Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Quality Time with Mave and Dora

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One of the best parts about this job is watching the chimps spend quality time with each other. A few days ago, I was walking past Dora and Mave grooming and they barely noticed I was filming because they were so engrossed with each other. Watching interactions like this is always a reminder to slow down and savor the time we have with the ones we care about. Click here to watch Mave and Dora groom!

It’s Wednesday so obviously there are bonus photos!

Cy:

Terry:

I wanted to share some photos of Jo, because I am always thinking about her, but especially today. She is always and forever in our hearts.

 

Love a Chimp Day!

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Today is the infamous Love a Chimp Day! In addition to Tobin’s lovely sponsor-a-day for this special Love a Chimpanzee celebration, of course the founder of the day herself, Monica Best, also sponsored today. How incredible is it that Monica has been helping us all celebrate our love of chimpanzees for 16 years! She is also the donor of all of the squishmallows that were part of today’s celebration. Thank you so much to Monica for your incredible and ongoing support and generosity!!

This years menu was: pasta, virgin pina coldas, ice treats, lettuce, and young coconuts! The chimps house was noisy from all the food grunts and squeaks! Click here to watch all the fun!

Happy Love a Chimp Day!

All about interns!

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This spring we enthusiastically welcomed 6 new interns to the sanctuary as part of our relationship with the Primate Behavior program at Central Washington University. CWU students start as Level 1 interns where they work 3 hours a week in our kitchen and foyer spaces, helping us do laundry, make enrichment, prepare the chimpanzee’s meals, etc.  If they are seeking to earn a Captive Care Certificate, interns move on to do Level 2 training at the sanctuary their next quarter. As Level 2 interns, they spend 6 hours a week learning to clean enclosures alongside staff (in addition to the tasks they learned as a Level 1). There’s also a bit of down time here and there allowing for some special moments of chimp observation. Here are just a few of our interns in action this past year.

Sienna organizing:

Cy staring intensely into Quaid’s eyes:

Katie scattering a forage:

KC mopping the kitchen:

Bonus! Gordo and Negra:

 

Beautiful Morning

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As I went to let Jamie’s group outside this morning, I noticed Negra was waiting by the door in anticipation of being the first one out. I always know its going to be a good day if Negra wants to be the first chimp out onto Young’s Hill. It’s cheesy, but the song, A Beautiful Morning by The Rascals, popped into my head. It seemed pretty fitting for such a lovely morning to be watching all the chimps go out and enjoy this beautiful spring morning. On the other side of the building, Honey B and Dora were up to their normal antics of laughing, playing, and relishing in each others company! Click here for the video.

Consulting with Honey B

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I thought I would share a crazy story with you all. This is something I had not seen before, however it’s never a dull day here and something is always happening! One morning near the end of February, caregiver Sabrina calls me on the radio to come up the ladder in Greenhouse 2. I was curious why she was so insistent that she needed me to come up there with her. When I stood up there with her, she asked me if the window that is shared with Playroom 2 had looked “like that” since the last time we had worked on that side of the building, perhaps we had missed a message in the work group chat but we had not, this was new! The window was shattered from the inside, luckily not the entire window (see below and in video). The windows we have are bullet proof, they are very sturdy and secure, to quote J.B. in our group chat “It’s a mix of poly-carbonate and glass so the poly is still good and the window should be perfectly safe, but obviously we’ll replace it”. Later, we scoured the security camera footage to find out what happen. Some theories thrown out, but my favorite and by far the most logical was from caregiver Sabrina. Her theory was that Willy B did it with his mind. As you will see in the video, it happens in the middle of the night with a loud popping sound. The chimps weren’t displaying or hitting it, “everyone” was sound asleep.

However, these windows are extremely expensive. So in the meantime JB had Gary and his crew come out to replace a lower window for the broken on and swap in mesh caging for the other. The best part about having Gary and his crew come out is that Honey B got to see her old pals. Honey B enjoyed being apart of the consulting crew and I don’t think anyone would find it surprising that she might have a differing opinion or too. She is a tough boss, but one of the best in her field!

Click here for the video!

Playroom 2 window:

Lower playroom window replaced with mesh, Cy approves:

Honey B managing her crew on-site:

Bonus of Dora!

Honey B’s Tips & Tricks

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When it comes to a mess, Honey B knows a thing or two. Many of you might know that Honey B doesn’t mind a messy room and would in fact live in her own mess for a while if she had a say in it, and sometimes she does, which is why she is also an expert at cleaning a mess! Last week, one of the enrichment days was soap buckets. This is where we put in the tiniest amount of soap and make a lightly soapy bucket and put out scrub brushes for the chimps. Sometimes the chimps enjoy the enrichment and other times, the chimps wonder why we didn’t fill the buckets with a tasty juice. Honey B took the opportunity to use her soap buckets, whether it was because she just thought it was fun or because she thought we missed a few spots, we can’t know. What we do know is that Honey B was thoroughly enjoying herself, so much so, we later provided her a towel so that she could dry her front room and she was very enthusiastic to be able to continue her cleaning process. Honey B really is one cool chimp.

Click here to watch Honey B’s Tips & Tricks!