chimpanzee retirement

It’s Love a Chimpanzee Day 2023

April 23, 2023 by Diana

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!!

Burrito loves Duran Duran — Monica is a fan of Duran Duran and we took this photo of Burrito during the 2011 Love a Chimpanzee Day!

A Whirlwind of a Day

November 29, 2022 by Chad de Bree

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!

Lucky Us

October 15, 2022 by Diana

There are chimpanzees in captivity who are front-and-center as soon as you meet them and every day thereafter. Burrito and Jamie, for example.

Then there are chimpanzees who allow others in their group to take the human-liaison role and more often hang out in the background.

Sometimes, this is because they just aren’t that interested in the humans (think Missy). More power to those confident types who just don’t need us bipedal apes (unless there are tomatoes to gather from the garden, of course).

Sometimes, chimpanzees are just shy or apprehensive. I can relate! It might take them more time to warm up to caregivers (think Gordo).

Sometimes, there are chimpanzees who choose certain humans they connect with, while they are pretty ambivalent about other people in their orbit (the best example of this with the chimpanzees I’ve known over the years was Washoe – she had her favorite people, and was SO EXCITED to see them. Everyone else was simply there to wait on her, and the rare occasions when she decided to pay attention to you, if you were not on her favorite list, were thrilling. And she knew this.)

Personally, I’m just not sure about Lucky and where she fits on this spectrum I just made up. She does greet her caregivers with enthusiasm, and seems to be more enthusiastic with certain humans (Jenna may be her human BFF right now). She’s not front and center like others in her group. She is often at a bit of a distance, observing.

The other day, I felt very privileged to sit down with Lucky for a somewhat extended period of time while she was in the Oakwood Greenhouse.

She quietly sat, wanting to groom my hand, and looked into my eyes. Towards the end of our interaction, she started to look around, like she was searching for something but not finding it.

After a few seconds, she reached over to the bamboo plant next to her and pulled off a leaf. Then, she handed it to me through the caging.

I don’t know what she was thinking when she did this, but it seemed to be a gesture of friendship, and it made my day.

Bonus photos of one of the more gregarious chimpanzees in Lucky’s group. The ever-present Terry:

Be Like Burrito

October 8, 2022 by Diana

Ya’ll, let me tell you that taking care of chimpanzees in captivity is a job full of stress and worry. But Burrito here, even when you know he can be the instigator of drama, shows us why we do what we do. Enjoy the video and take Burrito’s outlook on life to heart.

Did you miss me?

October 6, 2022 by Sofia Castro-Loza

Last September 14th, Willy B sustained an injury to his face that required medical intervention. During all this time he has been in isolation to allow the site to heal properly but also to prevent over grooming on behalf of his friends. Due to the fact that this group is still considered to be newly integrated, putting him back with the group required planning. We had to make sure he would be accepted in the group after spending time away from them. A week and half or so our reintroduction efforts commenced. We started by arranging one on one play dates with Willy B in his isolation rooms, the front rooms. He had play dates with multiple individuals, and even if they were very eager to groom his face wound, Willy B was very good about setting boundaries to protect it. We were ready to move to the next stage.

With help from Jen Feuerstein, staff decided that the course of action was going to be reuniting Cy, Mave, Honey B, Rayne, and Terry with Willy B and see how that went. We did that yesterday and everyone was very happy to be back together. With no negative moments, we decided to move forward with having all nine individuals together today. That meant adding Gordo, Dora, and Lucky to the mix. The nine are back together and to our delight, it has been an overall mellow day and they have spent most of the day grooming in the sun filled green houses. We really love days like today.

Willy B

Gordo

Honey B – She could not be happier to have the front rooms again!

Lucky

Mave

Did you know that Giving Day for Apes is only a few days away? Early giving is open now, but on Tuesday, October 11th we will be competing with other accredited sanctuaries in North America for a variety of prizes. So much has happened at the sanctuary over the last few years and it’s all due to our generous supporters- keep helping us make our residents dreams come true by donating to CSNW! All donations will go directly to the care of our residents.

Donate to CSNW for Giving Day for Apes here: https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Chimpsnw

Learn more about Giving Day for Apes here:

https://www.givingdayforapes.org/giving-events/ga22/home

Follow Burrito to find out what’s happening today

September 24, 2022 by Diana

It was simply a gorgeous early autumn day today. A perfect day for J.B. to lead a big crew of volunteers. It’s so exciting to see the new outdoor habitats coming together, including trees that were recently planted and transplanted bamboo on both sides!

I was sitting with Gordo yesterday while he was gazing at his side of the hill, The Bray. I think he knows it’s for him and his friends.

Jamie and crew definitely know they will be getting a new space, and they have been watching with great interest.

Well, at least some of them have. Jody had other priorities when I was filming today.

“Chimps Are Off The Hill”

September 6, 2022 by Chad de Bree

A couple of years ago, Caregiver Anthony wrote a blog about some of the lingo we use around the sanctuary. As staff prepare for the day to end, one of the things we do is a head count of each chimpanzee to ensure they are off of Young’s Hill and aren’t out in the cold at night. When we are able to close off Young’s Hill (at Jamie’s discretion that is), we announce over the radio “the chimps are off the hill.” It is one of the more common announcements made over the radio that can be heard around the sanctuary.

As J.B. mentioned a couple of months ago, the construction around the Young’s Hill expansion and The Bray is picking up. Well, we have reached the point of that blog where Jamie’s group will not have access to Young’s Hill for a little bit. As caregivers, we are obviously conflicted by this. On one hand, they will not have access to Young’s Hill. On the other hand, their outside habitat is expanding and Cy’s group will get the opportunity to venture into The Bray. Plus there’s the addition of new climbing structures and flora for them to interact with. There are cost and benefits to everything, and I personally think the benefits are astronomical in comparison to the cost of some time off Young’s Hill.

So please excuse the hiatus of seeing photos of the chimpanzees on Young’s Hill. They will still have access to their greenhouse, which still provides them with fresh air and sunshine during this time.

And enjoy these recent photos!

Missy and Annie on their morning patrol before coming in to make way for construction.