Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Sofia Castro-Loza

Back to Front Room 7!

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During the process of the nine’s introduction, we had kept front room 7 closed off from them. The reasoning behind having it closed from the chimpanzees was that it posed some safety concerns. This room is smaller than the others and it only has one entry and exit way, making it a dead end. After the chimps were integrated, and out of rational skepticism, we continued to leave it closed as it served as an extra room in case we needed to separate a fight or isolate an individual. The thought of them getting into a serious fight in such a tight spot with only one way to escape had us a bit nervous. That said, considering that the group seems to be handling itself pretty well, during our most recent staff meeting we decided to give it back to them on a see-how-it-goes basis.

Before the groups were integrated, front room 7 was an all time crowd favorite. Honey B loved to nest in there, Rayne loved to use the firehose as a hammock to relax, Lucky would gather blankets and refuse to shift for us with a very determined looking grin, and the boys loved running through the three front rooms while playing chase with us.  As you can all imagine, all nine were very excited to have the room again. Our hope is that they get to keep access to their favorite room forever!

 

Special Requests

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Jamie has several ways of letting us know what she wants, and when. Today, while I cleaned the playroom with volunteer Lizz, Jamie was banging on the caging requesting our attention. Because Lizz was in the process of hosing down the playroom we thought that maybe Jamie wanted a drink from the hose. When Lizz offered, she declined. So what did she want? We continued our cleaning and Jamie hit the caging again. At this point we stopped what we were doing because the task of figuring out what she wanted was more important than cleaning. I walked towards her and she led me to the human doors of the front rooms. When I got to the other side, she slid the cover of her favorite book, “Lucy: A day in the life of a young bonobo”, under the door for me to grab. Once it was in my hands she sprinted to the greenhouse and out to Young’s Hill. I followed her outside. Once I arrived to where she was patiently waiting, she started gesturing towards the barn. The only thing that she could ever want from the barn is the gator. At this point I’m not entirely sure that’s what she wants but I went to get it. Turns out, she wanted me to carry the cover of the book while I drove around the hill on the gator. She looked very pleased.

Jamie loves her bonobo books! You can donate more books and other much needed items by going into our Amazon Wish list here.

 

Simply Unbothered

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The Cle Elum Seven formed by Negra, Jamie, Burrito, Jody, Foxie, Annie and Missy have been neighbors to the newly formed group of nine chimpanzees for almost four months now. We have received questions about whether they react or not to the other group. The short answer is yes, the long answer is that it depends. I have been working as a caregiver at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest for about 15 months now and during this time I’ve noticed that some of the chimpanzees under our care react more than others when it comes to ruckus on the opposite group. Some members of the Cle Elum Seven get very invested when they hear something going on, while others continue their day like if it were business as usual.

A great example of this is what happened today at lunch time. We set up a forage in Young’s Hill for the seven that included corn, mini peppers, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, onions, and chow. With the idea of grabbing stills of them foraging for their favorite items, I brought the camera with me. Every single one of them was super excited to get out there, with Negra leading the way. About 3 minutes into the forage, the nine had a disagreement and the screaming on that side commenced. Jamie, Foxie, Annie, and Burrito dropped what they were doing to investigate. They went to the corner of the hill with the best view of the greenhouses and stood bipedally trying to figure out what was happening. As the screaming on the other side of the sanctuary continued, they eventually went inside to the greenhouse and playroom to peek from the windows and display at the other group. I realized that six of the seven chimps were inside and ignoring their meal. So where was Negra?

I walked outside and found her. Alone. On top of a platform, enjoying an ear of corn. She seemed completely unfazed by what she could hear happening in the distance. Cases like this make me wonder whether she thinks her group mates are fit enough to handle the issue without needing her assistance, or whether she simply put food first and decided to let the situation unfold. Whatever it was, she looked peaceful, at ease with her corn and chow, simply unbothered.

 

 

The Summer Nest

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During the past week the PNW has been experiencing an intense heat wave. As mentioned in our previous blogs, we have gone above and beyond to be sure that all 16 chimps are comfortable. This has included tubs filled with Gatorade water, ice pools, frozen treats, and fans stationed all over the buildings. Today wasn’t any different and between frozen treats the chimps spent most of their days laying directly on the ground to keep cool. To our surprise, even in this weather we found multiple well made blanket nests in all the enclosures. Some were as elaborate as they usually are, but others looked more like “summer nests”. Summer nests, as we call them, are light and airy nests made with thinner blankets and sometimes lined with paper.

A few impressive nests we found today:

The “summer nest”:

Some of our residents, like Gordo or Foxie rarely make blanket nests. Sometimes Gordo will gather paper and cardboard to make a nest, but usually he can be found all spread out on the floor like this:

BONUS:

Mave holding Dora’s hand and foot

Honey B during her afternoon down time

Special shout-out to everyone that pledged money to help us buy the “Big Ass Fan: Evaporative Cooler“. All of us, chimpanzees and staff members, are VERY excited about this!

P.S. We are finally able to host our annual fundraiser gala in person! We have missed our supporters and we can’t wait to celebrate the chimps with all of you again. If you haven’t yet, remember to register for HOOT! 2022.

Ask us anything!

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Today was a busy, so I will keep it short and sweet. On this very sunny and warm day with temperatures almost reaching 100°F, we gave the chimps several drinking spots with dilute Gatorade in water to help keep everyone hydrated. In warm days the chimps usually opt to staying inside and hiding from the sun and that is exactly what we saw today.

On another topic, we have noticed we have new followers commenting on our social media platforms and on our daily blogs, thank you for joining us! Caregivers on staff have been writing these daily blogs for years. We have amazing supporters that have read every single blog post, but we wanted to extend an invitation for everyone to comment bellow any questions or blog topics you would like us to cover in future blogs. We have done this before with so much success and it is always nice to see people engaging with us and suggesting topics for us to further discuss in here when our idea boxes are running low.

Foxie

Rayne

Gordo

Cy

Lucky

 

 

 

Boots, boots, boots

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It is no secret that the chimps, specially Jamie, like us to wear Xtratuf boots while we work. Thanks to one of our amazing donors, I was able to upgrade my old boots and everyone, including me, were very excited about them. Jamie inspected every single inch of the boots with a chopstick and later on with a grooming tool. Lucky, Dora, and Mave all made an effort to follow me until they got to touch the new boots. Then as I walked by Terry, he requested I come closer by spitting water directly at my boots. Cy was very eager to play chase with me after checking them out as well.

Items like these are posted under our Amazon wish list. Check it out by clicking here.

 

 

Flower Love

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To end Pride month, the chimps got some wild roses and lilac flowers as browse 🙂

Thanks to everyone who donated to the June matching pledge. Jennifer Douglas’s $50,000 matching challenge has been matched in full thanks to you!!