Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee rescue

Run with the Wind

by

The sun was out. The clouds were gone. But the wind was a force to be reckoned with. With weather forecasts predicting the winds to be in the range of 14 mph to 34 mph today, the wind could be heard all throughout the Chimp House.

When I gave the Group of 7 access to Young’s Hill, there were only a few takers to initially go out. Jamie and Foxie were the first to go out and conduct a patrol around their outdoor enclosure. As they came around to the last stretch of their patrol, both Jamie and Foxie were racing toward the Greenhouse.

Judging by Foxie’s sneer, she was not a fan of the wind and just wanted the patrol to be over with.

Missy initially watched as Jamie and Foxie began their patrol, but seemed to be at a crossroads on whether to join them or not.

But Missy is Missy, and without warning, shot out of the raceway onto Young’s Hill. So fast I was only able to lift the camera and get a somewhat blurry photo of her racing to catch up with Jamie and Foxie.

But the wind was too much for Annie. She stayed in the doorway between the Greenhouse and Young’s Hill and watched as Missy charged up the Hill.

Burrito took no time at all to make his decision: Stay in the Greenhouse and let the plexiglass paneling block the wind.

Negra decided to bypass all that. She remained in the Playroom, covered in blankets, basking in the rays of the sun through the window.

On the other side of the Chimp House, Willy B was eager to go into the Chute. He grabbed the best seat in the house so he could watch a train go by and the birds who are starting to return from their winter break.

Let’s hope this isn’t a false Spring so more outdoor adventures could be had.

Fall in Love with Honey B

by

A few years ago we made ‘Fall in Love with” videos for all of the chimpanzees. Like right now, these videos were part of a February fundraiser highlighting the Chimpanzee Pal program. The videos are at the bottom of each of the chimpanzees‘ webpages.

The new three needed their own videos too!

So, I present to you: Fall in Love with Honey B (see video above).

This will be first Valentine’s Day that Honey B, Willy B, and Mave will be celebrating at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. They have a few pals right now, but sure could use some more. Chimpanzee Pal (and Bovine Buddy) sponsorships help pay for the daily operation of the sanctuary and the care we provide.

Many people choose to break up their donation and give monthly, and that means we know that those funds will be reaching the sanctuary on a regular basis, helping ensure the monthly bills are paid. We have lots of plans for the future, but the day to day is just as important.

Every day of sanctuary is something new for curious Honey B, and we are so grateful to those who contribute to her care and the care of all ten of the chimpanzees and the four cattle. You make a difference!

The Month of Love

by

I spent the last few weeks fretting over our ambitious budget for 2020. It’s a dramatic increase from past years as we prepare for further expansion by adding staff and increasing all operational funds to care for more wonderful chimpanzees who will arrive this fall if the construction and the funds come together.

I will send out an e-newsletter next week to entice people to join our Chimpanzee Pal and Bovine Buddy programs, but I wanted to share the accompanying video with blog readers and social media followers first (see video above).

You all are the dedicated loyal supporters who follow along with rapt attention. Many of you are already Chimpanzee Pals, and a small handful are Bovine Buddies. Maybe you’ll consider adding another chimpanzee or bovine to sponsor?

You can also share the video and tell people why you are supporters – you’d be surprised how helpful it is to refer other people to the sanctuary!

Since you are still here, I’m guessing you want an update on the day today. I am more than happy to tell you that it was a great day.

It was cloudy and drizzling in the morning and I did not expect anyone to go outside, but Honey B, Mave, and Willy B spent time in the chute, and, in the other group, everyone but Negra took a walk around the hill despite the damp weather. They went counter-clockwise, for those keeping track.

Burrito was not very speedy, but he walked the entire perimeter. Foxie slowed down her brisk pace to stay with him, which just completely melted my heart.

When Foxie came back to the greenhouse, she took some time to release a troll doll from bondage:

Two things to note about the photos of Foxie: 1. That gray hair that J.B. mentioned yesterday! 2. The gorgeousness of Foxie brought out by the camera lens that was gifted to us off of our wish list. I love that camera lens!

While you are pondering which chimpanzee and/or bovine to sponsor, we could also really use some more Safeway gift cards from our wish list. It turns out that ten chimpanzees consume a lot more food than seven chimpanzees, and we find ourselves supplementing the weekly donated produce from Darwin’s Natural Pet Products via Charlie’s Produce quite regularly these days.

Thank you for everything you do to share your love of the sanctuary! Stay tuned for more videos and information for the month of love!

 

Might As Well Play

by

The goal of the caregivers and volunteers is to clean the chimpanzees’ enclosures quickly and thoroughly. We want to ensure they have as much space as soon as it becomes available. Though there are times the chimpanzees may try to hurry us along (Jamie usually gesturing, Negra clapping, Burrito blowing Bronx cheers, etc.), there are also times they keep themselves occupied until we are finished.

Today, as we were cleaning the Playroom, Negra was especially playful in the front rooms. First, we saw her playing with Burrito. Then we saw her playing with Foxie. These play sessions lasted as soon as we saw them. Then along came Jody and a pink blanket. This play session last for quiet awhile, until Jody pulled her new move to let Negra know she she has the upper hand is done playing.

Transformations Then and Now

by

There’s a memory I have of Foxie that comes to my mind frequently.

Foxie and her six friends arrived on June 13, 2008. Three days later, we put the finishing touches on the playroom and let the group into that large indoor space for the first time.

Here’s the memory, which I mentioned on the blog the day it occurred: Foxie spent a good 20 minutes walking all around the perimeter of the playroom, stomping. Foxie was born in a laboratory and the playroom was most likely the largest space she had ever been. She was 31 years old at the time.

Back then, I was eager, impatient even, to be able to give the chimpanzees more space and more freedom, but our budget dictated that we build the sanctuary around them as we slowly raised funds. It wasn’t until the end of August, a little more than two months after they arrived, that the seven got to go outside for the first time.

What we used to call the outdoor area we now refer to as the greenhouse, but this sunny, breezy, caged space served as their outdoors for three years, and was the only outdoor access some of them had ever experienced in their lives.

The construction of Young’s Hill, the open-top electric-fence enclosure that is now the outdoor habitat, took years of raising funds and planning followed by several months and many, many volunteer hands to construct. The chimpanzees had a front row seat to the construction.

Then, the day arrived. September 20, 2011, all seven chimpanzees poured out of the raceway and onto Young’s Hill, named after donors Karen and Don Young, for the first time.

Guess what Foxie did? She walked the entire perimeter (like she did with the playroom for the first time), then went back inside and didn’t go back out for over a week. Jamie, who was an old hand at exploring the hill by then, showed her and Jody some encouragement, which we captured with the point and shoot camera we were using at the time.

Fast forward more than eight years to today, and Foxie is often the lone chimpanzee on the hill, particularly when the habitat is covered in one of her favorite snacks – snow!

I took the opportunity to do a little shoveling today, and Foxie definitely appreciated my efforts that gave her access to unlimited snacking.

As I’m thinking back on what seemed to me at the time to be the sanctuary’s painstakingly slow transformation from “definitely far better than where they came from” to a sanctuary that is pretty darn impressive, along side Foxie’s gradual transformation from wary to intrepid explorer, I am also thinking about the new three chimpanzees who  joined the sanctuary last August.

Things haven’t gone to plan, exactly. We hoped that Jamie would be guiding Mave out onto the hill, Honey B would be running along with her mom Missy, and Willy B and Burrito would probably be palling around in the greenhouse. We saw moments of this when we were working on the integrations, but the fights that also accompanied these budding relationships and the subsequent injuries told us that we would have to go to Plan B.

Luckily, we have a Plan B! We knew we would need one because integrations are never guaranteed. So, right now Honey B, Mave, and Willy B have a space that’s definitely better than where they were before. Their first explorations outside were a little frightening, so when we open the door at the end of the chute now, they simply stare. But we’ve created a courtyard outdoor space for them and maybe, come warmer weather, they will gather up their courage to explore. It’s up to them.

Come spring, we will be building more sanctuary around them. We will be adding two more playrooms and two more greenhouses so that we can bring more chimpanzees here this fall and so the three can have much more space than what they have now in what we refer to as Phase 1.

We also have plans to expand and divide Young’s Hill so two groups can have separate electric-fenced enclosures. We have received a donation towards this specific work from Jennifer Douglas, and the new section of the hill will be named in memory of James Douglas, who was a long-standing board member and whom we miss very much.

Once we have the (considerable) funds, we will also build a large enclosed outdoor area (think the greenhouse without the panels, but much bigger) for variety and in case there are chimpanzees who come to CSNW who cannot or will not go into the electric fence enclosure.

A few years from now, I wonder what I’ll be reflecting back on in amazement.

I am looking forward to seeing big transformations again, but I am also glad I get to see the beginnings. And I’m glad I am able to witness the little things that happen each day that we are able to share with all of you.

enrichment for busy chimpanzees

by

J.B. and I were the first humans in the chimp house this morning. Before greeting the chimpanzees, I was washing my hands at the kitchen sink and looking out the window that connects to the chimp area when I spotted a stuffed animal being tossed up into the air playfully by a chimpanzee lying on the catwalk.

J.B. walked in the kitchen and I pointed out the quiet play that was going on. We both stood there watching with smiles on our faces and almost simultaneously said, “wait, is that Jamie?!”

You might know that Jamie is a pretty serious boss lady, rarely letting her hair down, so to speak. But there she was, using her feet and hands to bounce and toss around a stuffed animal.

Soon enough, she looked toward the window, noticed us noticing her, and immediately stopped her private game.

Later, when I was cleaning the playroom, I found the stuffed animal that she had been playing with so secretively. See the photo below of the donated stuffed lion. I can see how this piece of enrichment brought out the kid in stoic Jamie.

Enrichment comes in many forms, and it takes a lot to keep busy minds like Jamie’s amused. Enrichment is the antidote to boredom.

That’s why we have a whole database dedicated to sharing and gathering enrichment ideas. We’re always looking for new ways to help chimpanzees at CSNW keep busy and entertained, and we want to help other chimpanzees in captivity living in other facilities by sharing tried and true enrichment.

This time of year, we have a lot of enrichment that is centered around snow. It amazes me how much the chimpanzees love snow! It doesn’t have to be fancy or sweetened, though sometimes we do add treats or flavoring of various kinds. We really don’t have to add anything, though, because they never tire of just plain, pure snow.

After the playroom was cleaned, volunteers Robin and Kiana braved life and limb to harvest some icicles that had formed on the eaves of the chimp house and they created this masterpiece, which everyone enjoyed thoroughly:

Jamie collecting an icicle as Missy waits her turn

Anything novel can be enriching, even if entertaining the chimpanzees was not the original intention. Taking a break from the snow and icicles, Jamie found a new way to amuse herself.

The official name for the Foot Box / Troll Cubby might still be in development. Jamie decided it was the perfect place to store her wooden saw after attempting to saw open the box.

 

Moving over to the other part of the building, we have another busy mind in need of activity and amusement: Honey B

When we began designing the expansion to the chimp building, we decided to include bars in the mezzanine area, similar to what is in the greenhouse, instead of having a solid, flat ceiling. It was a bit of a challenge to figure out how to do this within an indoor space with the need for insulation and lights above. This challenge was laid all on J.B. to work out with builders.

When Honey B, Willy B, and Mave first moved here, they didn’t use the overhead bars and I felt a bit dejected, partly because I had been such a huge advocate for this design, even though I wasn’t the one who had to engineer it. After all of the hard work that J.B. put into figuring out how to make it work and the considerable extra expense that went into including this feature, the chimpanzees just mostly remained on the floor.

I should have known it would just take some time.

Honey B hanging out

It’s possible that the primate who appreciates the overhead bars even more than Honey B is caregiver Anthony. Here’s something to know about Anthony – he loves hanging fire hose for chimpanzees. And for good reason! Fire hose makes a space more interesting and dynamic, allowing the chimpanzees to move from one area to another (watch this old video or this one), or rest in between.

Speaking of resting, the chimpanzees even incorporate enrichment into their slumbering. Blankets at the sanctuary are a big deal.

Each chimpanzee has a unique style of nesting. Honey B, for example, starts with a base of blankets laid around her. Once settled, she often pulls one blanket over her legs up to her midsection, like a sleeping bag or a burrito. We’re just waiting for her to do that with one of the round tortilla blankets that a donor recently sent. Tonight, however, she used the tortilla blanket under her head.

Tomorrow will be another day full of enrichment. Sweet dreams!

Snippets of the day

by

I was trying to figure out some sort of brilliant narrative that weaves together the photos I took today, but my brilliance level seems to be pretty low right now. So, I’ll just share the photos as little glimpses of the day, which is how I experienced them too.

First, that photo above and the even more precious one below is Jamie and Burrito grooming through the mesh while Burrito is recovering from his latest surgery. They really do seem to like each other sometimes. Jamie may have also been wanting to groom those pieces of distraction tape off of Burrito, but they were all on the other side of his body.

Burrito is doing fantastic, by the way! He’s is hungry and energetic and left his bandage alone again today. We had more snow overnight, so he had an unlimited supply again today.

Next up, we have a photo I took of a nest in the mezzanine of Phase 1. I would put my money on it being a Honey B creation. I just love chimpanzee nests. That pink car was a Christmas gift from a very cool organization called Trees for Tigers that specifically provides enrichment for animals in sanctuaries. I haven’t yet seen anyone get into the car, but Honey B definitely likes to move it around from place to place.

Later, I managed to get the below photo of Willy B before he approached the phone/camera.

And just now, I snapped this photo of Negra grabbing some snow to take up to her night nest:

I write this now listening to the sound of Honey B work on shake bottle enrichment on one side of the building and Jody ripping blankets as she customizes her nest in the loft of the playroom on the other side of the building.

As someone commented to me yesterday, you just never know what a day at the sanctuary will be like because each day with ten chimpanzees who are full of personality is unique.