Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee retirement

A whirlwind of years

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Today is about time flying by and some of the great random moments in the lives of the chimpanzees over the last ten years.

I’ve started and stopped this blog so many times today that I lost count.

 

There were toys to clean:

 

Laundry to do:

 

Amazing interns to train:

 

Paper braids for evening enrichment to be made (most of which were made by the aforementioned amazing interns):

 

 

And of course walks to take. Jamie was in the running mood today, so this quick snapshot was the only halfway decent photo I was able to get on one of our day walks:

 

Plus a whole host of other daily activities.

 

And then more walks after dinner! (well after I thought I would have this blog posted).

Courtesy of the unseasonably mild weather and the lengthening days, Jamie did three more walks after her evening meal, with Missy joining her for two of them.

 

This year’s HOOT! gala on May 19th will celebrate ten years of the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees living the sanctuary life. TEN YEARS!

We are in the process of a website redesign right now. I’m really excited about a whole new look that highlights the great photos of the chimpanzees and hopefully makes it easy for people to be drawn in and fall in love with them. Here’s a sneak peek:

When the designers were starting to move the data over from the existing site into the new design, they ran into a snag because of the amount of content that we had in the blog. Ten years worth of photos, videos, and stories, it seems, takes up quite a bit of space.

I love that we have this diary of the chimpanzees’ days and the moments that were funny, poignant, and sometimes even mundane.

I remember being a kid and thinking that a week, or even a day (an hour?), was an excruciatingly long time to wait for something. I remember adults saying, “don’t complain – when you get older, time will fly by.”

Never were truer words uttered.

Lately, I feel like I’m in a movie montage – days pass by in seconds, and years are contained in just a minute’s worth of highlights. But then there’s this blog with all of these posts that mark real moments in time over the last several years. Moments that the chimpanzees were living to the fullest. Days that were spent with companionship, favorite foods, boots, trolls, blankets. Years that marked new additions to their home. Almost a decade of exploration into this new life they were given.

 

Here’s a look back on the last ten years of blog posts for January 20th (or thereabouts – we didn’t always post to the blog every single day – can you imagine!)

 

January 21, 2008:

not-so-shy Foxie

 

January 19, 2009:

Trolls: Not just for Foxie!

 

January 19, 2010:

Annie Upside Down

 

 

January 20, 2011:

Greenhouse play

 

January 21, 2012:

the snow days continue

 

January 20, 2013:

Floppy ears

 

January 20, 2014:

There’s something about Burrito

 

January 21, 2015:

Always a reason to play

 

January 20, 2016:

20 snapshots of the day

 

January 20, 2017:

Tool Use

 

And that bring us to today. Happy January 20th to everyone. Thank you for following along!

 

Happy Birthday Burrito from Kimberly Fleming!

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Burrito’s friend Kimberly sponsored today in his honor! It’s pretty difficult to believe that goofy, playful,  rambunctious Burrito is 35 today. He’s come a long way since he and the six female chimpanzees arrived at the sanctuary in 2008. He had a lot to overcome – you can read about his history on this page.

We are catering the day to him today and will post later about how we celebrated Burrito’s birthday in the way we think he would appreciate the most.

Thank you for sponsoring the day for the one and only lovable Burrito Chimpanzee, Kimberly.

 

State of the Sanctuary

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The current state of the sanctuary, in this moment, is a 100% chance of snow with Jamie spending the day with her books. She’s still thoroughly enamored with the Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary book and is also enjoying her new boot and shoe books.

I just snapped this photo of Jamie’s nest in the playroom:

Jamie's nest

 

She left her cozy nest long enough to throw me one of her new boots so that I could put it on and play a game of indoor chase for a few minutes.

 

For a bigger picture view of the State of the Sanctuary and the super exciting plans for the future, watch this video!

And then make a year-end gift to help us reach the goal of $20,000 raised in the next four days before the clock strikes midnight and the calendar turns to 2018.

 

Building Trust

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Out of all the humans who work and volunteer at the sanctuary, only a handful have any sort of physical contact with the chimpanzees. Those who do must go through months of safety training first. Chimpanzees are incredibly strong and unpredictable, so we take these safety rules very seriously. Even the chimps’ wonderful local vet, Dr. Erin Zamzow, never touches the chimps unless they are sedated for a medical procedure. (Did I mention that we take our safety rules seriously?)

Dr. Erin has been assisting the sanctuary for years, and has been an integral part of several procedures, but still the chimps primarily know her as the doctor who comes around when something scary happens. So in an effort to demystify her a little, she’s been spending more time at the sanctuary – we want her to be a familiar, non-threatening presence in the chimps’ lives. She is currently going through caregiver training; when she’s done, she’ll be able to serve meals to the chimps, play chase and tug of war, groom, and give back rubs. She’ll be a trusted friend.

Guy Time

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Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest tends to be female-heavy (as do most animal care professions). Of the seven chimpanzees who live here, only one is male. Of our six-person staff, only one is male. Out of our 36 current chimp house volunteers, seven are male. Out of the 10 volunteers who are trained to play and interact with the chimpanzees, two are male.

Burrito is a friendly and inclusive guy, and when it comes to human play partners, he does not discriminate. That said, he does seem to feel a little outnumbered from time to time. It’s a special treat when one of his guy friends is up for some man time.

The Guardian

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Jody has become more and more invested in her chimpanzee family over the years. When the chimps first arrived at the sanctuary nine years ago, Jody kept to herself much of the time. I’m sure she appreciated living with other chimps, but she didn’t seem to feel the need to socialize with them much.

Over the last several years, though, Jody has stepped up as the mom of the group. When we open the door to Young’s Hill (the chimps’ two-acre outdoor habitat) each morning, Jody is the first out the door. She sits just at the end of the raceway and spends a moment visually scanning the hill, presumably checking for any dangers that might have appeared overnight. If one of the other chimps gets a little too adventurous out there, Jody is the first to show her concern by rushing up to them, hair standing on end, and monitoring their activity or trying to usher them back to the safety of the building.

Jody loves to forage for wild plants on Young’s Hill. She will gather as much as she can in her mouth and arms, and then hobble back down the hill toward the greenhouse, where she lies down to munch on her bounty and keep an eye on the hill in case she’s needed out there.