I have to apologize in advance, as this post contains nothing but photos of Burrito playing. Save your angry letters! Out of fairness, we have to feature him on the blog every once and a while.
Burrito
In Kevin’s memory
Today was sponsored by the chimpanzees’ dear friend and neighbor, Shelley Winfrey, in honor of her brother, Kevin Clark, who passed away. Shelly graciously sponsors this day each year in Kevin’s memory and in her knowing that he would have loved the chimpanzees as well.
Shelley, thank you, from our hearts, for always including the chimpanzees in your life and family. May this beautiful summer day bring comforting and joyful memories to your heart. We’ll be thinking of Kevin and sending you and your family all the good thoughts.
I’m not sure you could look at this fella, Burrito, and not have a smiling heart. We love him so:
It’s Betsy’s birthday!
Whew! It’s near triple digits today and not the slightest of breezes. We arrived bright and early to find the construction crew already hard at work, breaking ground on the second phase of our expansion and until about 5 minutes ago, the day hasn’t slowed down once! But the upside of that is I feel fairly confident that the chimpanzees and bovines enjoyed their very decidedly summer day and all it brought their way. How does it get better than that?!
First of all, today we celebrated Betsy’s 13th birthday! This endearing little bovine family of four bring smiles to our hearts every day. They continue to surprise us with their unique, increasingly independent personalities and we’ve been loving watching their wild mountain cattle sides emerge as they explore their summer pastures and even more space to do as they choose.
Chad and Anthony made Betsy a birthday bowl of oats, corn and alfalfa and well, the birthday lady nearly knocked Anthony over to get to it!
Betsy, her son, Nutmeg, and Meredith getting every last bite:
Betsy and Nutmeg:
If you look closely, you can see Jamie in the background. We’ll just go with the thought that Jamie was wishing Betsy a happy day. 😉
Outside of Betsy’s birthday party in the pasture, much of our time was spent thinking of ways to help the chimpanzees feel a little respite from the heat. They had frequent ice cube breaks, buckets of Gatorade, AND! We broke out the snow cone machine! Shaved ice in paper boats with a dash of blue Gatorade and a couple frozen raspberries. The seven are well acquainted with the joy of snow cones, but I’m not sure if Mave, Honey B and Willy B have had them before. They were met with the three’s usual level of suspicion and deadpan looks over what crazy thing the humans may be trying to serve them/poison them with. Once they tentatively tasted them, they seemed to be on board with the idea. Apologies for the lack of photos of the snow cones, but they tend to disappear as fast as we can make and serve them.
Foxie and Orange Blossom waking from a nap in the beyond toasty greenhouse:
This joyful guy makes all our hearts soar. Just because it’s sweltering doesn’t mean he can’t flail about with France Dora while lying down:
The rest of the day was busy humans cleaning and chimpanzees in puddles, resting in cool spots. The chimps are all in their night nests as I type this, but in the cameras I can see Honey B nesting in front of the fan, and Jody, Foxie and Annie with their legs up in the air against the caging. But of course, the boss lady, Jamie, is busy, still enjoying the evening enrichment of peanut butter, seed and raisin pine cones. As I told the chimpanzees goodnight, Jamie asked for her still beloved book of Salmon Sisters Xtratuf boots and without fail, whenever I hand it to her, she hoots with joy and hugs it close. She is holding it with one foot while the other foot and both hands are busy with the pine cones. Some of which she may or may not have stolen. It’s good to be boss.
Intermission… of a Sort
Today functioned as a brief intermission… of a sort.
Yesterday, the team wrapped up a major facelift of the existing playroom. Yesterday’s blog showed it best, but additional snapshots make it clear that the chimps were just as interested in the demolition, reassembly and repainting as they were in the finished product: a clean and bright playroom.
Tomorrow, we will finally break ground on Phase 2 of the Chimp House expansion. CSNW co-directors J.B. and Diana have been working tirelessly to make sure we have the permits, funding, plans and specialized contractors required to pull off such an endeavor. Thanks to their hard work and the support of selfless donors, this vision is being incrementally converted into a reality. Just after dawn tomorrow morning, a crew will begin digging the foundations of the new playroom- and greenhouse-type enclosures that will enable us to give the sanctuary’s chimpanzee residents some additional spaces to explore, relax, and socialize. Sometime in the hopefully-not-so-distant future, these enclosures may also provide space for other chimps who are also waiting for a permanent sanctuary home.
Of course, there was still a lot on our to-do list today. Early this morning, Dr. Erin and her sons helped J.B. to transfer a few dozen bales of hay to the barn. Around here, hay is a necessary dietary supplement for the cattle in autumn and winter, so we’re starting to stockpile now. By November, the entire barn will be filled with a pyramid of orchard grass, Timothy hay, alfalfa and straw.
After stacking all that hay, J.B. and volunteer Adam made some modifications to the perimeter fence that will allow the contractors to access the Phase 2 area without getting too close to the chimps and staff. Meanwhile, the rest of today’s personnel did the routine cleaning, caught up on some housekeeping, and set the stage for another busy week. Inside the Chimp House, Katelyn (Office Manager), Chad (Enrichment Coordinator) and Lisa (Level III Volunteer) were the supporting caregivers. Together, we made chow bags and enrichment for the upcoming week, organized the kitchen and foyer, cleaned the enclosures, took care of the cattle, and provisioned the chimps with meals, blankets and toys.
Amid all of these projects and tedium, I am feeling incredibly appreciative of our donors who have, per usual, been extremely generous with their timely gifts. Through our Amazon Wish List, amazing people donate some pretty cool items that are subsequently delivered right to our front gate. I’m a dork and tend to geek out over office paraphernalia, organizational tools and miscellaneous supplies, so opening these packages always feels like Christmas morning. This past week, we received some new hose attachments for spraying disinfectant, tape refills for the label-maker, organizing racks for the vet clinic’s pharmacy cabinet, a second whiteboard for the foyer (which J.B. has already graced with one of his informative cartoon drawings), and lots of new toys, puzzles and nesting materials for the chimps.
We look forward to updating you all on the progress of the new construction and all of the related projects!
The wonderfulness of Mave
Mave can be hot or cold when it comes to playing with the humans. Of course as much as we love to play with the chimps, we love it most when they play with one another as their relationships are the most important to their well-being. But when Mave does choose to play with the humans, like most of us, she has people she seems to prefer (of which I am not usually one), but she’s dignified you know, so at least with me she doesn’t usually let on that she’s really invested in whatever game we might be playing. 😉 But yesterday she bestowed me with a sudden game of chase.
Now Mave also has a very endearing one-size-fits-all habit when she’s excited about something. It might be in greeting Willy B, displaying, or just having fun and playing, but she will repeatedly leap up and down on all fours and kick her legs straight down when she’s in the air. Even when she’s being serious, it’s pretty cute. So as we were playing, she would run to the windows to get me to run outside and chase her from the other side of the windows and when I’d run back inside I could see her shadow going boingity, boing, boing boing, in anticipation of me running back inside, but the second I’d turn the corner to see her she’d just be sitting there as though nothing were going on.
Despite doing her best to pretend she didn’t have the time of day for my shenanigans, at one point she could no longer contain herself and went flying through the front rooms, grabbing a slinky on the way, and just flailed about in a blur of joy:
As a side note, we’ve been marveling at how dark Mave’s face has become after all the sunbathing she’s been doing in the chute lately. Here’s a pre-summertime Mave portrait that J.B. took:
In other news, the original playroom for the seven is getting a facelift and as the humans work over the next few days to update things, the chimpanzees will be spending more time in the other areas of their home (Young’s Hill, the greenhouse and the front rooms). Routine is important for captive chimpanzees, particularly those who have been in biomedical research, so when we have no alternative but to disrupt the norm a bit, we try to think of extra enrichment and exciting things for them to enjoy to help distract them from the temporary changes in their day.
Today began with a breakfast forage on Young’s Hill and as the afternoon warmed up, we served ice cubes (I have no idea why they love these simple things so much, but they sure do) and buckets of Gatorade. Burrito felt the best approach was to just lie next to the buckets and go for the triple straw method:
Foxie joined in:
Thank you, Manda!
Manda Crawford sponsored this day of sanctuary: “In honor of Burrito, Jamie, Jody, Annie, Missy, Foxie, Negra, Honey B, Willy B, and Mave. The best day ever! Independence Day!”
Thank you so much, Manda, for helping to ensure the chimpanzees (and cattle) have as much freedom, independence and choice as possible, for all their days forward. We’re so grateful to be able to celebrate these things in the chimps’ lives. Happy Fourth of July!
Independence means different things to different people. Our personal and collective versions of freedom can be found in the broader sense of the word, yes, but also sometimes in the smallest of places. For the chimpanzees, while the freedom of living the natural lives they were meant to was taken from them, a home in sanctuary where they can just be themselves and are able to make as many choices as possible about their day, is the closest to freedom they’ll know.
Here at the sanctuary, in a way, we get to celebrate a kind of Independence Day every day, in one form or another. It’s a profound joy, a privilege and an inspiration to witness each of the chimpanzees explore both their inner and outer independence each and every day because of what you make possible for them. And while we celebrate and hold profound gratitude for these experiences in the chimps’ lives, we hold a space of honor and support for all those still waiting for their Independence Day, in whatever form that may take. Ultimately, all any living being wants and deserves is the freedom to live their lives as they’re meant to, to follow their hearts and make their own choices with the same dignity and respect afforded anyone else.
Whether it’s in taking the first tentative steps outside of not only your comfort zone, but all you’ve known, like Willy B:
To express the joy of being ourselves, like Honey B and Mave:
To rest in comfort, like Negra….
…and be at ease when you need to, or just because you feel like it, like Jody:
We see it when Missy runs to her heart’s content for no other reason than her sheer joy of running:
In Jamie’s freedom to express her wants and needs (and know she’ll be heard):
In the freedom to choose who you spend your time with and how:
In the ability to raise your children and live your lives with your family, like Betsy and Nutmeg:
and Honey and Meredith:
To walk your own path as you choose, like Annie:
To simply love who you love, like Foxie:
To dream, hope, and imagine (Jamie).
And to just be (Burrito):
No time for blogs
We live to serve the chimpanzees and they know it. Jamie has decided that today’s blog should be a short one so that we can groom and walk together for the rest of the day. Here are a few photos of Burrito putting staff caregiver Chad through his workout routine.
OK back to work!
