Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

animal protection

Big Welcome to Honey B, Willy B, and Mave!

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Honey B, Willy B, and Mave arrived at the sanctuary this morning and are getting to know their brand new facility right now as you read this post!

These three chimpanzees came from Wildlife Waystation in California which recently announced that it is closing and, with the help of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, is transferring the animals living there to other organizations.

Honey B is the adult daughter of Missy, who has lived at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest since 2008. Missy gave birth to Honey B at a laboratory and they were separated when Honey B was less than 24 hours old.

The three are settling in quite well after their journey and are very curious about the new friendly faces and interesting views at their new home.

Honey B:

Willy B:

Mave:

They will be in quarantine for 30 days before they have any contact with the seven, but the two groups will be able to see each other at a bit of a distance once the above ground tunnel is complete.

We’ve had quite a few additional expenses lately with the construction of the archway tunnel that will connect the new space to the outdoor habitat and all the costs we just incurred transporting the chimpanzees to the sanctuary this weekend. So please consider making a “Welcome to your new home” donation in honor of Honey B, Willy B, and Mave!

We will update you all soon with videos and more, but we didn’t want to wait any longer before sharing this good news.

Thank you to everyone who has supported Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest over the years, enabling the sanctuary to be in a position to help these three chimpanzees (and more in the future)! And thanks to those who have directly cared for and advocated for the chimpanzees at Wildlife Waystation.

Best Friends Playing Video

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A couple of weeks ago, I took a short video of Annie play-poking Missy in a really sweet and affectionate way and thought it would be great to put on Instagram (@ChimpSanctuary). The video got so much play, I then shared it on the sanctuary’s Facebook page and watched as the number of views and shares far surpassed any other videos we’ve made. (20.7k views and 4,275 shares as I type this).

So, I thought I’d put together the video properly with the full screen view!

A lot of people tagged friends, spouses, family members because Annie reminded them either of themselves or others.

Enjoy!

And feel free to share 🙂

How to Forage

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By Burrito Chimpanzee

Gather as much of the most prized item as you can, filling your hands so that you must stand bipedally.

Process the food as you go.

Don’t worry about what other people are doing.

Just go for it.

Get the most out of everything you’ve gathered.

Take a rest, but make sure to guard any leftovers.

They Know

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The Cle Elum Seven Chimpanzees spent decades in biomedical research laboratories and holding facilities in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and early 2000s.

The minimum space requirements for housing chimpanzees under the Animal Welfare Act remain shockingly, well, minimal. It’s still legal to keep a chimpanzee in a 5’x5’x7′ cage. These days, however, most laboratories that are still housing chimpanzees allow them to live in social groups and give them some sort of outside access. The National Institutes of Health recommends (though doesn’t require) enclosures that provide at least 250 square feet of space per chimpanzee. As a point of reference, for our group of seven, that’s a total of 1,750 square feet. Think about the size of your apartment or house as a comparison. Now think of yourself having only that amount of space for the rest of your life. Still, 250 square feet is way beyond the twenty-five square-foot cages that the Cle Elum Seven spent much of their lives.

The changes in how labs house chimpanzees came about in part due to pressure from a public that had gained insight into the deep intelligence and social lives of these beings that are so closely related to us.

Beyond just amount of space, providing an enriching, stimulating, interesting environment for chimpanzees is about giving them lots and lots of choices. Even if they only use some of their space a fraction of the time or only pick up a certain object one out of every five times it’s available, simply living in an environment that provides a large amount of variety is a huge part of giving intelligent primates at least some of what they need.

After spending decades in small spaces without access to the outside, I wonder if the Cle Elum Seven could have imagined a place like CSNW with 85,000 square feet of space.

Once they were at the sanctuary, their bodies and their minds knew what to do.

They followed their instincts, put their muscles to work, and got down to the business of exploring.

They reached into their imaginations and indulged in private games and adventures.

They broadened their palate and relished opportunities to search for and gather food.

No one had to teach them to be chimpanzees.

(Just a note about these photos – they were all taken today! The photos include Foxie, Jamie, Annie, and Missy.)

The Unknown

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The chimpanzees have been remarkably nonchalant about the giant wing that was added on to their building this spring. Curious at times for sure, but for the most part just going about their days as usual. With the exception of Annie.

Ever since that day last year when we moved the trailer away from the barn doors in preparation for construction to begin, Annie has spent time at those doors peering in, as she is in this photo (she’s the one standing up), or just sitting next to the doors, listening:

The other chimpanzees have been tuned in when something really interesting and new happens, like at the end of January when the hydraulic door on the other side of the barn doors was operated for the first time:

Today though, it was Missy who was spending quite a bit of time hanging out near that doorway to the unknown.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, she did not spend the whole day camped out there. She had other things to do:

I’d love to know what Missy is thinking, what all of the chimpanzees are thinking, about what awaits them on the other side of that door.

Missy has no idea that next month she will be able to look through that door and see the face of her 30 year-old daughter, Honey B. We have the same question as everyone else – will they feel a connection to one another?

They spent less than 24 hours together when Honey B was born to Missy at the Laboratory for Experimental and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP), so it would be extraordinary if they recognized each other by sight. Chimpanzees’ sense of smell is just about as lousy as ours, so that’s not going to help them know each other. It really is like a human mom and baby who were separated at birth. Maybe there will be some kind of connection that even they don’t understand; or maybe it will be the same as Missy with Mave and Willy B – strangers (as far as we know) meeting for the first time.

There are a lot of unknowns.

What is certain is that the chimpanzees are ever more curious about what is going to happen on the other side of that door. Tonight when I went in to the playroom to spot clean I discovered that someone had used a willow branch as a tool to reach a lock on that door.

Soon, chimpanzees, soon.

Fishing for Greens

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The chimpanzees’ friend and veterinarian, Dr. Erin Zamzow, arrived at the sanctuary today with two big paper bags overflowing with beautiful greens harvested by her neighbor. The timing of the delivery was perfect as we were getting ready to set up a forage on the hill for the chimps’ lunch.

If you have been following the blog for a bit, you might guess which of the chimpanzees went right for all of the greens she could find. You can see in the photos below how Jody got the nickname Farmer Jo.

We had spread the bounty of greens in different parts of the hill, along with some onions, primate chow, sweet potatoes, and a few bonus cherries (thanks to Darwin’s Natural Pet Products and Charlie’s Produce for the yummy cherries!).

The grass on the hill has taken on a life and personality of it’s own. The blades were moving in unison with the wind likes waves in a sea. We could see Jody’s shape glide through the grass in one direction only to abruptly switch direction as she spotted another stem to add to her collection.

We would catch a glimpse of her surfacing from the tall grass once in a while, her arms and mouth stuffed to their limit:

As is her habit, she returned to the greenhouse with her haul, taking her time to enjoy every delicious bite.