Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Today was a very low-key day at the chimp house where everyone seemed to be very much OK with doing their thing, even if it was absolutely nothing.
Missy on the top platform of the green house
Missy grooming a resting Jody
Burrito, wooden toy in hand and wearing a slinky as a sock
Cy and his version of random patty cake through the glass
Rayne with her favorite enrichment: Raisin Boards!!
Terry winding up for a display
A Willy B thread
Rayne has charmed many supporters since arriving at the sanctuary last June, including Monica Best, who is another person who is sponsoring today’s day of sanctuary in honor of Rayne’s birthday! Thank you, Monica!
There is no doubt that Rayne is someone to be admired. We knew that Rayne was a strong individual, considered the female leader of her group (with Cy being the male leader) by those who cared for her at Wildlife Waystation. When she first arrived, she was a little slow to show her silly side, but once she settled into her new home and decided she could trust us, Rayne really warmed up to all of her caregivers. She greets us with friendly breathy pants and will play great games of chase throughout the building. She likes boxes, scarves, slinkys and smoothies, all of which she is enjoying in abundance today.
Today is the first birthday Rayne is celebrating at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. We think she makes 32 look pretty great.
Just like humans, chimpanzees have a variety of decibels in which they vocalize, though when they are loud, they are LOUD.
Today’s blog is brought to you by a very tasty lunch menu: leeks and sweet potatoes.
Rayne and her leek
Cy enjoying some sweet potatoes
Lucky patiently waiting for her leek from Caregiver Sam
Negra saving the best for last: Leeks
There were a lot of familiar meetings today.
First, Honey B and Lucky had a meeting with each other. Though things started off slow when they came together, they did eventually did start playing.
As some of you know, Honey B can be dialed to 11 when she plays, Lucky is usually at a 7 on a good day.
All-in-all, their meeting was pretty positive and they seemed to enjoy each others company.
On the other side of the building, the weather finally provided us a break to be able to shovel parts of Young’s Hill. After a few hours of digging out Young’s Hill from the Snowmageddon snowfall by Sam, Anna, Diana, and J.B., Jamie and her group were finally able to go out onto Young’s Hill!
Here are some bonus photos from the day:
I didn’t have a blog post planned for today. Sometimes when I’m in this blank-slate situation, I look back on the blog at previous years of the same date to see what was happening in the hopes of inspiring an idea.
I chose January 15, 2019 to find out what was up. It was a literal walk down memory lane. Then staff caregiver/now volunteer caregiver Elizabeth gave an immersive behind-the-scenes view into what a morning was like at the sanctuary. The post featured then staff caregiver/now Chimp House Manager Anna with a supporting role from then intern/now Veterinary Assistant Sofía.
Elizabeth described the medical clinic trailer, explaining that it would soon be replaced by the stationary clinic that was a big part of the first phase of the expansion at the sanctuary.
Some things haven’t changed a bit from that post three years ago. Like then, the first thing the lead caregiver does is greet the chimps and work through a brief checklist while breakfast is being prepared. Negra can still almost always be found huddled under a pile of blankets.
Some things have changed a lot, though.
Burrito no longer displays every morning, but that’s not to say that he’s completely mellowed out. Today we witnessed a conflict where he swung and ran throughout his side of the building and chased after Foxie with an impressive amount of agility, determination, and energy (conflicts are a part of chimp life and everyone is fine).
The biggest change, of course, is the number of chimpanzees in this house.
Mave, Willy B, and Honey B arrived in August, five months after that 2019 blog post was written, and Lucky, Cy, Gordo, Rayne, Dora and Terry arrived in June 2021, almost seven months ago from today.
The building has expanded accordingly, with many more spaces for the new chimpanzees to enjoy and for the humans to clean up every day after they’ve been thoroughly enjoyed.
The new playrooms and greenhouses really are chimpanzee playgrounds, but it is quite challenging to get good photos of the chimps immersed in them.
Chimpanzees appreciate being up high, and their spaces were built with that in mind. Rayne in particular spends a lot of her time on the “leaves” of the artificial trees in the playroom.
Dora and Rayne were high up grooming on one of the leaves this afternoon. Normally, I would delete photos like the ones below, but I’m presenting them to show how difficult it is to get good photos of the chimps in these enriching spots.
Meanwhile, Honey B was inviting me to a game of chase in her greenhouse, where, despite the feet of snow outside, the grass and bamboo are still green.
I had to physically count on my fingers to verify that 2019 was just three years ago and to take a moment to appreciate all that supporters of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest have made possible. I’m in awe.
Included in this post is the featured (top) photo of Honey B that I also took today to demonstrate that the camera and the camera person is capable of taking a decent photo.
If the chimpanzees choose to be in private spots of their home that we can’t quite reach with our cameras, that’s okay with us. We can all be certain, even without frequent photographic evidence, that they value every aspect of their home that’s been carefully designed and built to chimpanzee specification.
Here’s something positive – the chimpanzees are really enjoying the snow snacks that are the result of Snowmageddon 2022!
I tried to get some good photos, but when photo opportunities presented themselves, the chimps were in motion and I only had a cell phone on me. so I only captured the cover photo of this blog post, this blurry image of Foxie who had just retrieved a mouthful of snow from her front rooms and was headed up to the loft in her playroom:
and Gordo who had brought snow from his playroom to the front rooms on that side of the building. He deposited the snow on the floor, and left a bit for Cy to enjoy (see main photo above).
I can’t say that the humans are enjoying the snow quite as much as the chimpanzees right now. Though the last few days have been an adventure, and we’ve certainly laughed a lot, it’s proving to be a logistical challenge to figure out where, exactly, to put all of this stuff. More looms above on the roof, not-so-subtly threatening to upend the progress we’ve made.
Look at the form on Kelsi. Is shoveling an Olympic event? I give her 10/10.
Young’s Hill is inaccessible for a few reasons: 1) there’s so much snow everywhere! The chimps would be chest deep in it, so they have to wait until we can get in there to create a pathway for them. 2) we haven’t yet been able to shovel a pathway for ourselves to the door that opens onto the hill, even if we could let the chimps out. 3) the snow is weighing down the electric fence wires, weakening the system.
More good news, though: we are fully prepared for winter storms. Though it will be a bit before full outdoor access is possible, all of the chimpanzees have lots of indoor space, blankets, toys, food puzzles, movies, and humans plus their partners who drive through the biggest snowstorm in decades to help the onsite staff take care of them.
In addition to all that, they have their indoor/outdoor greenhouses! I’m kicking myself for not getting photos yesterday of the chimpanzees in the new greenhouses (I did get a little video clip of Mave that I posted to our Instagram). We have a new heater that we turned on for an hour or so yesterday, and then the sun kept those tall enclosures warm for the rest of the day. I cleaned the greenhouses this morning and can attest to the fact that they were well used the day before.
All sixteen of the chimpanzees here are the product of very unfortunate circumstances. They shouldn’t be in Cle Elum, Washington. They shouldn’t have been used in medical research. They shouldn’t be in captivity at all. However, given their unfortunate histories, they are extremely fortunate chimpanzees now. And all of us are immensely fortunate to know them.
Even though I can’t shake the feeling that the snow lurking out every window and door is taunting me in some way…
I know it will not last forever. Spring will come, sure as it does every year. We have so much to look forward to as we hunker down and appreciate everything we have, including unlimited snow snacking.
