Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimp sanctuary

Today’s goofy play

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Today, the chimpanzees were being pretty playful, especially Missy and Burrito. I wasn’t able to get the best video while trying to play tug-o-war with Missy, but I got a short clip. Burrito was playing a lot with Jackie at the barn doors. You’ll want to watch until the very end!

Fostering Friendships

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Volunteer Katelyn is in training to be a caregiver. We like to think of training as not only a time to teach people about chimp behaviors and how to safely interact with the chimpanzees, but it’s also a time to foster new friendships. The process usually takes several months beginning with the trainee sticking close to the trainer until gradually the trainer gets further and further away and the trainee gains more independence. It’s a fun process to watch, especially when you watch the chimps become more and more comfortable with the person, and watching their friendship begin. That’s what I witnessed today with Katelyn. She hasn’t had many interactions with the chimpanzees, but today we spent a good deal of time interacting with almost everybody! We played tug of war with Missy and a sock, and Annie came over and tickled the back of Katelyn’s hand– a rare treat! Later, we spent some quality time with Foxie in the greenhouse. Foxie was so playful! She literally rolled the entire length of the deck during a chase game– a sure sign that Katelyn going to be a fun friend.

I feel I should point out that Katelyn and I are standing on different steps in the next couple of photos 😉

More on the new structures

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As I mentioned the other day, Ben Parks and Boy Scout Troop 336 from Federal Way worked with J.B. last weekend building new climbing structures on Young’s Hill. I also mentioned that we got some GoPro footage, however, unfortunately there were some technical difficulties with the file and the videos were lost. We did get some footage with our camera though. Thanks again Ben and Boy Scout Troop 336!

New structures on Young’s Hill

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Ben Parks and Boy Scout Troop 336 from Federal Way have been withstanding the 100+ degree heat we’ve had the last couple of days and working hard on Young’s Hill with J.B. They built a couple of new smaller structures and put in the posts for a fire hose bridge that the troop is building for us. The bridge will connect two of the climbing structures so the chimps can go between them without touching the ground. It already looks so different out there! We got some pretty cool footage from the GoPro camera today. We’ll post that tomorrow, but in the meantime here’s a little teaser screenshot from the video of Annie climbing one of the new posts. Thanks so much for all your hard work guys!