Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Animal Welfare

A Study in Contrasts

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Ya’ll, even though it’s only May, it is summer weather out here today at the sanctuary.

Foxie was getting the most out of the airy greenhouse and lazy summer vibes by literally putting her feet up.

With a doll, of course.

Jody was doing the same, right next to Foxie.

But this is my favorite photo of the bunch. It shows Foxie, the picture of carefree relaxation, in stark contrast to Jamie, who broke herself away from a perfectly calm grooming session to take the opportunity to try the scare the living daylights out of the caregivers cleaning on the other side of the door.

To each her own, I say.

The Thief

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Boss Jamie is not generally light-hearted. She runs a tight ship and she takes her job seriously. It’s rare to catch her playing with anyone, but when we do, it’s almost always with Foxie, and it’s almost always the same game.

Jamie knows that a surefire way to get Foxie’s attention is to swipe one of her beloved dolls, because Foxie will inevitably join Jamie’s game of keepaway.

Jamie (left, plotting) and Foxie (right, oblivious):

The theft is complete and Jamie makes her getaway.

All the way down to the ground…

Foxie follows, as Jamie knew she would.

Love a Chimpanzee Day 2019

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Today is our 9th annual Love a Chimpanzee Day! This holiday was born in the imagination of one of the chimps’ longtime friends, but that doesn’t make it any less real to us.

This year we decided to celebrate by offering each of the chimpanzees something they love.

Chimpanzees who collect

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Personally, I’ve never been much of a collector. I am not very neat, but I do enjoy when my surroundings are clutter-free. There’s a particular joy I get out of getting rid of things and thereby decreasing rather than increasing my possessions. But I’m fascinated by collectors and those who clearly get a unique satisfaction in their things.

It’s all the more fascinating to care for two chimpanzee collectors. Foxie is pretty famous for her doll collection, and most people who have been tuning in to our blog for a while know that Jamie loves cowboy boots. You might have also learned that she can be pretty into books too; when the two combine – books about cowboy boots – well, that must be something akin to heaven for her.

For a couple of weeks now, she’s been carrying around a book called Texas Boots purchased by a Jamie-fan through our Amazon.com wish list.

To say that she loves this book might be an understatement or a mischaracterization. Maybe there’s a particular word that describes the feeling collectors have for their things that transcends mere everyday love.

One interesting aspect of both Jamie’s and Foxie’s collections and how they interact with their chosen objects is that they share them with the humans. Jamie wants the staff and volunteers to put on her most cherished boots. Foxie passes her dolls to trusted caregivers for safekeeping and games of toss.

And now Jamie slides her beloved books and magazines under the caging so that we can carry them with us while we follow her around the outdoor expanse of Young’s Hill on her walks or just back and forth through the building.

This is the new routine.

Earlier this week, she passed me the Texas Boots book after we had finished up a session of Positive Reinforcement Training. I expected that we would carry out our usual post-PRT routine and walk around the hill, but it was a little dreary outside. So, instead, I sat on the other side of the caging with Jamie in the greenhouse and turned the pages of the book for her to see. She would focus longer on the images of people wearing boots, and she would nod her head when I turned a page, which is generally Jamie-speak for, “yes, I like that.” After flipping through the book a couple of times, I offered to give it back to her, and she took it.

She tucked it under her arm and continued to sit on the other side of the caging. We sat in contented silence in each other’s company like that for about five minutes (which is a really long time for an active chimpanzee!), until she got up to go about other activities.

It was one of the finest moments I’ve ever had with another being of any kind.

Jamie certainly has a way of implanting the desire to find more things that she likes – to fill her life with these moments of satisfaction that I can’t say that I completely understand, but that I appreciate beyond words.

Her boots, all of them donated to her, have been outgrowing their plastic bins for a while now, and it just so happened that the boot closet we were using for staff cleaning boots was emptied now that we have more space in Phase 1 of the expansion. So, I had the idea that we should put Jamie’s boots and other sundry things in that closet.

It’s in the perfect location because Jamie can see it from the playroom loft.

I had moved Jamie’s things into the closet when Anna was on vacation last week. Anna returned on Tuesday, and Jamie wasted no time in pointing out to Anna this exciting new home for her personal treasures. In case you too want to add to Jamie’s collection, I’ve added some more books to our wish list. When we receive items, we will put them in her closet so she can point them out for us to get for her.

In case you are worried that the other chimpanzees feel left out, I think they are just as mystified by Jamie’s attraction to certain objects as I am. Once in a while, I see Missy flipping through a book, and I even gave one to Burrito last week, which he unceremoniously tossed to the ground and walked away.

I guess you have to be a collector to get it.

Possibility

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The Cle Elum Seven seem to value Young’s Hill, their two-acre outdoor habitat, as much for the potential it offers as they do for the space it offers. They certainly make use of the space in a variety of ways:

But they also seem to enjoy pausing in the doorway leading out and considering the possibilities.

Connections: Honoring James Douglas

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The truth about running a nonprofit animal sanctuary is that most of your time is spent interacting with humans.

I get that this might not sound all that appealing to everyone who is interested in embarking on a career in the sanctuary or animal protection field. Let’s face it, a lot of “animal people” feel strong connections to non-human animals, while feeling some disdain, awkwardness, or unease around their own human species.

Something I learned early on that seems to get reinforced more strongly each day, however, is that people who are drawn to help sanctuaries are some of the very best examples of the human species.

In eleven years, you can imagine that we’ve met a whole lot of (human) people in the form of volunteers, donors, staff members, students, and other supporters. We get to know people and we become aware of both the joys and the hardships that people face in their lives. I often find myself thinking and worrying about humans that are connected to the sanctuary far more than the chimpanzees.

Through our Sponsor-a-Day and Personalized Stones donation programs, we’ve also been introduced to the important human and non-human people in the lives of supporters, often after these influential people have already passed away.

It’s an incredible honor to be able to honor people.

When someone very close to the sanctuary passes away, though, I feel at a loss as to how to appropriately honor them.

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, and the world, recently lost an incredible man. Introduced to the sanctuary by his wife and CSNW volunteer, Jen, James Douglas was a long-serving board member who led CSNW through many transitions. He was full of optimism and positivity, even when faced with difficult situations. He was kind and generous. He was a natural leader. He was a friend and a mentor.

Although the sanctuary was a small part of his life, and he leaves behind many, many people who were changed by his life and affected by his loss, he played an outsized role in the relatively short life of the sanctuary. He meant a lot to us personally as well as to the development of the organization.

I plan to honor the legacy that he left behind at CSNW by working even harder to carry out the plans for the future that James helped to craft and to attempt to approach life and work with even just a small amount of the curiosity, joyfulness, and hope that he exemplified. The same qualities that I see in the chimpanzees.

Cheers to you, James.