Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Betsy

6 Years with the Cattle!

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As Katelyn mentioned in yesterday’s blog, today is the 6th anniversary of the arrival of our lovely cattle! We celebrated our bovine friends with fresh cuttings of willow, a favorite browse item of the herd. We are also always trying to find new foods they may enjoy but these ladies are surprisingly picky! Today’s willow came with a side of pumpkin, to which Meredith, Honey, and Betsy said a polite, but firm, “no thank you.” Enjoy some photos of our favorite cows, and join us in celebrating 6 years with these silly, sweet, and sometimes spicy ladies. We are so lucky to know and love them!

Betsy enjoying some fresh willow branches.

A close up moment with Honey! She clearly enjoyed her hay pellets!

Honey eating willow branches.

Honey and her daughter, Meredith, enjoying willow branches together.

Meredith looking for the next willow branch to snack on. Look at those pretty curls that are coming in as she grows out her coat for winter!

We also celebrate and remember Nutmeg today, who sadly passed away this past spring after a sudden health crisis. He was a beloved member of the herd and Betsy’s son, and his gentle giant presence is missed daily.

Handsome Nutmeg

Nutmeg and Betsy

Grooming Time with the Cows

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Check out today’s video to join in on a grooming session…with the cows! These lovely ladies often spend time grooming each other, and it is a wonderful moment when they invite us as their caregivers to join in. Meredith, Honey, and Betsy really love the scratching post that J.B. recently installed for them, but when there isn’t a scratching post around, a human with a brush will do just fine!

Betsy licks Caregiver Ellen

…And another one!

And one more, because Betsy is just so cute!

Betsy rests her head in Caregiver Ellen’s hand

Betsy’s tongue is incoming…

Another lick from Betsy! You can see the texture of her tongue here. Being licked by a cow feels a lot like being licked by a giant cat’s tongue!

Left to right Caregiver Ellen, Meredith, Honey, and Betsy

And last but not least, Caregiver Ellen gets a facial courtesy of Betsy Cow!

The One About the Cows

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Lounging amid the grassy hills of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, you will find 3 somewhat unexpected animals, given the name of the sanctuary…our hardworking cows! These ladies help to keep the fire load in check by grazing on the grasses around the sanctuary and are valued members of our sanctuary family.

So this blog is about the cows! I was taking care of the cattle a few weeks ago and felt inspired to bring the camera along so that we could share some new photos with you all of these lovely ladies. They are a little bit of everything…sometimes spicy, sometimes sweet, and if you’re Betsy, always at least a little bit mischievous!

Betsy is a “the grass is greener on the other side” kind of gal, who has been known to use her smarts to let herself and her herd graze on grasses beyond their designated pastures by unlatching the gate and seeing themselves out. We adapted quickly, and now have more secure gates with clips that even Betsy can’t open! Our beloved Betsy is a softy too, I always give her hugs while she eats her meal and she doesn’t seem to mind one bit. She also enjoys licking us.

She is very food motivated too…just look at the face she makes when she sees her grain arrive!

Betsy

Honey is the sassiest of the three cows, often giving some intense side-eye if you look like you might be thinking about touching her. She does allow head scratches at times, which is always a special occasion! She enjoys food, with hay pellets being her favorite part of any meal. She is Meredith’s mom, and a good friend to Betsy. She is the lightest in color of the three cows, and a very pretty lady!

Honey

Meredith is right between Betsy and Honey in terms of coloring. She is light brown, but not as light as Honey. We have provided a lot of specialized care for Meredith over the past year as she has dealt with arthritis and had a procedure to provide her with some pain relief, which included a somewhat lengthy recovery time separate from her herd. She is doing well currently, still dealing with her arthritis but able to be with her herd and enjoy the different summer pastures we are able to move them between. She is a sweet lady, who enjoys being brushed and getting scratches, and gets a regular serving of applesauce with her medications which she seems to really enjoy!

Meredith

Meredith

Silly close up of a Betsy nose boop!

Betsy licks Honey

Betsy licks Meredith (there are plenty of Betsy licks to go around!)

Moo Crew Maintenance

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This week the cattle had a pedicure appointment with the hoof trimmer and a check-up with the Doc. So for today’s blog Dr. Erin shares an update on the bovine girls!

Dr. Erin

“Thursday was hoof trim day for the sanctuary herd.  Like all healthcare interactions with the sanctuary residents, I both look forward to these opportunities to improve their health and well-being and dread causing any stress to these animals that we work so hard to provide with a peaceful and comfortable life.  I arrived at the sanctuary bright and early Thursday morning to secure the girls were in the “Bud Box”, which is a small pen within the upper paddock that they exit via a narrow lane leading to the trimming chute.  My plan to entice them into the box with a yummy breakfast of alfalfa hay (a treat generally reserved for very cold weather days) and some grain was witnessed mid-fail by Krissy, and pre-veterinary student Carly Ledbetter who came to help.  Thirty minutes into my plan, when the trimmer is about to arrive, all three cows are standing at the opposite end of the paddock from where I want them giving off strong “not today doc” vibes.

Meredith & Betsy
Dr. Erin & Autumn with Meredith and Honey


Autumn with Honey

I spent many years working primarily on horses and let me tell you, showing up to a farm call only to see your (known to be elusive) patient not caught and waiting for you can really throw off a day and a mood!  Luckily, John Thomsen and his family of Thomsen Livestock Services are not only professional and kind, they have a sense of humor and are skilled cattle people.  With John’s daughter Autumn and her husband Joel (a medical student from Sweden) we managed to herd all of them into the small pen, performed all the needed procedures in short order and returned them to their current “wetlands” pasture to recover from their ordeal in peace.
By the time I checked on them a couple hours later, they were all more than willing to eat their daily, individualized rations and accept my peace offering of hay.   All three cattle had blood drawn to check basic health parameters and mineral levels as well as routine parasite checks to make sure we aren’t missing anything from a physical/nutritional standpoint.  Because Meredith is on pain medication, routine blood tests are in order to check for adverse effects and Honey and Betsy are now ‘senior cows’ at 17 so occasional blood work is warranted.  Meredith’s most recent x rays show a bit more fusion in the arthritic joint that was treated at Washington State University and hopefully that will continue to progress to full fusion which will mean less pain for her.  While she moves more slowly than the mama cows, she isn’t limping on that foot anymore and is doing relatively well being back on pasture and out of her barn pen.
Honey

John working away on Honey’s hoof
This little herd has been through a lot in the last few months between Meredith’s trips to WSU followed by confinement to treat her arthritic right foot and the passing of our sweet Nutmeg, Betsy’s son.   While Betsy’s appetite is still good, the signs of stress and grief are apparent in her overall appearance.  A bit more thin, her hair coat is somewhat dull with uneven shedding, a little discharge from the eyes now and then. Cattle are herd animals, have a social order, bond to their herd mates and show signs of distress when they are separated or loose a herd mate. Co-director Diana shared this article with the staff recently, Cows have best friends and panic when separated from them | by Go Veg | Medium, that highlights how stressful it is for cattle to be separated from their friends.  I am so thankful that Betsy and Nutmeg had so many years with each other, unlike most cows and their offspring.  We all wish it could have been more.
Dr. Erin drawing blood
The girls will move to a different pasture on the property next week and my hope is that the change of scenery and full time grazing will provide some physical as well as emotional healing for these beloved bovines.”
Moo Crew 2024:  John, Krissy, Carly, Joel and Autumn

Be Mine, Betsy

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Lovely Betsy Cow is one of the bovine family of four we currently have at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Just like the chimpanzees, each of the cattle have their own very distinct personalities and roles within their group.

Betsy, as the video says, is the quintessential “mom” – much like Jody was for her chimp friends before she passed away.

Betsy is so motherly that she nursed Meredith when Honey had mastitis and she continued to let Nutmeg nurse for years, even after he was twice her size!

Also similar to the chimpanzees, Betsy had a varied past before reaching sanctuary. We know that she was used in the dairy industry for a number of years. We don’t know how many calves she had in total before she was purchased, along with Honey Cow, to be part of a reality television called Utopia where urban folks were brought to a farm in California to learn how to live a rural life. The series didn’t last too long, and when it ended, the producer wanted to send pregnant Betsy and the rest of the family to a sanctuary rather than back to the dairy. So, Farm Sanctuary was contacted, and pregnant Betsy, Honey, and baby Meredith went to their northern California sanctuary.

In 2018, after acquiring some more land, we were contemplating rescuing farmed animals to graze on the greatly expanded pastures. It just so happened that Farm Sanctuary was shutting down their northern California site and looking to place Betsy and her family!

Betsy is someone who I liked right away. Some animals (including humans) take a while to get to know and need a lot of space. Not Betsy. Though she’s she’s very vigilant, she is also curious and is usually the first to approach new people (and lick them, if they will let her).

She’s also the most likely to boldly walk out of her space if there’s a gate open (something Jenna and I both know well now), while the rest of her family watches with more apprehension. She has no hesitation going into the creek to eat the greens there or dunk her face in some mud.

I am so glad that Betsy found her way to us. She has brought me joy  since the day she stepped off the trailer.

Thanks goes to her admirers and current Betsy Buddies: Monica, Jackie and (human) Betsy.

You too can help us celebrate all that Betsy embodies by becoming her Bovine Buddy!

Become a Bovine Buddy

Meredith’s Healing Update

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As J.B. covered in a previous blog, Meredith started slowing down this past summer which we discovered was due to osteoarthritis. She had a procedure at WSU to correct this in her right front foot, and she has been recovering and healing from this procedure. We were happy to welcome her back home to continue her recovery after her stay at WSU in December and early January, and I wanted to provide you all with an update on her progress since returning home.

Honey checks on her daughter, Meredith

She continues to show promising signs of healing, and seems to be feeling very ready to break out of her recovery stall to rejoin her herd! She has been enjoying extra attention from her caregivers during our cattle time, complete with lots of pets and scratches. Dr. Erin has also been coming for extra check ins on Meredith and helping to care for her and the herd. While I know she is ready to fully rejoin her family, I do think she enjoys having her own personal hay feeder to snack on at her leisure and not having to hurry to finish her grain before grain-obsessed Betsy is done with hers and looking around for more snacks! She will be due for her recheck appointment soon, so we will know more about exactly how her foot is healing. We hope for continued good news!

Enjoy some pictures of the rest of the herd as well. We are all enjoying the sunshine today!

Nutmeg showing off his best side (okay, all sides are his best side) and looking a little sassy

L to R: Nutmeg, Honey, Betsy, and Meredith in the back.

Betsy and Honey, looking ready to drop their next album!

Brrrrrrrr….itto

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It always takes me by surprise when there is a dramatic shift in the weather. Just a couple days ago we were sitting comfortably in 70º weather. Even just yesterday we were still in 60º weather. But the forecast today is a high of 45º and the rest of the week’s forecast is a little dimmer with the highs not expected to surpass 37º and the low expected to be around 15º by Friday night with some snow sprinkled here and there. This dramatic shift in weather doesn’t just surprise me, it surprises every one. I type this as J.B. is now running around winterizing the Chimp House to ensure the chimpanzees are warm and cozy.

Gordo watching J.B. putting up the winter panels to the Riverview Greenhouse

With the chimpanzees retreating to the warmest spots indoors, it was almost impossible to get any photos that weren’t worse quality than that one of Gordo. Or, on the flip side of things, trying to take a decent photo of a chimpanzee who is constantly in motion is also almost impossible.

Case in point: One Burrito Chimpanzee

The only decent photos I was able to get today are:

Dora and Lucky grooming

And the Marvelous Miss Mave

So to reminisce of warmer times, here are some photos from the past couple of days!

Terry sitting on a barrel and watching while Lucky grooms the back of my hand

Nutmeg and Betsy chowing down on some supplemental hay in addition to their grazing opportunities in the pastures

Ok. This next one to me is just the epitome of Dora and her relationship with others.

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Dora sitting above Mave and Honey B as they groom

Young’s Hill as I was leaving the sanctuary last night

After looking at that last photo again, in hindsight I should have seen the signs this kind of weather was coming up. We can only hope things get slightly better for Jamieween!

Speaking of Jamieween, there are still a couple of items left on our Amazon Wish List with just enough time to make it here for the party. But today is sort of the deadline for them to make it in time.

And lastly, a quick update! As some of you know, we use Tru Earth laundry strips. The people at Tru Earth were kind enough to gives our own fundraising page where 20% of sales will go toward the care of the chimpanzees and cattle. We just wanted to make people aware the link to our fundraising page has changed. Every purchase made at this link will have 20% of the purchase go towards the sanctuary!