Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Animal Welfare

Beasts of the Northern Wild

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Our particularly wintry December has transitioned into an even colder and snowier January.

The team has been busy shoveling paths around the Chimp House, endlessly plowing the property’s driveway, and entertaining the chimps (who are unanimously choosing to lounge indoors during the current snowstorm).

Yet another daily chore has been making it out to the winter paddock to muck the barn and provision the sanctuary’s bovines with fodder. Earlier today, caregiver Sam could barely see where she was driving the John Deere as the wind sent snowflakes whipping past her face. On top of all this, her snow shovel went rogue, somehow came to rest on the Gator’s gas pedal, and almost sent the whole rig fish-tailing into a snowbank. While laughing about it afterward, Sam said the ordeal was worth it to see the cattle happily munching on their grain and alfalfa.

Even though their seasonal paddock is covered in a blanket of fluffy snow, the rescued Jersey cattle have been making their own paths across the frozen terrain, thus ensuring that they can reach all their preferred shelters. During one of yesterday’s brief moments of clear sunshine, I served some hay at the furthest barn to entice them to stretch their legs. Unsurprisingly, they had already blazed a trail up there and almost beat me to the far gate.

Here are some photos of the Moo Crew and their surroundings:

Meredith, Nutmeg and Betsy wait for hay at the paddock gate
Betsy munches on some grass hay
A dark-eyed junco perches on the old paddock fence
Meredith hesitantly follows me across the pasture with her usual skepticism
The bovines trudge up the hill
Honey, the herd’s matriarch, looks back to check on the others
Honey sniffs around for the grain bucket
Mule deer cut across the pasture right before sunset
The view from the upper limit of the property

Happy New Year To(es) You

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First, please pardon my attempt at a pun in the title of this blog post. I think it’s fair to blame some other staff for their pun-influence. I am not even sure it qualifies as a pun, but somehow I couldn’t help myself.

Second, today is the first day of 2022. You know that. I’m just still trying to digest that fact. 2021 was a huge year for Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. We are forever grateful for all of the support that blog readers have shown. All of our matching funds were realized this month, and we are off to a great start for another big year that’s full of the promise of new habitats and new adventures for all of the animals in our care. Thank you.

Third, I hope this video gives you as much joy as it did me when J.B. showed the clips to me on his phone.

A very happy new year to all of you, from all of us, right down to our toes.

Cold Snap

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The Pacific Northwest is experiencing a cold snap this week. Today the high is 18ºF with a low of 5ºF tonight. With temperatures such as these, the chimpanzees have sought refuge in the upstairs areas of their respective playrooms where it is nice and warm. They are all napping as I write this.

With days like today, it can be difficult to get photos of the chimpanzees. The upstairs areas are notoriously difficult (read pretty much impossible) to take photos of. I was able to get a few opportunistically throughout the afternoon, mostly during lunch when they all came down.

Terry eating his carrot during lunch.
Willy B working up his display toward Cy’s group during lunch service.
Dora waiting for her turn to be served her lunch.
Rayne eating her primate chow on the highest leaf platform on the tree in her playroom.
Mave and Honey B grooming after lunch.
Mave!

Micro/Macro: The Sequel

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Today’s post is a sequel to a blog entry I penned back in October: Micro/Macro.

In case you’re short for time or simply don’t want to delve back into the archives, I’ll briefly summarize the first post with this TL;DR (“too long; didn’t read”):

Macro photography is the practice of photographing objects so they are magnified at a ratio larger than 1:1. It’s good for taking pictures of small subjects or zooming in on select portions of larger things. I personally rented a versatile macro lens for my Nikon camera (they call theirs a “micro” lens) and used it to take close-ups of the chimps. Some of these images turned out nice.

Well, it probably won’t surprise you to know that I eventually purchased the micro lens for myself (partially because I’m committed to improving my skills and partially because I’m a helpless sucker for Cyber Monday deals on new tech gear).

The lens arrived on Christmas Eve and I immediately brought it to the sanctuary the next day. Some of the chimps were once again patient enough to model for me as I reacquainted myself with the new glass. Half-sisters Honey B and Lucky were extremely interested in the lens and kindly tolerated my company as they relaxed in their indoor areas, resulting in the following photos:

Honey B looks down into the lens
A close-up of Honey B’s eyeball
Honey B foraging and unwrapping gifts on Christmas Day
Lucky
Lucky’s fingers
Lucky’s toes (her feet are crossed)
Lucky

So This is Christmas 2021

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We are very grateful to be able to throw such fun parties for the chimpanzees! It’s all because of the people in their lives who care – people who have personally known the chimpanzees for years and those who only recently were introduced to the sanctuary online.

A giant thank you to each and every person who makes sanctuary a reality for these incredibly deserving individuals, including the bovines who got their first taste of some new alfalfa today!

The Eve of the Eve

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Holiday preparations continue as caregiver elves now take on the challenge of wrapping at record pace all the toys that were so nicely donated by our amazing supporters. For the chimps today is just a normal day. Willy B, Honey B and Mave got some hanging puzzles as enrichment this morning to encourage foraging behaviors. Willy B was all about it!

Here’s two sequences of Willy B getting going nuts about nuts!

Sequence #1

Goal achieved

Sequence #2

Goal achieved

Willy B about to catch an almond as it falls

Mave was also very excited about nuts

It Flakes One to Snow One

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The Pacific Northwest is projected to experience a snowy La Niña winter, but I personally wasn’t expecting to have this much snowfall so early. Today’s local forecast predicted only a couple inches of precipitation yet we just shoveled at least triple that amount from the same sidewalks we just cleared yesterday evening.

The chimps are warm, cozy and entertained (hanging out in their heated indoor areas by choice), the cattle are fed and dry in their winter paddock and barn, and the other caregivers are busy finishing up the daily tasks. There’s also a formidable amount of shoveling and plowing to do outside so today’s blog is unapologetically brief!

As much as I love plowing the driveway with the new tractor, the brightest moment of my week actually occurred yesterday afternoon while doing farm chores. As I drove out to muck the cattle barn, I spotted a distinct trail of animal footprints crossing the pasture. The tracks had the telltale shape and gait of a coyote’s, registering four clawed digits from each paw. Of all the region’s native carnivores, coyotes are perhaps the best suited for living in proximity to humans; their adaptability makes them one of my favorite animals to observe and learn from. I followed the creature’s path across the driveway and stopped where its trail plunged into the brush, eventually crossing the nearby highway and descending towards the wooded riverbank below. As I tend to do, I took a photograph to share with you all.

A close-up of a coyote print

Here are a couple more shots from yesterday:

Meredith
Nearby mountains as seen from the winter barn