Honey B, Willy B and Mave had a very relaxing morning full of play and as Jenna said earlier this week, life is good here at CSNW!
chimpanzee rescue
Beasts of Burden
It is really interesting watching the chimpanzees throughout the day. Whether it is onsite at the sanctuary, or checking in on the security cameras. After witnessing all the great moments such play and grooming, and even the bad moments like fights, there really is no other term to describe them other than “family.”
Families play. Families take care of each other. And families fight, whether with each other or side-by-side one another. Though there has been some instability in Cy’s group, which led to our reintegration plan, I still can’t help but to view them as a family unit. Though the fights can be a stress inducing event and seem like it dominates the day, that’s not necessarily the case. The good moments outweigh the bad by a landslide.
As we moved forward with the reintegration process, we have seen some magnificent moments with the chimps. Though we wish this process would eliminate all the fighting, we are realistic that it won’t stop all of the fighting. Though the real underlying hope is for the fighting to be reduced from the level it was. Personally, I think it’s working. A good chunk of fights we have seen in the past few months have mostly been just screaming and hollering at each other.
What initiated this train of thought? This photo I took a couple weeks ago:
One day, when lunch was brought out, Rayne reached toward Willy B for some reassurance, and this was the outcome. To me it looks a lot like the American Sign Language sign for “friends” if two people were to make the sign together. Here is a photo of a memorial of Washoe making that sign at Friendship Park in Ellensburg.
To me it’s kind of a reminder that there is always beauty in a chaotic world.
Here are some other old photos I found on my phone taken over the course of several months.
Willy B
Annie
Terry
Negra
Lucky
Cy
Mave
Honey B
Jamie’s Group watching TV
Firehose Cube
Sanctuary Wildlife
Barn Kitty in hunting mode
I know some of you are wondering where I have been for a while. There was always some sense of happiness anytime one of the other caregivers let me know people have been inquiring about my whereabouts. No, I didn’t quit or get fired. No, I wasn’t in a coma. No, I wasn’t off galavanting around the Cascades with Barn Kitty or any of the other wild conspiracies some of some of you had… Though I do wish one of those were the case, especially the BK scenario.
The uneventful, boring reason is I got injured while working. It happens at any workplace and no matter the safety precaution, these’s always that small chance. Hello, I am that small chance. I have been recovering for a little bit and am starting to ease back into doing full Chimp House duties. It’s been one step at a time but I am ecstatic that the trend is swinging toward the right direction. I also want to emphasize this was NOT chimp related. It was on my own.
I do want to take this time to thank literally everyone. From my amazing fellow caregivers to the co-directors, and yes, even to you, our dedicated, loving blog readers. My fellow caregivers really rose up to continue our same level of care for the chimps and cattle being down one caregiver for such a prolonged time. Hence the title of this blog. They are my beasts of burden. Plus I had happen to be listening to The Rolling Stones when this was typed. I will be forever grateful to them for their strength and determination, as well as understanding that when I did come back, I would have to ease into everything at a slow pace. Or at least it has been slow to my liking.
I am looking forward to continue caring for the chimpanzees and bovine side-by-side with my team at full capacity when it’s time. Hashtag New Year, New Me.
ONE LAST SUPER BONUS PHOTO
Remember that time Burrito first climbed the tree and nobody was able to get footage of it until later?
I got this when it was announced on the radio that he was in the tree and I was serving lunch to Negra. This is the only known footage of that day!
*Sorry if some of the images maybe repeats or similar to others in the past few months. I forgot who I gave photos to publish for the blog and what photos have been used.
Lessons the Chimps Have Taught Us
Today the Saturday crew of caregivers here at CSNW were pondering all the things we’ve learned from chimpanzees throughout our careers. So here are the first few things we came up with, this is not at all a complete list as this will be an ongoing project but I hope you enjoy the photographic journey of life lessons taught to us by the chimps we’ve cared for.
1. The chimps are always right.
2. Enjoy the small things, never pass up an opportunity to play!
3. Life is short, so don’t take yourself too seriously
4. Stay vigilant – almost anything can become a weapon
5. Always, ALWAYS keep the chimps occupied. If you don’t have activities to keep them occupied then they might find their own projects to work on, like lock picking and bridge destruction.
6. Stay Humble.
It’s Love a Chimpanzee Day 2023
Can you believe it’s Love a Chimpanzee Day again already?! Supporter Monica Best named April 23rd Love a Chimpanzee Day and has sponsored this day each year since 2010 for her chimpanzee friends at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, creating a calendar-worthy official holiday and another excuse to throw a party! That’s a lot of years of love that Monica has shared with the chimps.
With our birthdays so close together, Monica and I have once again teamed up by creating a joint fundraising page for GiveBIG, and we invite you to celebrate this day by checking out our page and making a contribution.
Donor Donna is matching up to $20,000 in funds raised through the end of GiveBIG on May 4th, so your donation now is doubled! HUGE thanks to donor Vicki for making a gift on our page that encouraged us to raise our initial goal!
Monica’s love of animals is not exclusive to chimpanzees – she’s also studied wolves and worked in dog and cat shelters. She’s had many feline and canine friends over the years and created Love a Chimpanzee Day on her birthday in honor of her cat Ozzie during a difficult and uncertain time when Monica was fighting cancer. She credits the sanctuary (especially Negra) with helping her in her years-long battle with the disease and the aftermath.
We are so incredibly grateful for Monica and all of her generosity. She’s been instrumental in the expansion of the sanctuary these last several years and in helping encourage others to give.
You can help us celebrate today and the on Monica and Diana’s GiveBig fundraising page or the sanctuary’s main GiveBig page.
Happy Love a Chimpanzee Day, everyone!!
The Great Hose Heist
What a day!
One of the enrichment items we pass out for the chimps in the evening before caregivers leave are treat buckets. For treat buckets, we fill buckets with a variety of soft enrichment items (socks, scarves, etc.) and put seeds, nuts, or fruit slices in the bottom. We place these on the outside of the caging and give the chimps bamboo sticks so they can get the goodies out of the buckets. Straight forward concept, right? Pretty fool proof, right? That’s what we thought, too.
We were wrong.
We came in this morning and discovered that there was some sneaky heist action last night after the caregivers went home! Check out the blog video to see who was involved and what happened.
Teaser Photo:
A Whirlwind of a Day
Today has been a really busy day! Beyond the normal cleaning and preparing meals and enrichment, we had to shovel some snow, prepare for the incoming snowfall, and have our bi-weekly staff meeting! I was able to get some photos of Rayne for all to enjoy though!
And some bonus photos from last week!
Before the snow froze to become a giant ice cube for a bandit to steal, it was a trough full of fluffy snow!
Gordo was the first who grabbed a handful!
Followed by Willy B who shoved as much snow as his mouth could fit!
All the while Rayne took her time only picking out the best of the best of snow in the trough!
It’s amazing to think that when these two groups (before the integration) were very hesitant about snow treats! In fact, even last year they were pretty hesitant of snow. It’s always a joy when they come around on things they weren’t used to.
And finally, Negra still in her nest when I greeted her this morning!
And don’t forget Giving Tuesday! You can donate today or before the end of the year for our end of the year campaign!
Go Nuts For Coconuts
When caregivers get done cleaning the playrooms, we usually put a forage inside to convince the chimpanzees to take up our invitation to go into the newly cleaned area and leave the one we want to close off to clean. These forages are smaller than the lunch forages and more often than not made of greens like lettuce, cabbage, kale, etc. But every so often we like to surprise them with something a little more exciting. Today, their invitation was made for them to go nuts! It was coconuts!
The chimpanzees seemed to really love it. Especially Burrito! As you can see in the video, sometimes the anticipation is the best part of the of the excitment of things to come!
Here are some photos of Negra with the pieces of coconut she got during the forage:
And Jody and Jamie enjoying a browse of cornstalks in their Greenhouse:
And this guy (Burrito!) playing with caregiver Kelsi!
And as a reminder, the Countdown to Jamieween has begun! There are still some items on the wish list we think she and her family would like!
