Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

cattle

Love a Moo Moo Day

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Amazing sanctuary friend and supporter, Monica Best, is sponsoring a day of sanctuary in a new celebration honoring our dear bovine family, Honey and her daughter, Meredith, and Betsy and her son, Nutmeg, and well, moo moos everywhere!

Monica is hoping this first annual Love a Moo Moo Day will allow everyone to get to know the lovely hoofed animals that share the sanctuary.

You can learn all about the four cattle by clicking on their individual pages from the cattle page on the website. They have a very interesting past, and we feel so very fortunate that we are able to care for them here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest while they happily keep the grass trimmed. This summer, we’ll be giving them access to even more of the sanctuary property!

Nutmeg is now a big steer, it’s difficult for us to imagine him this size when he was born at Farm Sanctuary’s California shelter:

Baby Nutmeg nursing from Betsy (photo from Farm Sanctuary)
Nutmeg (left), his mom Betsy (right) at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Nutmeg is much bigger than mom Betsy now, but he’s still a mama’s boy in the best way:

For her part, Betsy is a mom at heart and spends a lot of her time grooming her herd mates. The humans will do in a pinch:

Betsy licking J.B.

Honey, on the other hand, would prefer that the humans keep the appropriate social distance from her, unless they have some particularly valuable food, in which case she will lower herself to come closer.

Meredith (left), Honey (right)

Her daughter Meredith likes the occasional scratch, but has an independent streak. When we are watching the bovine family from the office, Meredith is often off doing her own thing.

Meredith

Just like their primate sanctuary counterparts, each of these four hoofed friends have individual personalities and charm!

Thank you to Monica for setting up a day to love them!

 

 

Celebrating Nutmeg’s 5th Birthday

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This month, we celebrated the joyous anniversary of Nutmeg’s birth. Nutmeg completed his fifth trip around the sun on February 10.

Nutmeg and his bovine companions arrived at the sanctuary in the fall of 2018 and have been inhabiting the spacious pasture ever since. Even though he weighs well over one-thousand pounds, this tawny giant is still a mama’s boy. Despite his attachment to his mother, Betsy, we’ve enjoyed watching him grow more independent, hardy, and adventurous over the past 15 months. He still likes to hang with the herd, but he’s been exploring the sanctuary’s farmland and learning to love the outdoors with the support of his bovine companions. He’s also slimmed down quite a bit, and now sports a thick winter coat that has proven quite handy in recent months.

Normally, the cattle graze and browse the surrounding landscape during the warmer seasons and then receive supplementary hay and alfalfa during the winter. We pay close attention to their conditions so they can maintain a healthy weight. Last week, to celebrate Nutmeg’s birthday, we gave the cattle a few scoops of something special. The birthday mix was a rare treat that contained alfalfa, beets, oats and minerals. Nutmeg practically inhaled his portion before slurping the last few handfuls of grain directly off the tailgate. He’s quite the food connoisseur and he seemed to appreciate the special event.

In addition to keeping the sanctuary protected from fires by removing fuel from the landscape, these quirky creatures are a charming addition to the CSNW family. We couldn’t be happier to provide a peaceful home for Betsy, Honey, Meredith and Nutmeg. As I mentioned in the video, Nutmeg and the cows are looking for Bovine Buddy sponsorships that help us to maintain a safe and enriching environment for chimps and cattle, so please visit this page if you are interested in contributing to their care.

Also, please enjoy the included photos of this handsome dude.

Happy birthday, Nutmeg!

Nutmeg

Guess that Chimp!

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I was inspired to play a game today. In my phone I had this photo of a chimp, who I will not name, it is just of their eye mostly. The photo makes me laugh because this chimp is always so curious about taking pictures, so much that I can barely get a good picture. I thought this would make a fun blog! Can you guess this chimpanzee or farm animal? So I will give you an easy one first and than the hard ones. Good luck!

Chimp photo 1:

Cattle photo 2:

Chimp photo 3:

What’s Your Favorite (Nonhuman) Animal?

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Texas, of course, is a long way away from Washington state. Heck, West Texas is a long way away from East Texas. (In case you were wondering, Cuba, Guatemala, Idaho and Michigan are all closer to the nearest point in Texas than that location is from the farthest point in Texas. Let that simmer, folks.)

That piece of geographic knowledge is one of the reasons why we caregivers were both impressed and thrilled to receive holiday cards from some very thoughtful elementary students who live, of all places, on the plains of Odessa, Texas.

None of these amazing young people in Mrs. Bille’s fifth grade class at Travis Magnet Elementary have ever been to the sanctuary. I’m not sure if any of them have ever seen a chimpanzee. Still, they have enabled us to decorate our veterinary whiteboard with colorful cards filled with holiday cheer, encouragement, and kindness. Their messages really warm up the foyer. For example, students wished that Missy enjoys lots of tomatoes this year, that Honey B. stays brave about all the new things in her new home, and that Burrito has lots of fun playing tug-of-war with J.B. With their help, we will do our best to make these things happen.

In my opinion, Mrs. Bille deserves some sort of award for organizing such an exceptional gift to the sanctuary (and for being one of our biggest supporters and fans, year after year).

All of the messages are directed towards individual chimpanzees and demonstrate how each student is familiar with the personalities and backgrounds of their respective favorites. It’s comforting to see young people from far away expressing empathy for and interest in the chimps, and it amazes me how much individual students seem to identify with individual chimps. It seems that they are well on their way to becoming bright and responsible adults, and I’m sure they would all make amazing chimpanzee caregivers someday.

When I was their age, I used to pester my parents constantly because I was so interested in animals, nature and science. Luckily, my family was supportive. They bought me used zoology textbooks and atlases, took me to educational programs at the local zoo, purchased a subscription to National Geographic and even sponsored sanctuary animals for my annual Christmas gift. My parents still love to joke about the night almost three decades ago when I tiptoed into their bedroom, opened my father’s eyelids with my stubby toddler fingers, and barked “Dad, what’s your favorite jungle animal?!” When he responded that he liked lions and instructed me to go back to bed, I informed him that lions inhabit open savannas and aren’t adapted to live in jungles. I didn’t go back to my room until he changed his answer to tigers.

Perhaps this is why one holiday card in particular made me smile. The bright red, glittery card reads:

To: Betsy
From: Isabelle
Have a happy mooadays.

Dear Betsy, I love your name. And I love cows. They’re my 6th favorite animal. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

Well, Isabelle, you should know that Betsy had an outstanding Christmas. She and the other cattle got alfalfa and minerals, two of their favorite winter treats. She held still while I brushed her fuzzy winter coat, and then licked all of the salty minerals off of my sleeves. We’re excited for the new year because Betsy and the others will get a huge new pasture with lots of green grass after the snow melts. It’s because of people like you and your classmates that cows, chimpanzees, and all the other nonhuman animals out there have a chance at a good life after being wrongfully used by humans. Keep up the good work, Isabelle.

Betsy.

Also, Isabelle, I am shocked that cows are only your 6th favorite animal. Why are they so low on the list? Which animals are ranked 1-5? Feel free to send us another card with your faves.

Here are my zoological power rankings:

  1. Spider monkeys. They’re a lot like chimpanzees AND they have amazing tails.
  2. Cows, obviously. This includes all cattle because Nutmeg is a steer, not a cow.
  3. Chimpanzees. They would be higher on my list if I didn’t have to clean up their messy playroom every morning.
  4. Trash pandas (also known as raccoons).
  5. Goats.
  6. Quahogs (a type of clam). They live longer than any other animal and they remind me of the place where I grew up, by the ocean.
  7. Wolverines. Their scientific name means “the gluttonous glutton” and I identify with that. They’re also stocky, athletic and fierce, like Missy.
  8. Spotted hyenas. They got a bad reputation from the Lion King, but they’re very smart and have an interesting society. The female hyenas are in charge of the whole group.
  9. Red pandas. They’re super chill. If taking care of primates ever becomes too stressful, a friend and I plan to start Red Panda Sanctuary Northwest (RPSNW). Stay tuned.
  10. Leaf-cutter ants.

Thank you all for your support and for loving the chimps (and cows).

Happy Mooadays to all of you and a Happy Moo Year to everyone! Feel free to comment with your favorite nonhuman animal species.

The spy and the acrobat

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Mornings on Young’s Hill are a flurry of activity.

The chimps leave the greenhouse after breakfast and race from structure to structure, motivated in part, I imagine, by the desire to see what changes may have occurred overnight while they slept.

The structures offer the best vantage points to spot everything from nearby wildlife to vehicles coming up the driveway.

This morning, Jody had only one thing on her mind: she immediately made a beeline to the Twister to search for the cows.

She found them resting beneath the shade of the Ponderosa pines, just beyond the fence. It looked to me like she thought back up was on its way, but she was going to have to perform her reconnaissance alone.

As the cows rose from their naps, Jody spied on them through the fire hose web.

Soon her cover was blown and she found herself facing down 6,000 pounds of curious bovines, so she retreated to the company of her chimpanzee family.

Meanwhile, Missy played the “ground is lava” game, oblivious to the drama at the top of the hill.

She followed Jamie around without setting foot on the ground…

…aided by her incredible balance, a pair of opposable big toes, and let’s just call it a low center of gravity.

While Jamie trudged through the tall grass, Missy leapt and swung above it all.

Chimps meet cows

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We finally got the summer pasture opened up yesterday and it was the first chance for a real face-to-face meeting between the chimps and the cows. Check out the video above and enjoy a few bonus photos of our beautiful cows enjoying their new digs:

Betsy:

Meredith:

Honey:

Nutmeg:

Clean Up Crew + Enrichment for Nutmeg

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Today, well after the other chimpanzees had moved on to other post-lunch activities (specifically nesting, napping, and grooming), I “caught” Annie going through the front rooms and collecting uneaten Brussels sprouts, then taking her found food to the playroom to enjoy.

Just a few minutes later, I saw Foxie do the same thing, but this time with avocado peels (in the first photo below, see Foxie’s signature happy toes and small orange-haired troll doll stationed nearby):

Foxie was working diligently to get every last bit of avocado flesh. The chimpanzees have enjoyed an abundance of avocados lately, thanks to donations of Charlie’s Produce via Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, and that has suited Foxie just fine.

As a bonus, for those who are wondering what the bovines have been up to, here’s a video I took yesterday!