Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.
Was it just a week ago that I was wondering out loud if the new three would grow to appreciate snow?!
Check out the video of Willy B and Honey B clearly appreciating the buckets of snow we have been bringing inside.
The first clip of Willy B cracks me up every time – drop one ball of snow and another magically appears!
As J.B. mentioned yesterday, and as I’m sure you would have surmised in any case, we’ve been spending extra time outside of our normal hours at the sanctuary as Burrito recovers. (If you are wondering about Honey B and why we don’t talk about her recovery, well, that’s because her day to day quickly returned to normal and she’s doing great!)
The first few days following last Friday’s procedure were pretty much 24/7 Burrito-watch.
We are grateful that Burrito’s chimpanzee friends on the other side of the mesh provided their own nursing and care skills. Honestly, I think their presence is what helped him the most after his surgery. Once again, they have shown us that their relationships with one another, though not always peaceful, provide a social network that the humans are woefully inadequate to imitate.
As Burrito has gotten better, we have not needed to stay overnight by his side, but we’ve still made late-night visits to check on him and give him food and medication.
The sanctuary owns a house on site that J.B. and I have lived in since 2009. It’s a hundred or so yards from the chimp house. This short commute to work is quite convenient for everyone, and especially so when we need to wander up at a moment’s notice and/or in the black of night.
I was making one such journey on Thursday, outfitted in pajamas and a coat, with the stars providing meager illumination. About halfway up the driveway, I stopped to confirm that the sound I heard in the bush was just the scuttling of deer, at which point I realized that in addition to my sleepwear I was also wearing slippers, which had not been my intention.
Squinting through the dark down towards my feet, I took a minute to internally debate whether to turn back to put on more appropriate footwear. In the end I talked myself into continuing onward clad in house shoes because, I reasoned, I was already nearly halfway to the chimp house and the slippers had a decent-enough sole on them anyway.
I entered the chimp house and prepared Burrito’s medication. By this point in the week all of the chimpanzees had become accustomed to the humans constant hovering over Burrito or late-night visits that included turning on lights and offering him food.
Despite these unusual disruptions, most of the chimps consistently remained silent in their nests without stirring. Even ever-vigilant Jamie has occasionally let these untoward visits take place without comment. Thursday, however, after I had given Burrito his pain-relieving treat, Jamie presented herself at the doors to the playroom, banging on the mesh to get my attention.
Jamie, to be sure, is keeping an internal tally of all of the treats that Burrito has been receiving. She has brought to our attention the inequity of treat distribution on occasion this past week, though for the most part she seems begrudgingly understanding. I thought the message that she wanted to communicate to me in that moment had to do with this clear favortism, perhaps hoping to persuade me to slip her a treat as well.
Then I noticed that her eye gaze was fixed upon my feet.
Of course! Jamie had not seen me wearing slippers before. She wanted a closer look, inside and out, of my atypical foot covering. I happily obliged, letting her feel the fabric too.
Satisfied, Jamie returned to her bed. I checked in on Burrito once again, turned off the lights, locked up, and made my way back down to the human house to settle into my own nest.
If you don’t know, Jamie is obsessed with shoes. She particularly likes cowboy boots. Here are a few photos from over the years:
In addition to being Annie’s birthday, we have something important for everyone to do for Take Action Tuesday.
We are one of several groups invited by Animal Defenders International (ADI) to support TEAPSPA (the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act) to ban traveling wild animal acts nationwide.
Read this post about chimpanzees in circuses and why we support the end of the use all wild and exotic animals in these acts.
This bill was introduced in the House as HR2863 and companion bill S2121 in the Senate.
Studies on the use of wild animals in traveling acts show that circuses cannot meet the physical or behavioral needs of wild animals. Animals are confined in small spaces, deprived of physical and social needs, and spend excessive time shut in trailers and train cars. These animals often demonstrate abnormal behaviors – rocking, swaying, and pacing – indicating they are in distress and not coping with their environment. Video evidence shows these animals are forced to perform tricks through physical violence, fear, and intimidation.
Use this link: bit.ly/SupportTEAPSPA to find your legislators, send them an email, Facebook post and tweet asking them to support TEAPSPA. Direct calls to your legislators are very effective and ADI has lots of talking points here. If you can schedule a meeting, you can let ADI know and they will send you a pack with even more information.
If you are on Facebook, let others know you’re supporting TEAPSPA by uploading a Facebook frame to your profile pic! Simply click this link and type “Animal Defenders International” into the search box, click on the “Support TEAPSPA” frame, then click “use as profile pic.”
Thanks for standing up for the animals!
First, the photos that go along with the story in today’s blog are not going to win any awards. But the story is good, so I hope you’ll forgive my quick cell phone pics.
Second, if you are new to the sanctuary and the photos make you wonder why the chimps are in cages, please read this blog post that answers that very question!
Speaking of questions, I know there are SO MANY questions about how we are going to go about doing the introductions between the seven and the three. We still have a lot of questions ourselves that we have been mulling over. It’s daunting and scary and incredibly exciting all at the same time.
We’ve talked to a few different people who each have experience with hundreds (hundreds!) of introductions of chimpanzees, and each of them has a different general system they use and a philosophy behind it. On Tuesday, one of these very knowledgeable people, Amy Fultz from Chimp Haven, came out in person to talk to us about introductions. It worked out perfectly that she was here when the groups got the first good look at each other.
We are taking in all of this information and combining it with the data that Jake Funkouser recorded and analyzed of the social networks of the seven chimpanzees, and combining that with what we are observing of the new three and their interactions with the seven at a distance.
We also will let the chimpanzees dictate the process once we start. All that is to explain that we cannot share with you the step by step details before they happen because it’s not that kind of process and we are not there yet. We do plan to share details with you after the fact, though!
So, that brings me to today’s story about a connection/attraction between Willy B and Jody that is continuing to develop. It actually started before the three arrived at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. When J.B. and I were at Wildlife Waystation, we showed some videos of Jody to Willy B on my cell phone, and he immediately moved in to get a closer look, paying more attention to the Jody videos than videos of any of the other chimpanzees.
Now they get to see each other in person every day, and Willy B continues to show an interest in Jody. And now we can say that the interest is mutual.
This morning, Jody made a special foray onto the hill and stood up just to get a glimpse of Willy B who was at the end of the chute:
Willy B returned the glance:
When Jody was heading back into the greenhouse, Willy B climbed to the highest spot in the new chute to have the best view:
Jody noticed his new position, and climbed up high on the caging in the greenhouse and made a low moan vocalization. Jody is famous for her various low-moans, most of them associated with food, and all of them indicating that she is happy.
With Jody’s cute hand wave/reaching out that J.B. included in the video yesterday and today’s friendly overtures to Willy B, our predictions about Jody being inviting towards the newcomers seems spot-on, unlike our inaccurate predictions of how Burrito would react to the sight of unfamiliar chimpanzee people.
Burrito, by the way, continues to be obsessed with the new three and spends most his day hanging out by the windows just waiting for them to appear.
Can you imagine how strange and exciting it must be to see new chimpanzee strangers for the first time after over a dozen years?!
“A day wasted on others is not wasted on one’s self.” – Charles Dickens
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Volunteers Miranda and Elizabeth prepared breakfast this morning, with the centerpiece being a pineapple-strawberry-protein smoothie. The chimps ate their raw fruit and then drank every last drop of the bright pink smoothie. Of course, we couldn’t just throw the prickly pineapple tops into the Vitamix and we didn’t want to toss them in the compost bucket, either. Because the weather was so pleasant this morning, we ended up hiding the pineapple tops out on Young’s Hill at lunch, along with a forage spread of beets, carrots and potatoes. The chimps gathered themselves (and their dolls) and headed out to forage with gusto.
Of all the chimps, Jody is known for her expertise as a forager. We predicted that she would find at least one of the hidden treasures among the grass.
Surprisingly, Annie was the first to find a pineapple (the one that had been placed on a structure in the middle of the Hill). She triumphantly carried it back down the slope to the Greenhouse.
Negra found the second one since it was hidden in her favorite spot (a straw-lined cabin ear the bottom of the slope). She also carted her pineapple and vegetables back to the shade and shelter of the Greenhouse.
Annie’s pineapple wasn’t hers for very long before Jody casually took it from her. Annie didn’t seem to mind, though.
Jody reclined on the lower deck and relished every spiny leaf of the pineapple top. She held it lovingly and slowly picked it apart.
Neggie was a bit more industrious. Her mechanical breakdown of the pineapple top was quick and purposeful. She ripped off each spine and chewed it to a pulp before spitting it on the deck below. She soon had a pile of peels and discarded wadges at her feet, then chomped into the juicy core.
Jamie was not interested in either pineapple, preferring to eat beets and supervise from afar.
Burrito, meanwhile, ate anything and everything that he could find.
If you are signed up to our e-newsletter, you received a link to this video of the journey that Mave, Honey B and Willy B took to get to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, but we know you want to watch it again and again.
Help welcome them home by participating in the Summer Biddin’ Online Auction!! It lasts just a few days, ending on Tuesday, September 3rd.
You guessed it – Willy B, Mave, and Honey B are incredible, and we are all newly in love with them with each passing hour. It’s hard to believe they’ve only been here a few days from Wildlife Waystation.
Click on the video above for some recent clips of the three, and stay tuned for a video of their journey to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, which we will be showing as part of the Summer Biddin’ online auction that beings August 28th!
Willy B is starting to relax enough to play games of chase and was seen playing with a plastic slinky today. He loves watching videos and looking at photos on our phones. He seems to particularly like photos of Jody. Despite his grand entrance seen in the video he hasn’t been displaying very much. We suspect his displays will increase when he is able to see the other chimpanzees through the howdy door.
Mave, at least on the outside, appears to be most relaxed chimpanzee I’ve ever met. She was even making a nest and lying on her back during the transport! Today, she discovered troll dolls and carried one around with her this morning, tucking it into her pelvic pocket before greeting J.B. She has a way of casually shuffling across the new floors that makes it seem like she’s wearing slippers.
We’ve been told that Honey B is uber smart, and we’re definitely seeing glimpses of that. She has a way of looking right into your soul. She is a very enthusiastic groomer with her new human friends and is very excited when she finds a scab. She’s decided the mezzanine is the place to be and has been nesting up there at night using everything available.
There’s so much more for us to learn about these three chimpanzees, and we’re so glad to have all of you following along so you can get to know them too.
