch while sitting in a box today. After lunch he found another box in the Greenhouse to soak up some sun.
The HOOT! online auction is still going strong! Bidding will end at 7:00pm Pacific tonight unless an item goes to BidWars. Even if you aren’t bidding, you might want to tune in to the auction site to see BidWars (explained on the FAQ page). If you missed the exciting live-streamed virtual event last night, you can still watch the recording on YouTube or Facebook.
Lastly, Jamie was spotted looking mighty comfy in a blanket nest today. The weather was a bit cooler, so big blanket nests seemed to be the theme of the day for a lot of the chimps. At one point Missy was so wrapped up in a blanket we couldn’t tell who it was until she poked her head out!
We can’t thank everyone enough who has participated in HOOT! this year. It’s so amazing to have so much support and help in expanding the home for these wonderful chimpanzees (and bovine!). You all are amazing!
Here’s another chimp ID from The Lucky Six. Gordo! We are still learning so much about this group every day, but one thing we learned right away about Gordo is that he is a foodie! He’s always ready for meal times. I think he could eat his serving plus everyone else’s and still want more! That’s okay though, I can relate. Gordo seems to enjoy the food puzzles we give them for enrichment. I usually see him interacting with them, especially the raisin boards.
Gordo plays chase with us every so often, but for the most part he seems to prefer to lay back and watch the happenings of the day.
He is the smallest male in his group. Gordo has a slim body type, but still is pretty large compared to Burrito!
Gordo loves boxes! We reuse the boxes our produce comes in by giving them to the chimps and he can usually be found sitting in one.
Gordo has a very white beard with a lot of tan coloring around his bottom lip and a little bit above his upper lip. He has a pretty narrow face.
Today Gordo took his lunch carrots and enjoyed them in the Chute. We gave them access to this space a couple weeks ago and Gordo along with the rest of his group have been spending a lot of time out there.
