Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
We’re still on a journey to discover what George loves—whether it’s snacks or ways to keep him entertained—so we’re always trying out new ideas. I happen to have several big rose bushes at home and caregiver Ellen, recalled that some chimps she’s cared for in the past went wild for roses. So I let her snip a few for George, and that little treat turned into the blog video we’re sharing today.
It is really interesting watching the chimpanzees throughout the day. Whether it is onsite at the sanctuary, or checking in on the security cameras. After witnessing all the great moments such play and grooming, and even the bad moments like fights, there really is no other term to describe them other than “family.”
Families play. Families take care of each other. And families fight, whether with each other or side-by-side one another. Though there has been some instability in Cy’s group, which led to our reintegration plan, I still can’t help but to view them as a family unit. Though the fights can be a stress inducing event and seem like it dominates the day, that’s not necessarily the case. The good moments outweigh the bad by a landslide.
As we moved forward with the reintegration process, we have seen some magnificent moments with the chimps. Though we wish this process would eliminate all the fighting, we are realistic that it won’t stop all of the fighting. Though the real underlying hope is for the fighting to be reduced from the level it was. Personally, I think it’s working. A good chunk of fights we have seen in the past few months have mostly been just screaming and hollering at each other.
What initiated this train of thought? This photo I took a couple weeks ago:
One day, when lunch was brought out, Rayne reached toward Willy B for some reassurance, and this was the outcome. To me it looks a lot like the American Sign Language sign for “friends” if two people were to make the sign together. Here is a photo of a memorial of Washoe making that sign at Friendship Park in Ellensburg.
To me it’s kind of a reminder that there is always beauty in a chaotic world.
Here are some other old photos I found on my phone taken over the course of several months.
Willy B
Annie
Terry
Negra
Lucky
Cy
Mave
Honey B
Jamie’s Group watching TV
Firehose Cube
Sanctuary Wildlife
Barn Kitty in hunting mode
I know some of you are wondering where I have been for a while. There was always some sense of happiness anytime one of the other caregivers let me know people have been inquiring about my whereabouts. No, I didn’t quit or get fired. No, I wasn’t in a coma. No, I wasn’t off galavanting around the Cascades with Barn Kitty or any of the other wild conspiracies some of some of you had… Though I do wish one of those were the case, especially the BK scenario.
The uneventful, boring reason is I got injured while working. It happens at any workplace and no matter the safety precaution, these’s always that small chance. Hello, I am that small chance. I have been recovering for a little bit and am starting to ease back into doing full Chimp House duties. It’s been one step at a time but I am ecstatic that the trend is swinging toward the right direction. I also want to emphasize this was NOT chimp related. It was on my own.
I do want to take this time to thank literally everyone. From my amazing fellow caregivers to the co-directors, and yes, even to you, our dedicated, loving blog readers. My fellow caregivers really rose up to continue our same level of care for the chimps and cattle being down one caregiver for such a prolonged time. Hence the title of this blog. They are my beasts of burden. Plus I had happen to be listening to The Rolling Stones when this was typed. I will be forever grateful to them for their strength and determination, as well as understanding that when I did come back, I would have to ease into everything at a slow pace. Or at least it has been slow to my liking.
I am looking forward to continue caring for the chimpanzees and bovine side-by-side with my team at full capacity when it’s time. Hashtag New Year, New Me.
ONE LAST SUPER BONUS PHOTO
Remember that time Burrito first climbed the tree and nobody was able to get footage of it until later?
I got this when it was announced on the radio that he was in the tree and I was serving lunch to Negra. This is the only known footage of that day!
*Sorry if some of the images maybe repeats or similar to others in the past few months. I forgot who I gave photos to publish for the blog and what photos have been used.
Today’s blog title is based off of one of my favorite tenet’s of sanctuary.
We take them for where they are in life and love them for who they are.
We take them as they are.
Each chimp that we have the opportunity to care for, love, and get to know here at CSNW is unique. Their personalities are different and vary from the more human oriented chimps like Jamie to the more chimps-chimp oriented like Annie, to the super playful like Burrito, to the reserved but sweet and gentle (and sometimes spicy / gravity defying) Lucky. Their differences make them who they are and we love them because of these differences- not in spite of these differences.
A few days ago, Caregiver Sabrina posted a blog about lessons that we have learned from the chimps. Along with everything listed there, something I will always carry with me is how sanctuary provides the space they deserve to be cared for and loved unconditionally. Some days are hard, and some parts of chimp dynamics are hard to understand from a human perspective, but no matter what’s happened- we will always be here for them. And the same goes for the cattle, of course.
For example- last week I was standing with Jamie asking if she wanted to groom, but she was focused on something happening in the kitchen. Annie came over, sat, and looked up at me- so I offered her the grooming tool. She took it and groomed me for longer than she ever has before. Later that afternoon, I found Gordo sitting in the Oakwood Greenhouse. He did a little knuckle tap and headed over to sit on the log that he frequents, that was also conveniently right in a nice, warm ray of sunshine. I took a seat outside- and we just sat. I kept expecting him to walk away or gesture that he wanted me to leave, but he stayed facing me, just being quiet. After a while I walked in to check on things in the foyer and when I went back out he had gone into the playroom. The moment was over, but it will stay with me.
These might be the only two moments where I spend one-on-one time with both of them this month, or maybe not. But either way, they’re family.
These moments with Annie and Gordo aren’t more special than moments with the other chimps, that goes without saying. But if Jody’s loss taught me anything, it’s to appreciate every moment they give us.
And, man- unconditional love? That’s a pretty great thing… Isn’t it.
Gordo:
Can you believe it’s Love a Chimpanzee Day again already?! Supporter Monica Best named April 23rd Love a Chimpanzee Day and has sponsored this day each year since 2010 for her chimpanzee friends at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, creating a calendar-worthy official holiday and another excuse to throw a party! That’s a lot of years of love that Monica has shared with the chimps.
With our birthdays so close together, Monica and I have once again teamed up by creating a joint fundraising page for GiveBIG, and we invite you to celebrate this day by checking out our page and making a contribution.
Donor Donna is matching up to $20,000 in funds raised through the end of GiveBIG on May 4th, so your donation now is doubled! HUGE thanks to donor Vicki for making a gift on our page that encouraged us to raise our initial goal!
Monica’s love of animals is not exclusive to chimpanzees – she’s also studied wolves and worked in dog and cat shelters. She’s had many feline and canine friends over the years and created Love a Chimpanzee Day on her birthday in honor of her cat Ozzie during a difficult and uncertain time when Monica was fighting cancer. She credits the sanctuary (especially Negra) with helping her in her years-long battle with the disease and the aftermath.
We are so incredibly grateful for Monica and all of her generosity. She’s been instrumental in the expansion of the sanctuary these last several years and in helping encourage others to give.
You can help us celebrate today and the on Monica and Diana’s GiveBig fundraising page or the sanctuary’s main GiveBig page.
Happy Love a Chimpanzee Day, everyone!!
We caregivers have been excitedly toting around cameras while the chimpanzees continue to explore the new version of Young’s Hill. The outdoor habitat has retained all the lovable qualities of the original and provides the chimps with even more space and a potential for novel experiences (e.g., climbing up the trunk of a real tree). The weather has cooled substantially since last Wednesday’s big reveal, but we can still count on Jamie and her companions to do a thorough patrol of the new perimeter each morning.
For today’s blog post, I thought I’d share some additional images from the group’s first outings in Young’s Hill 2.0.
The group patrolling together:
Missy climbing a new log structure:
Burrito using the familiar Twister to get a better view:
Burrito waiting impatiently for the others to catch up:
Burrito perched on a tree trunk, inspecting the new vegetation:
Annie using a new structure to take in a new view of the property:
The most popular addition has been the grove of Ponderosa pines (and one Douglas fir) that is now located just within the enclosure’s eastern boundary. The relocated lookout tower provides a perfect vantage to both examine the evergreen trees up close and take in the scenic mountain views across the valley.
With the bright afternoon sunlight coming down from the southwest, the chimpanzees were visible as dark silhouettes against the golden backdrop of early autumn. Missy made an imposing figure when perched atop the lookout.
As Jenna demonstrated yesterday, focusing the camera lens on the chimpanzees is tricky when we have two layers of field fence and electrified wires between us. Our objective isn’t to make you forget about the fencing entirely, but rather to portray the chimpanzees as we perceive them, with the wires out of focus and their expressions in clear view. If you look back at any of the photographs above, you can see the hazy streaks created by the fencing that separates us and them.
Auto-focus admittedly makes tracking the chimpanzees a little bit easier, and a lens with a wide aperture helps to blur out foreground obstacles, but we still often find ourselves embroiled in games of trial-and-error just to get a few photos for the daily blog.
This image, for example…
…was taken just milliseconds before this one:
Have a great week, everyone!
P.S. The answer to yesterday’s guessing game is 17 blankets. Congratulations to Linda C., Nancy Potter, and Gayle Marie Stone for guessing correctly!
The chimps in Jamie’s group have been supervising the expansion and renovation of their outdoor enclosure, Young’s Hill.
It’s been a few months since J.B. gave this detailed progress report on the project, and it’s been several weeks since Chad posted this update that the chimps would be temporarily without access to The Hill. J.B., volunteers, and the team from Sage Mechanical have been working around the clock since then to quickly make the necessary additions and improvements (including moving the lookout tower to a new home). Staff have tagged in this week to help put up the last few sections of fencing and clean up the area in preparation for chimpanzees.
The chimps remain interested in all the work, but they seem to be less anxious and more curious now that Young’s Hill appears ready. We still need to conduct a comprehensive safety and security check, but it won’t be long before we let them go out and explore their new backyard.
Jamie viewing the new enclosure:
A new path leading to the Young’s Hill perimeter:
Ponderosa pines next to the new fences:
The new access gates:
Annie watching Chad and J.B. working:
The shady new location of Carlene’s Tower:
New vegetation planted in an irrigated section of Young’s Hill:
The driveway up to the new Young’s Hill gate:
The view from the new perimeter:
Foxie watching curiously:
You may have noticed the construction materials scattered around outside the enclosure. There is still much work to be done on the other side of the hill, and we’re not really “cleaning up” as much as we are migrating to the other side. From their south-facing greenhouse enclosures, the chimps in Cy’s group monitored the construction of the sanctuary’s second open-top enclosure, lovingly named The Bray.
The Sage Mechanical crew shifted their focus to The Bray as soon as they finished their work on Young’s Hill, so they were working right in front of the chimpanzees today. The chimps acted like spectators, bringing their breakfast chow up to the platforms in order to get the best view. Some of them even asked their caregivers to serve them their meals out there instead of in the interior hallway.
Katelyn serving Terry outside:
The unfinished Bray containing a few familiar structures:
Jose from Sage Mechanical working within view of the chimps:
J.B. working with Chad to install the final section of snake exclusion fence:
Gary’s arsenal of power tools:
The crew transporting fence posts with the telehandler:
Gordo watching Gary’s telehandler go by:
Ryan’s Lookout, a new installation that will be a keystone structure in The Bray:
Keep a close eye on the blog this week for further updates!
There are chimpanzees in captivity who are front-and-center as soon as you meet them and every day thereafter. Burrito and Jamie, for example.
Then there are chimpanzees who allow others in their group to take the human-liaison role and more often hang out in the background.
Sometimes, this is because they just aren’t that interested in the humans (think Missy). More power to those confident types who just don’t need us bipedal apes (unless there are tomatoes to gather from the garden, of course).
Sometimes, chimpanzees are just shy or apprehensive. I can relate! It might take them more time to warm up to caregivers (think Gordo).
Sometimes, there are chimpanzees who choose certain humans they connect with, while they are pretty ambivalent about other people in their orbit (the best example of this with the chimpanzees I’ve known over the years was Washoe – she had her favorite people, and was SO EXCITED to see them. Everyone else was simply there to wait on her, and the rare occasions when she decided to pay attention to you, if you were not on her favorite list, were thrilling. And she knew this.)
Personally, I’m just not sure about Lucky and where she fits on this spectrum I just made up. She does greet her caregivers with enthusiasm, and seems to be more enthusiastic with certain humans (Jenna may be her human BFF right now). She’s not front and center like others in her group. She is often at a bit of a distance, observing.
The other day, I felt very privileged to sit down with Lucky for a somewhat extended period of time while she was in the Oakwood Greenhouse.
She quietly sat, wanting to groom my hand, and looked into my eyes. Towards the end of our interaction, she started to look around, like she was searching for something but not finding it.
After a few seconds, she reached over to the bamboo plant next to her and pulled off a leaf. Then, she handed it to me through the caging.
I don’t know what she was thinking when she did this, but it seemed to be a gesture of friendship, and it made my day.
Bonus photos of one of the more gregarious chimpanzees in Lucky’s group. The ever-present Terry:
