Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Animal Welfare

Sights, Sounds, and Sensation of Summer

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As Katelyn mentioned yesterday, Summer is making a quick visit the next couple of days. With 90ºF temperatures today, the chimpanzees have remained relatively low key. Each in a spot in the indoor enclosures in the shadiest of spots, or in front of the fans to escape the heat. We did offer them some icy treats throughout the day since it seemed like today called for it. Some of these spots are very tricky to get photos of, and the only photo I was able to get of any of them was of Negra climbing down from the platform in the Greenhouse to head indoors.

The cattle have been spending most of their day lounging around in the shade at the top of the pasture, just like the chimpanzees. However, it’s far easier to take photos of them on days like today. They did spend an hour or two grazing in the mid-day sun.

Can you spot all four in this photo!?

And taking turns licking the mineral block.

And don’t worry, Meredith was there, just waaaay in the back.

With summer creeping up on us, the sights, sounds, and smells of summer are starting to come in. Here are some of those things found around the sanctuary.

The strawberry plants are starting to fruit.

The grape vines are starting to bunch.

Squirrel moms are calling for their kits.

Racer snakes are seeking shelter in the raspberry bushes.

Barn swallows are beginning to nest.

And white-crowned sparrows are collecting food for their babies.

Though the temperatures are foretasted to go down by the end of the week, these sensations of summer (minus the heat) are sure to stay until it’s official arrival.

Sunday Leftovers

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Today, I decided to share some “leftover” photographs of Mave’s birthday celebration that didn’t make it into earlier posts!

On Thursday, we threw a bash to commemorate Mave’s 32nd trip around the sun. The party- planned to perfection by Chad, the sanctuary’s Enrichment Coordinator- featured whole coconuts, giant banana leaves, pineapple bowls, and massive heads of iceberg lettuce. Anna posted and amazing video from the event on Thursday, and Diana shared another fun clip on Saturday of Honey B enjoying the sandbox well after the party!

Now, here are some still images to complement their media coverage of the festivities. Enjoy!

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Mave immediately grabbed a coconut and ran away to devour it in peace.

Then, Mave also annihilated an entire pineapple stuffed with iceberg lettuce.

Honey B preferred to drink her coconut by the pool.

(Sadly, I didn’t get any good photos of Willy B because he was running around scarfing down all the lettuce and stomping on coconuts.)

On the other side of the building, the neighboring group of chimps had an equally amazing birthday bash in honor of Mave. Since they can hear and see each other, it would be unfair to leave them out of the fun, and they seemed to appreciate all the same appetizers, entrées, and desserts.

Jody, forager extraordinaire, swiftly grabbed a coconut and then went back out for peppers afterward.

Annie found a coconut and loudly slurped all the liquid from inside. The sound was kind of gross, to be honest, but it was funny that we could hear it from 100 feet away.

Missy went after the lettuce, but had to acknowledge Jamie before she could run away and eat it all in privacy.

Negra’s strategy was to chase everyone else and beg them for food. It works sometimes.

Foxie “flew under the radar” during this forage. She was barely visible as she ate iceberg lettuce atop a distant platform.

After displacing Missy from her perch on the Treat Rock, Jamie harvested a bunch of coconuts, iceberg and peppers. Even though she paused to sip on a coconut, she had a hard time carrying it all back into the Greenhouse.

Burrito’s manner of transporting lettuce and coconuts made us all chuckle. At one point, he gave up trying to hold it all and just kicked his coconut downhill towards the Greenhouse.

Thank you to everyone who sponsors chimps, donates items, follows and engages with our online media and supports the sanctuary! Once again, you facilitated another memorable birthday party for Mave and her companions.

Honey B and the Sandbox

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As you can see, I “caught” Honey B in the sandbaox when I turned the corner. I love how many different things she tries with the sand.

For you blog readers, who are invested in the sanctuary on a deeper level than those who might just see a video we post on social media once in a while, I’m curious to hear your reaction to the statement I included within the video.

We are always discussing how to put sanctuary life into context and attempting to avoid inadvertently sending the wrong message about “cute” chimpanzees that might elicit the desire to own primates as pets. I refer you to this post by Anthony from over a year ago.

We’re really glad this issue is coming up more and more in our field, and I’m sure we will be reconsidering things we’ve posted in the past and doing more of these explanations within our posts, like we do on Instagram now too. Let us know your thoughts!

I hope you all were able to take the time to dig into something new today too, like Honey B.

If you haven’t already, check out the beginning of our online auction and don’t forget to tune in to the virtual Queen’s Brunch event in just a couple of weeks on June 13th!

image: queens brunch

The CSNW Mixed Tape

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One of the most flattering things you can do for someone is to compile a list of songs just for them.

Regardless of the medium, playlists are powerful way to express friendship, interest, attraction, love, respect, gratitude… or even to just say “this music is good and you’re cool.” It doesn’t seem to matter whether you record the tracks on a cassette tape, burn them on a blank CD, transfer them as MP3s to someone’s iPod, or share them as a link to a streaming service… the symbolic act of sharing a curated piece of your music collection seems to be timeless.

Today, I’ve put together a mixed tape for all of you followers because, to be clear, you’re all pretty cool. Each track in the playlist represents one of the sanctuary’s residents thanks to something in the song title, artist name, or lyrical content that relates to their personality. I’ve included photos of the corresponding chimpanzees and bovines for your enjoyment, with a link for listening at the end.

Without further ado, here are the tracks in recommended listening order:

  1. “Annie’s Song” by John Denver

    Denver wrote this song while admiring the Rocky Mountains from a ski lift. If anyone likes to admire alpine views as much as he did, it’s Annie.

  2. “Burritos” by Sublime

    If Burrito was a genre of music, he’d probably be something energetic and goofy that you can skank to… like Sublime’s legendary ska-punk.

  3. “Foxey Lady” by Jimi Hendrix

    Nobody rocked harder than Hendrix… except perhaps Foxie. It’s easy to imagine her writing a spicy song like this about her new favorite doll.

  4. “You Are Not Alone” by Mavis Staples

    Mave, like Mavis, can perform as a powerful individual or as a member of the group. Either way, they’re both smooth and soulful icons, and they’ve got your back.

  5. “Willy’s Song” by Rayland Baxter

    Although the themes are more serious, this is an upbeat Americana song for lounging in and exploring the outdoors (just like Willy B likes to do).

  6. “Honeybee” by The Head and The Heart

    This warm, melodic pop song by one of Washington state’s own is good for serenely making a big nest of blankets in your favorite nook. This activity also happens to be part of Honey B’s nightly routine.

  7. “Jody” by America

    Just as the namesake of this song stole folk-rock songwriter Russ Ballard’s heart, Jody’s tender nature will steal yours. She’ll take all your veggies, too.

  8. “La Camisa Negra” by Juanes

    This Colombian rock song was a hit in Latin America… and with my high school Spanish teacher, who made us translate it dozens of times. Thanks to those exercises, I now know that Negra means the color “black” in Spanish.

  9. “Honey, I’m Home” by Shania Twain

    Shania is beloved by divas and country folks alike, bringing her blue-collar heritage to stadiums around the globe. You know who else has a bold attitude and fashionable look despite staying true to her wholesome country roots? Honey, the matriarch of the sanctuary’s rescued bovines.

  10. “Betsy” by Billie Marten

    To be honest, I’m not sure what this muted, politically-charged song from 2019 has to do with Betsy, the rescued Jersey cow. Still, it’s a decent song and it’s the only one I could find with her name in the title.

  11. “Jamie All Over” by Mayday Parade

    The mid-2000s flavor of pop-punk was defined by anthems that rocked hard, but most of the lyrics alluded to awkward romantic themes that resonated with moody teenagers at the time. Jamie Chimpanzee, like so many of that genre’s defining hits, has a soft and sensitive core guarded by a tense and prickly exterior.

  12. “Nutmeg” by Ghostface Killah (feat. RZA)

    Is there a genre that successfully emulates the laid-back, confident demeanor of an enormous steer like Nutmeg? East Coast hip-hop with some R&B samples might do the trick. This track is something to graze on.

  13. “Missy” by The Airborne Toxic Event

    The SoCal band’s frontman wrote this about a person with the same name whom he admired, but sometimes I wonder if Missy would prefer some high-tempo music to work out to. A throwback jam by Missy Elliot, maybe?

  14. “Go Your Own Way” by Fleetwood Mac

    Like Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham (who split during the writing of this amazing album), sometimes its best to go off and do your own thing. Meredith is the most aloof and independent of the cattle, so this song is representative of her spirit.

Anyway, that’s the random collection of songs that I’ve assembled for your listening pleasure. I even made the mix into a public playlist on Spotify, so you can stream it by clicking here if you have an account!

Let me know if there are any songs that remind you of the sanctuary’s primate and bovine residents, and I can add them to the list!

Daily Smile

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If you saw our Instagram post yesterday, you saw some of this video. Here’s the longer version. This should definitely put a smile on your face!

“If you build it, chimps will come.”

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Sometimes, the development of the sanctuary feels oddly like the plot of Field of Dreams. Instead of building a baseball diamond in the middle of an Iowa cornfield to attract the ghosts of early ballplayers, we’re constructing a facility in the foothills of the Cascades to rescue chimpanzees. It’s practically the same thing. “If you build it, chimps will come.”

The new wing as viewed from the south pasture

Truthfully, the incremental growth of the sanctuary is serious work, and the immense contributions of specialized contractors is one aspect of the ongoing expansion effort that we don’t often highlight on our social media channels. Today, I’m using the daily blog to show some appreciation for their work.

We’ve had some great teams building various components of the new areas, from the foundation to the exterior paint. Recently, the crew from Sage Mechanical, LLC completed the hydraulic doors and steel caging in the new playroom enclosures (which now provide a comfortable indoor space for chimps) and resumed work on the adjacent greenhouses.

Honey B.
The new greenhouse enclosures, mid-construction

Sage Mechanical is based in Yakima and led by our friend Gary McInnis. The first project they completed for us was 2019’s “Phase 1” of the expansion effort (including the enclosures where Honey B, Mave and Willy B currently reside) and we’re happy to have them on board for 2020-2021’s “Phase 2.”

From L to R: Gary, Aaron and Jose
Aaron and Jose working on the greenhouse ceiling

Carrying out an expansion project at a chimpanzee sanctuary can be difficult when the facility is already home to ten chimpanzees, but Gary’s squad has the right attitude for it; They’re always willing to work around the chimps’ schedules and preferences so that the construction causes minimal disruption to their daily lives. When not moving equipment around and welding things together, the guys are interested in the individual chimpanzees and are eager to learn more about them from the caregivers. His crew has also been great about following the stringent COVID-19 protocols designed to protect the chimps and human staff from possible exposure, which we require and greatly appreciate.

Gary
Jose
Aaron

Although they don’t interact with the chimps directly, the people working on the new enclosures are not completely separate. For example, the chimps living in adjacent enclosures and the guys on Gary’s team can watch each other through the bulletproof playroom windows. Occasionally, the chimps will even greet the crew members when they show up for work in the morning. The chimps seem to have habituated to the presence of Gary and his “regular” crew of Aaron, Jim and Jose, and it seems like the ongoing construction can be a form of environmental enrichment for them. We also ensure that the chimps have access to other areas so they aren’t forced to be within view if they prefer otherwise.

Aaron and Gary welding the caging panels onto the frame of the new greenhouses

Currently, Honey B, Mave and Willy B have front-row seats for the assembly of the new greenhouses. Much like the existing greenhouse enclosure on the other side of the building, the new areas will be multi-level outdoor environments that can be enclosed with solar-radiant panels in the cooler months. Each area will be furnished with organic substrate, live bamboo, wood climbing features, hanging firehose “vines,” and elevated platforms.

Mave

The coolest aspect of the new greenhouses will be the central structures, allegedly modeled after the Ewoks’ treetop village from Return of the Jedi. Yesterday, the chimps watched as welders Aaron and Jose built the frame for one of these platforms. We can’t wait to see the chimpanzees explore and grow comfortable in the latest addition to their home!

P.S. This blog’s honorary title is “Hunt for the Welder-people.” This is Chad’s work, but it was too good to leave out. We both love the referenced film.