Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Caregiving

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One of the more fantastic things that has happened in the last year is that the chimpanzees have new caregivers – staff and volunteer. Jackie is our newest staff person, and she is just finishing up chimpanzee care training. It is so fun to see the chimps react and interact with new friends. Today I spied on Jamie and Foxie playing with Jackie through the barn doors. Jamie had a stretchy hose-like thing that she was using to play tug-of-war. Being Jamie, she naturally wore a bikini top draped around her neck (complete with trolls tied to the strings).

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In addition to playing with the chimps, which is a very important job, Jackie’s been hard at work caring for the chimps’ garden beds. Check them out!

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Hanging out with Foxie

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People sometimes ask how we interact with the chimpanzees through the fencing. While there are plenty of things to do that don’t involve any physical contact at all (chase!), there are safe methods of physical contact that allow us to tickle or groom — or be tickled or groomed by — the chimps. To make sure everyone stays safe, our fingers never penetrate the plane of the fencing. In this video, Jackie, our newest caregiver, uses a decapitated troll head (!!!) and a piece of bark to groom and tickle Foxie.

Exciting Foxie stories

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On Saturday, the night of the Cle Elum Seven’s one year anniversary, Jackie and I were hanging out with the chimps after dinner and we witnessed two amazing things. I do not have photographic evidence of these events, but I was so glad that Jackie was there to also see them.

First, long after the other chimpanzees had finished eating, Jamie was still hanging onto a bit of cantaloupe. Jamie seemed content to delay finishing her fruit as she carefully inspected Jackie’s boot. After several minutes, Foxie came over. There were probably a dozen troll dolls that were part of the party enrichment, and Foxie had three of them with her, one that still had on a wedding dress. Foxie put this troll doll in Jamie’s free hand, while looking away. Foxie continued to hold onto the troll doll until Jamie’s fingers closed around the doll. Then Foxie pulled her hand away and very slowly and carefully took the cantaloupe that was sitting by Jamie. If you’re a regular blog reader, you know that Jamie is pretty possessive of her food, and she is the highest ranking chimpanzee. This means that other chimps, as a rule, generally do not take food from Jamie. But this really appeared to be a trade. Apparently troll dolls served as a version of currency between these two!

The second equally amazing thing that occurred also involved Foxie. Jackie and I were handing out blankets in the front rooms, and Foxie took one through the fencing. This in itself is a bit unusual, but not unheard of – sometimes she’ll playfully take blankets or clothes, and then drop them. Every once in a while she’ll play a quick game of tug of war. But Foxie took this blanket (a very big fleece one) and eventually climbed up to the bed in Room Four and began to nest!! The blanket was long and hanging off of the bed, and Jamie immediately came into the room and began to pull on the end hanging down. Foxie’s played for a bit, at one point trying to still nest by wrapping the blanket around her, while Jamie continued to pull on the blanket. After a while Foxie dropped the blanket and Jamie left. Then Foxie got up and walked into Room 2, passing several blankets along the way, and picked up a pink one. She carried the pink blanket back to the far room, went back to the bed, laid the blanket down, and laid down on top of it.

It was a beautiful sight to see, and so special that it happened one year to the day after she arrived at the sanctuary. I’m so excited for what year two will bring!!

Mmmm… dinner

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One of the most important aspects of sanctuary life is variety. And one of the most exciting times for chimpanzees is mealtime. Our staff and volunteers delight in creating dinners that are always a little different. The food grunts and squeaks that the chimpanzees make are a pretty good reward for the effort, I’d say.

Foxie and the paparazzi

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Today I felt a bit like a chimpanzee sanctuary paparazzi. This first set of photos shows Foxie yawning – I just thought they were cute. The second though are spy-like photos of Foxie lying in a nest!! I was at the chimp house late and I caught her in an actual chimp nest (sheets and all!) way up in the corner of the catwalk. This is very exciting. If there were a chimpanzee sanctuary tabloid, I think the Foxie nesting photos would make the cover.

Foxie yawning 1

Foxie yawning 2

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Get ready for it – the first real photos of Foxie settling down into a comfy nest of sheets. I don’t know if she made the nest or was borrowning one that someone else made.

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She caught me taking photos, but didn’t seem to mind.

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I know this is blurry, but sometimes that’s all we sanctuary paparazzi can get. Foxie is holding a troll doll in her left hand and a long-handled brush in her right.

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