Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Sofia Castro-Loza

Midday Siesta

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“Siestas” in Spanish originate from the Latin phrase “hora sexta” or sixth hour and suggest a brief midday rest after being up and about for six hours. In some areas in the Mediterranean siesta time is taken very seriously and can happen any time from noon to 5pm. During this time it is not unusual to find markets, stores, pharmacies with their doors closed to the public and a “be back in one hour sign”. Many parts of the world have incorporated these breaks into their daily lives and some studies conducted in the Mediterranean even show the relation between napping and good diet, healthier aging and having higher activity levels. Back home in Puerto Rico siestas are a big thing after work, school, or during lunch breaks and a Sunday afternoon without a nap is definitely not complete. The US has caught on and has come up with the term power naps and the chimps approve. Here at the sanctuary, there’s no specific time for nap time but personally it fills my heart to see individuals peacefully resting surrounded by their peers. I hope these fill your hearts as well!

Cy and Lucky resting in the front rooms

Dora resting in the front rooms

Foxie resting in the green house

Lucky about to nap

Negra resting in the green house

Rayne resting in the front room

Special shout out to all of those who have bought blankets from the wish list! We are still in need of more and as you all can see the chimps really appreciate them.

Check out the link to our Wish List on Amazon.

Wildcards…plus a medical update

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We have a had a lot of things going on for the past weeks so here is a brief update from your friendly veterinary assistant regarding Bubba’s encounter with a rattlesnake. After Burrito’s sedation to infuse the antivenin, we had him apart from the group for almost a week to ensure he was recovering correctly. During this time he was getting medications to help with overall itchiness and discomfort after exposure, and we were also collecting fecal samples. The importance of these samples was to monitor his coagulation factors after being exposed to rattlesnake venom. Such bleeding abnormalities can show up days after the exposure, which made it crucial to monitor him for at least a week.  All of our caregivers were on poop duty and thankfully all of the samples came back negative for occult blood which meant that his clotting factors were not affected. This guy was the best patient, he took all his medications in food and wanted to engage in play at all times. Right now, he is doing awesome and has been keeping us all caught up with our daily cardio.

Caregiver Anthony took these photos of Bubba today and if they don’t reflect this guys goofiness and constant happiness, I don’t know what does

On the other side of the Sanctuary, one-on-one introductions continue. One of our wildcards is Gordo, he tends to be a little unpredictable when it comes to neighbors although he has been showing a lot of interest in Mave since their arrival. He first met Willy B, nothing super exciting, they had a brief positive interaction and parted ways. Next up was Gordito’s crush, Mave. This introduction was very lighthearted as both engaged in some very amusing grooming sessions. Because we had some extra time, we had Honey B meet Gordo through the mesh. She was a little amped up about the situation and we decided it was best to keep a barrier between the two individuals. Through all of this, Gordo seemed unfazed and behaved great. Next up was Cy meeting Honey B through the mesh. At this point, both Cy and Honey B had so much energy going on that after a few interactions through the mesh, both individuals returned to their groups for dinner.

Here is Mave and Gordo in one of their grooming sessions today

BONUS: Negra nesting this morning in the green house

Photo Dump

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Finding a theme for each day’s blog tends to really get to us after all the cleaning is done so by 1pm our minds are mostly just scattering to find good content. I don’t know if it’s the increasing heat that is expected to hit triple digits again during the next couple of days, but my brain did not cooperate to give me a magnificent story line for today. Because of this, I took the liberty of introducing photo dumps to the blog. These have been increasing in popularity on different social media forums, where people gather sometimes random or not so random photos, and cluster them into one single post with a caption as simple as “Photo dump” and maybe some random emoji to match the theme…if there is any. Usually, there is no specific sequence of events for these and they end up being a series of good photos that are otherwise using up space in the phone or camera memory and that should not go to waste. From selfies to scenic photos, they can include just about anything. I would love to spam all of you the million selfies I have unashamedly taken over the past months that have yet to see the light of day, but I’m hoping some chimp and bovine photos would suffice.

Jamie’s table for one

Negra’s morning nest

Rayne LOVED the movie tickets enrichment that they got today in the Mezzanine. I later saw her tangled in the tickets while unraveling more, sadly I was not able to capture the moment. But just imagine her laying down covered in movie tickets like a bride-to-be in her bachelorette party with a dress made of toilet paper, or a TP mummy, whatever is easier for you. It was just great.

I later saw Rayne nesting with the remains of the ticket stubs she was tangled in

Sweet sweet Dora during her afternoon resting time

Foxie with her doll looking inside the Green House to see if any friends would come out as well

A Gordito side eye <3

Honey, as beautiful as always

And then we have here a handsome Nutmeg

Happy Birthday, Gordito!

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For some, birthdays are just another day, but here at the sanctuary we go all out to make sure birthdays are a big hit for everyone. Today we are celebrating that one of the Lucky Six, Gordo, turns 33 years old. This is his first birthday party celebration while living in the sanctuary and we had to make sure that it met all of his expectations. Gordito, because honestly he is not hefty at all and it sounds a bit more gentle has slowly come out of his shell and has shown to be a very sweet chimp, and has also proven that his name matches his personality in the sense that he is a VERY food motivated guy. For meals he will get his serving of food and then come back to ask for more as if he had gotten nothing, but nice try buddy we are trained to keep count!

Today’s party included a forage in the playrooms of oatmeal cups topped with grapes and shaved coconuts, banana leaves for browse and a tropical feel, and whole mangoes for lunch. I don’t know who was more excited about mangoes being on the lunch menu, the chimps or me. They always remind me of being back home and picking them from the huge tree in my grandmas backyard, or sitting under said tree with my cousins always with an eye out to not get hit in the head with a falling mango if the wind picked up. Anyways, here are some photos of the party!

Smoothie/juice bars have nothing on our caregivers ability to make snacks look amazingly appetizing

Once the chimps got access into the party area Gordo was the first one in and went straight towards the oatmeal cups

Gordo getting his lunch mango from Caregiver Anthony

Cy showing how a mango should be left after being properly eaten

Lucky enjoying her oatmeal cup

Dora with her oatmeal cup

And just in time for Gordo’s birthday, you now have the opportunity to become his Chimpanzee Pal (or a Pal to any of the 16 chimpanzees who call the sanctuary home)! Each of the “Lucky Six” are now available to sponsor through our Chimpanzee Pal program, so if you’d like to learn more just click here – OR – if you’re inspired to become a Bovine Buddy in time for Betsy’s birthday tomorrow, click here!

For the myriad of ways in which you each choose to support our chimpanzee and bovine families, it means the world to us and we could not be more grateful to you!

The Light Reading Chronicles Continue

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Yesterday, fellow caregiver Anthony gave us great insight on the history of magazines and provided some amazing pictures AND a video of Sir Cy enjoying one of them. Today has been no different for Cy. While all the other chimps in his group were resting or perched in the top platforms of the green houses, Cy has been carrying around the same magazine since 11AM. We give them so many to choose from that I found very interesting how much this one magazine has caught his attention today. He would move from enclosure to enclosure with the same one. I managed to get him on camera skimming through it with such intensity in his eyes while hanging out in the second level of their play room. The magazine of the day was not about famous artists or gossip, but about food! As a highly food motivated person, I can say his content of choice today is on point. Great choice, Cy!

Here he is holding his magazine pick of the day in one of their green houses.

He then brought it back inside to the play room. Look how concentrated he is, I bet there’s a really good recipe on that page. My current goal is to retrieve said recipe, once he is done with it, of course!

Dora, forever a huge fan of the platforms in their green houses.

Gordo was all about his feet while perched on one of the platforms.

EXTRA: A beautiful Rayne spotted standing on one of the barrels, she was probably on some sort of undercover mission.

Fri-yay

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At this point of the week everybody is taking it easy and getting ready for the next set of even warmer days. With a high of 91°F, the chimps have been mostly relaxing and the humans have been hydrating and trying to keep cool. Caregivers Kelsi, Sam and I even ran across the sprinklers to refresh ourselves for a little bit. But, let me show you what some of the chimps were up to today.

Jamie relaxing in one of the Front Rooms this morning before temps started going up.

Only one more photo and then some shoe grooming in the Green House. OK? OK. I think she approves of my after cleaning shoes.

I got spotted by Burrito while taking photos in the Green House. This can only mean: IT IS CHASE TIME.

Jody in the Play Room.

Honey B’s gaze reaches ones soul.

Willy B is all about that screen time.

Nobody move!

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Coming from a tropical Island, I have heard plenty of times that on warm days one should do and move as little as possible. This was the norm today at the Chimp House, and will probably be during the next few days. Willy B, like everyday, got access to the Courtyard this morning but decided it was best to stay resting under the shade in the Chute with Mave, both cooling off with the breeze. The Cle Elum 7 got access in the morning to Young’s Hill and everyone but Jody decided to stay put indoors. This only lasted a little while because shortly after Jody came in to rest in the Green House #1 and was then joined by Foxie. After lunch, both Burrito and Jamie wanted accompanied walks around the hill. After a play session, Burrito wanted Sam to go around the hill with him. Later after, boss Jamie saw coming back from visiting the cattle while driving the Gator and demanded a walk, I complied.

Foxie and Jody resting side by side in Green House 1

Mave relaxing on one of the platforms in Green House 3

Nutmeg cooling off by the creek

Betsy and Meredith by the creek

BONUS: Check out some of the strawberries growing next to the Chute. Best. Strawberries. Ever.