Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Burrito

‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving…

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‘Twas the night before Thanksgiving, when all through the [chimp] house

Not a chimp was stirring, not even a Honey (B);

The chimps were in bed, tucked into nests

in hopes that sweet rolls would soon be at Chimp Sanctuary Northwest.

 

Today has been rather low-key, whether the chimps realize it or not, they are resting up for the big Thanksgiving celebration. I personally can’t wait to hear Negra food squeak for Hawaiian rolls – it’s something I wait all year for! I thought I would share a collection of photos taken from today.

Negra staring out the window this morning:

Terry playing chase with one of his caregivers:

Missy eating tomatoes at lunch:

Cy <3:

Burrito spying on the neighbors:

Jamie laying on a barrel:

Jamie off-duty:

Honey B during a lunch forage:

Gordo, isn’t he so handsome?:

Sweet little Dora:

CSNW Candid Camera

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Before we begin the blog, let’s play a game!

Can you spot the fierce predator stalking this herd of deer?

Answer will be at the end!

Now onto the blog!

As much as we try and would love to be everywhere to capture the chimpanzees throughout the day, we can’t. It really is unfortunate because outside of what gets published in the blog, there are hundreds of moments during the day that are amazing. Though we can’t be there to get photos or footage, every now and again we are lucky enough to glance over to the security cameras and see what some of their day consists of.

Here are some bonus photos from today!

Rayne seemingly really enjoying her mountain rose apples at breakfast

Really she was just caught mid-blink

Negra went out onto Young’s Hill this morning to check out the new climbing structures J.B. and Jake are building

On her way back inside, she ran into a potential snack. Literally!

But alas the young pine was not willing to be uprooted for her

Gambit Gordo

Missy and Annie enjoying the morning on Young’s Hill

Burrito and Jamie returning from a patrol

Terry showing and grooming his own foot

And this guy!

Burrito was on top of a bench playing with a giant stuffed toy goose, and would occasionally look down

Were you able to find the fierce hunter earlier?

It’s Barn Kitty!

Barn Kitty (aka BK) is such a fierce individual. He doesn’t seem to be intimidated by size. I once watched him hide behind some tall grass and stalk J.B. as he was driving the tractor up hill. If he had the chance, I 100% believe he was weighing his options of pouncing; tractor or no tractor!

Chimp Lesson #7: It Can Wait

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Last month, caregiver Sabrina wrote the first in a series of blogs titled ‘Lessons the Chimps Have Taught Us‘. Today, I would like to add to it. 🙂

We mention it quite often, but our days here are buuuusssyyy. We have a lot to do and time tends to slip away from us, or maybe time really does just go faster when you’re in the chimp house. Either way, we have to make conscious decisions throughout the day about how we spend our time to make sure we get everything done and also spend time with the chimps.

This morning, Sabrina and I went and did our perimeter check of Young’s Hill and the Bray. I was standing by the raceway (the connecting enclosure from the Greenhouse to Young’s Hill) while giving caregiver Jenna my safety report over the radio and Burrito was already being his wild self! Wanting to play a game of chase, he would run over to me, stomp his back foot, and go running off- with me following, of course. I thought that I would need to take a few minutes to play chase with him before doing the rest of the lead caregiver’s morning responsibilities, but he had other things in mind.

As soon as I opened the door, he was running! And, not just running, but looking back at me, clapping, breathy panting, and stomping his feet. Not only was he going for a morning jog around the hill, but I was about to go with him.

I always get really happy when a chimp asks me to spend time with them- whether it be a walk outside, a quiet grooming session, or a game of chase. It’s just, well, special. And it never gets old.

While I was happy to spend time with Burrito, my mind was definitely on everything that I had to get done today. A few steps around the hill, though, Burrito paused our race to sit down while looking back at the chimp house. The winter chill could definitely be felt this morning and there was a layer of fog around the foothills, but the blue winter-y morning light made everything extra breath-taking.

I grew up in Ohio and while the Midwest has it’s own charm and beauty, I don’t think there’s anything like the mountains on a cold winter morning.

So, all this to say that today I was reminded of one of the things that the chimps have taught me.

Your to-do list will always be there and it will always be just as important. But- taking the time to spend quality, fully present moments with people you love is a pretty good reason to put it on hold. It can wait… Burrito can’t. 🙂

I hope you enjoy this mornings walk as much as I did.

Photos from My Vault

Gordo, enjoying a sunny lunch forage:

Terry, looking out to the Bray:

Don’t forget to participate in our Comfort & Joy Online Auction– be sure to get your bids & donations in before the event ends this Saturday, November 18th. 🙂

Caregivers, Assemble!

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I send my apologies to our supporters, followers, well-wishers, and passersby of today’s blog. Today is the first time staff had a meeting since a couple weeks before Jamieween. Usually, I can put together a blog and photos after the meetings, but since some time has passed since our last meeting, there was a lot to discuss. So please excuse today’s blog as it is really several ideas I had today to write about, but wasn’t able to let any of them to come to full fruition.

Willy B seemed a tad annoyed when I thought I would write a blog about him since it has been a little while

So I let that idea go.

Mave inspired the thought of trying to write about chimpanzee facial expressions

But a blog like that would require a little more time to do it justice.

Jamie carrying her boot onto Young’s Hill

And Cy carrying his magazine onto the Bray

I was going to have a montage of enrichment items the chimps bring with them into the outdoor enclosures, but I couldn’t find anybody else and I didn’t have time to go through our archives.

Rayne getting low to get a better look at the approaching stranger danger (really it was Jenna in her street closes that threw Rayne off)

And Jamie and Burrito going around Young’s Hill with caregivers Grace, Jenna, and Diana

Which in turn ended up Burrito going around Young’s Hill with me

Those last few sets of photos inspired me to think of writing a blog on chimpanzee/caregiver interactions/relationships. But again, time stopped me.

Maybe those topics will be covered someday, however today isn’t that day unfortunately.

And thank you to everyone that joined us during last nights online gathering for Comfort & Joy! If you couldn’t make it, you can watch the event on YouTube. And if you thought that was the end of the auction, it’s not! You still have time to bid on your favorite items until November 18th!

Perfectly Imperfect

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Picking and choosing which photos we include in the blog can be a daunting task. I can’t speak for my fellow caregivers, but there’s always some kind of embellishment that makes the photo unusable in my eyes. Whether it be bad lighting, a piece of poop center stage in the photo, a wound, caging getting in the way, a slow shutter speed which makes the photo blurry, etc. There is just always that one tiny thing that makes me call the photo bad, delete it, and move on.

Today is no exception. Between cleaning the enclosures to training new staff members, it has been a busy day here. When I finally got some time to go around and take some photos, I will admit I rushed it a bit. Mostly because though cleaning is over, training still continues into the afternoon as well as other Chimp House chores. I knew right off the bat that most of the photos I took were unusable (in my eyes at least) but I had some confidence there was at least a few decent ones in there some where.

Wrong! The vast majority I wasn’t a fan of. In fact, there wasn’t a single one I’m particularly attached to. There were, however, several that had potential to be great if it wasn’t for one thing or another I saw wrong in them. You might be wondering, “Why don’t you just Photoshop them?” Though Photoshop or any photo editing software is a great tool, we don’t use it in order to maintain our transparency to you all. Other than some basic color correcting, we don’t edit something out or in. Back in a former life as a photojournalist, our rule was simple as it relates to photo editing software. If you can’t do it in a dark room, then you shouldn’t do it in the software. We more or less follow that same basic rule.

That being said, here are some photos from today that had the potential of being great. Enjoy photos that would have been deleted on any other day.

Mave in mid-chew

This photo isn’t the portrayal of Mave I would want. Please trust me when I say she’s not scared here. She was just looking up and chewing snap peas when I took the photo

Honey B during a lunch forage

I forgot to reset the white balance on our camera which is why this and some other photos are either overexposed or have a orange/warm color hue to them. Plus she has a small scrape on her brow probably caused while chasing somebody

Gordo during the forage

I had the shutter speed lower than I thought, which is why this one is overexposed and blurry

Gordo again foraging

The caging got in the way which is why the center of the photo seems lighter than the rest

Gordo again!

The cause of lack of vibrant coloring is because the caging again was in the way. This means the caging was right smack dab in the middle of the lens’ focus

Also, I did spend some time trying correct that last one but it didn’t turn out like I had hoped for

Willy B and Honey B during the forage

This one isn’t terrible. I just took it with my camera phone, which the photographer in me thinks is cheating (I know. It absolutely is not and that’s a mindset that I’ve been trying to break for some time)

Honey B munching on some green onions

Again with my camera phone

Burrito during breakfast with his apples

Low shutter speed again is the culprit in this blurry photo

Dora and Lucky head-to-head

Camera phone again plus it automatically set to a slower shutter speed and blurred Lucky out just a tad

Cy perusing through a magazine after lunch

Caging is off to the side

Rayne watching me yesterday as I was cleaning the mezzanine

This was through a window that wasn’t cleaned yet. I tried to be creative with it, but it didn’t work out

Terry’s foot hanging off the platform in the one of his greenhouses after lunch

Though the caging got in front of the lens messing with the color scheme, this photo is still perfect because Terry is perfect!

Speaking of Terry, have you seen the Teeny Tiny Terry book in the Comfort & Joy auction? It truly is amazing and one of a kind! The auction is up and running through November 18th! Be sure to register and bid high and bid often!Good luck to everyone!

Postponing Winter

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Despite the sudden cooler temperatures (it was a crisp 33 degrees arriving to the sanctuary this morning), the sun was out and shining today. The sun felt so good and warm, that I thought it’d be a perfect day for a forage on Young’s Hill. Jamie, Missy, Burrito, Annie, and Foxie agreed with me and were happy to do a lunch forage out on the Hill. Negra requested her meal to be inside for a lunch party of one, presumably so she can be where it is warmer.

One of the highlights of the morning, as you will see pictured below, is Jamie drinking from her tiny teacup. We made up a Gatorade pool, which is one of Jamie’s favorite things, in their Playroom. The entire group usually sits down and drinks up. Jamie loves using a cup to drink from, but today it was especially funny to see her use the tiniest cup possible to drink from.

On the other side of the building, Cy’s group is also soaking up the sun in their Greenhouses, their chute, and the Bray.

Rayne:

Cy:

Annie:

Burrito:

Jamie:

Missy:

Rayne:

Drawing on a package we received from a donor 🙂

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!