Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzee rescue

CSI: Chimp House

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One of the many reasons why chimpanzees should never be pets is their natural destructive behavior. On the daily basis we enter enclosures for cleaning and find destroyed toys, ripped blankets, broken night time enrichment, and on many occasions stuffed animals with severed limbs and stuffing coming out. This is why we follow rigorous rules that dictate the type enrichment and toys that each group is allowed to have. Ranging from choking hazards, to possible obstructions if ingested each item is checked by at least two caregivers before the item is placed inside an enclosure to ensure that the chimpanzees, as individuals and as groups will be safe. Every item that is placed inside is potentially going to be destroyed, and sometimes we encounter crime scenes that may never be solved. I mean we could, we can just watch security footage, but working around mysteries is more intriguing.

Case #1

First on the scene: Special Agent de Bree

Victim: Stuffed teddy bear

Cause of death: Severe stuffingloss by limb amputation and decapitation. Strangulation has not been ruled out.

Location: Greenhouse 1

Evidence collected: Plaid ribbon scarf

Case #2

First on the scene: Special Agent Castro-Loza

Victim: Stuffed tiger

Cause of death: Severe stuffingloss by amputation of left hind leg and tail.

Location: Front Room 3

Evidence collected: Unopened pumpkin seed

Number of suspects: 7

But three individuals matched our previous offense data base. Jamie, Annie, and Burrito are on the top of the suspect list pending investigation and forensic analysis.

Jamie de-stuffing a lion

Click here to access our Amazon Wish List with an assortment of approved enrichment. The Holiday list is up!!!

Click here to view our Enrichment Database.

Chimp ID: Terry

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It seems to have been a while since the last time we did a Chimp ID from the new group. So who better to pickup where we left off than with Terry!

Terry is by far the “floofiest” of the bunch. It’s took the point where sometimes we have difficulty in determining if he is piloerect, or if he’s just that fuzzy.

Cy, Gordo, and Terry. You can see the comparison here.

Terry always tries to get caregivers’ attention. You can hear Terry pretty much anywhere blowing raspberries to get some attention from caregivers. When Terry is interested in your footwear, he will blow raspberries then spit water at your boots and only your boots, which he loves to groom.

Terry grooming Sofia’s boots.

He also has a peculiar way of greeting caregivers: licking the back of our hands.

Caregiver Kelsi allows Terry to “kiss” the back of her gloved hand.

Terry is also a big fan of food!

Usually, we can often find Terry with something in his mouth. Whether that is a wadge made from the paper bags his primate chow come in or wooden blocks.

Terry is also a fan of food puzzles, especially Boomer Balls.

Terry carrying three Boomer Balls with Rayne right behind him.

Terry is just a big, lovable goofball who is extremely difficult not to love when you meet him.

We all love Terry!

Let’s taco about Tuesday

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Tuesday has been a normal day consisting of cleaning, preparing meals and enrichment, a one-on-one introduction, and also about getting ready for Thanksgiving day. As usual the chimps will get an entire feast just for them with their favorite food items and Fall themed enrichment. On the other hand, the humans will be getting together for an early thanksgiving pot luck tomorrow night. This will consist of homemade traditional Thanksgiving meals, or what we each consider to be traditional. In my case, I’ll bring a vegan sweet potato and marshmallow casserole and although it is not a dish commonly made back home in Puerto Rico on this occasion, I like it so much that I would always require my family to make it just for me. I’ve been told that caregiver Chad makes a mean Nasi Goreng fried rice that is very famous in the chimp house so there is a lot to look forward to.

Enough about food, let’s taco about today’s introductions. I know we have said it before, but even though we plan ahead for possible introduction pairings, the chimps get the final say and that is exactly what happened today. Honey B and Willy B conspired together to not allow us to access the Mezzanine for cleaning, which directly dictated the fate of today’s pairing options for introductions. During lunch time, Willy B shifted out and Honey B remained up there meaning she was the one that was going to hang out with one of the California Six. On the six’s group, Cy was the one that wanted to stay in the front rooms so that made the decision easy for us. This introduction ended up being very low-key, with an on edge Honey B and only a few direct interactions but all in all positive.

Cy reading a magazine. Not pictured here are Cy’s happy sounds while reading.

Dora hanging out in the green house.

Lucky in her favorite spot of the front rooms with a slinky.

BONUS: A beautiful rainbow over Young’s Hill taken by caregiver Chad.

Second Spring

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We humans talk about weather a lot, often marveling at even the predictable and banal. Like me today remarking at the wind gusts, “that’s some wind out there!”

The weather ties everyone to nature, even those who live in jungles made of concrete. It reminds us that we are not, in fact, in control of everything.

After a long and dry summer here at the sanctuary, the fall rains and cloud-filled days felt abrupt and at times a little oppressive. But the plants almost immediately showed their gratitude, making parts of the landscape look like a second spring. The grass sprung from the ground and the grazing animals filled their bellies with this earthly gift.

Today, the skies were clear and the sun bathed the landscape, quickly urging yesterday’s snow to feed the plants some more.

Even the chimps seemed to be operating under the rules of spring, with Jamie insisting I go on two walks with her in a row. One where five other chimpanzees joined, and one that was just the two of us.

On this second walk, with the warm rays of the sun tempering the wind, Jamie was in no hurry. She stopped to inspect a new log placed to brace one of the structures, and then sat on an outpost of that structure, gazing over her kingdom.

As I waited for her signal to continue, I marveled at the signs of plant life emerging amid summer’s leftover debris.

Jamie had me bring one of her new favorite boots on the walk with her. Luckily, she allowed me to wear my own boots and, instead, carry her star-spangled treasure.

As we continued on our walk, I kept looking at the ground and was surprised to see a brazen dandelion in bloom, another reminder of all the plant life under the surface, at the ready for the right conditions to show itself.

When I returned to the chimp house, I looked at the raspberry bushes and noticed new growth, taking one last giant photosynthetic gulp of the season.

Going around to see the six chimpanzees who arrived just shy of five months ago, I found them too soaking in the sun in the shelter of their newly paneled greenhouse.

It’s a little funny that we refer to these areas as greenhouses, a term usually reserved for shelters that allow plants to thrive even when the outside conditions wouldn’t allow the same, and not generally used to refer to shelters for nature’s more mobile kingdom. Today, however, the term seemed more than apt.

While not photosynthesizing, the chimpanzees were certainly soaking in the sun and perhaps storing some energy for future use.

Dora
Rayne
Rayne’s feet
Gordo
Terry

You Can Never Have a Case of the Mondays with this Bunch

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Today was a somewhat busy day. While we humans were making progress cleaning enclosures in the morning, we were thwarted by two holdouts by the time the afternoon rolled around. Now I won’t mention names, but…

*ahem*

*ahem*

While it’s pretty easy to work around when certain somebodies holdout, it just adds a little more time to the day. We don’t necessarily get upset about their choice to remain in certain areas we want to clean when we want to clean them because it is just that. Their choice.

During some periodic breaks during cleaning as we tried to develop our next plan of action on the fly, I was able to get these photos.

Jamie during her mid-morning walk around Young’s Hill. Annie is on top of the Twister with Missy right below her.
Foxie and Orange Blossom during her group’s afternoon patrol around Young’s Hill.
And last, but not least, Honey B in her greenhouse after lunch was served.

Hopefully these photos will bring some joy to you on your Monday.

Side Profiles

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Throughout the day, as I was taking photos, almost every photo I took seemed like a missed opportunity. The day was the perfect day for photos with the sun not too bright and slight overcast at points. But every time I released the shutter, everybody would turn their heads. It was something I initially didn’t wanted in photos, however, after reviewing what I had taken I realized I had a plethora of side profiles.

Jody on Young’s Hill during breakfast. She is wadging the peel of her breakfast banana.
Missy (right) and Annie (left) looking out onto Young’s Hill in the morning.
Cy in his greenhouse in the afternoon. I almost got a good portrait of the big fella, up until he decided he wanted to play chase conveniently right as I took the picture.
Honey B in her greenhouse soaking up the sun. She took full advantage of what sun she could get after a few days of rain and more in the forecast this week.

Luckily enough, Honey B did allow me to take a photo of her without looking away.

Rayne was the only other person who allowed me to take a capture her beautiful face without looking away.