Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Sweet Moments

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The other day I was able to capture such a tender moment between Jamie and Burrito. To witness these moments is a true honor. As we have shared in blogs before, recently Jamie and Burrito will share a barrel seat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. On this day Jamie and Burrito shared a barrel while they groomed each other. They were perfectly situated by the playroom window so that they could have a view of the neighbors, you know, in case things went awry, but could also be relaxed enough for a grooming session. This newly blossomed friendship is so fun to watch. We all know Jamie as a serious and tough individual, but it’s nice to see her patient side, especially with a friend like Burrito.

This to me is such a power pose from Jamie. Can you feel that energy?!

This photo has a glare from the window, but I thought I would still share. Both Jamie and Burrito have their feet up, sitting on the barrel, watching the neighbors in the chute!

Odds & Ends

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Every so often, I get that dreadful warning that my phone’s memory is almost at capacity. I have a certain degree of confidence I am not the only one here who constantly takes pictures with their phone, thinks “This would be great for the blog,” then forgets about them when our day to write a blog comes around. There is just so much that happens that it’s hard to share every single photo we take, especially those taken on our phones of these by chance instances.

So without further ado, here are some of the photos that have been sitting in my phone’s memory bank:

Mave relaxing. I had at one point thought to write a blog about primate feet, specifically the differences between ape feet. The furthest I got was getting this photo of Mave’s foot to show just how similar and different they are compared to ours.
Foxie food peering at Negra, hoping she was in the mood to share her breakfast even though she had already eaten her own. Spoiler: Negra was not in the mood to share hers.
Speaking of food peering, Willy B peering at Honey B wondering why she was so excited. On this day a couple of weeks ago, we served a very ripe jackfruit. Willy B had zero interest in it at first and threw his to the ground in protest. Honey B on the other hand, knew exactly what it was and ate hers in a haste and collected as many of the ones Willy B discarded as she could. There may have been some buyers remorse on Willy B’s end, though he ended up taking some of the corn Honey B discarded. Seemed like a fair trade.
When cleaning the playroom, if I am near a certain window scrubbing, I usually get a little surprise from Burrito, who seemingly appears out of no where. One day, I figured out just where he pops up from.
Mave. Just Mave. Does this photo really need any further explanation?
Burrito enjoying his breakfast oranges sitting in a cube chair.
Foxie hanging upside down, laughing in one of the Front Rooms. Play is usually her tactic for me when she doesn’t want me to close any of the doors. In this case, she didn’t want me to close the Front Rooms to allow us to clean.

Honey B decided her red skateboard needed some adjustments to it.
Barn Kitty waiting for a staff member to arrive at the sanctuary in the morning to feed him.
In case you didn’t know, Barn Kitty is a semi-feral cat who has called our barn home from time-to-time. So we have a little area in the barn for him to use or not use. It’s his choice.

There is one photo from today. Spring is officially here! And to celebrate this wonderful season, Jamie has decided there needs to be a couple more patrols around the Young’s Hill before she will allow the staff to close it up for the night.

And if you haven’t heard, we will be participating in the Global Primatology Virtual Conference hosted by Central Washington University and the Primate Awareness Network. We are scheduled to present March 25th (this Thursday) at 4:00PM PST. Be sure to also check out some of the other amazing speakers!

Meredith

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Those of you who follow CSNW on Instagram may have noticed that we regularly feature images of the four rescued Jersey cattle who graze the pastures around the sanctuary. Since these herbivorous creatures are so different from their chimpanzee neighbors, focusing on the cattle can be a welcome change of pace for the sanctuary staff and social media followers alike.

In the recent “Bovine Break” post from a couple days ago, we shared a photograph of the four Jersey cattle resting together in their winter paddock. They have formed a tightly-knit herd and are rarely seen apart, which is justified given their history and family bonds. Still, they each have their own colorful personality and quirky tendencies, and the image highlighted one of these characteristic traits.

While Betsy, Honey and Nutmeg were all aligned so they could view the hills and forests to the north of the sanctuary, Meredith was turned completely around and facing the other direction, chewing her cud without any indication that she wanted to conform with the others. We always joke that she has idiosyncratic tendencies, but it was nice to capture it visually for all to see. Standing while the others lay down, laying down while the others stand, facing the opposite direction, lagging behind the group… such is Meredith’s nature.

I used her peculiarity to my advantage when I went out to photograph the cattle this afternoon. The other three acted inconvenienced and trotted away, but Merry quietly waddled alongside me at her own pace. She’s not always in an affectionate mood, but she occasionally paused to suspiciously sniff my muck boots and gently lick my hands. We stopped at the paddock gate where she stood and watched the others (who had nonchalantly strolled through together). Eventually, I left them to their own endeavors. Apart from the satisfaction of capturing some nice portraits, I was also content to share a peaceful moment with this odd individual.

Volunteers Behind the Scenes

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Last week I wanted to focus on Spring Negra, which meant there were some photos that didn’t make the cut for the blog. Luckily, I just remembered them! Look no further than the end of this post for the non-Negra photos from last week’s lunch forage.

But first, a word about volunteers.

Probably everyone reading this knows that the pandemic has drastically reduced the number of volunteers that are onsite helping with the daily operations of the sanctuary. There are currently just two volunteers who have basically been additional part-time staff members, cleaning alongside us and trying to keep up with Burrito. We owe them a huge amount of gratitude for all of the hours they’ve worked.

In addition to halting our regular volunteer program, we also put the Central Washington University daily intern shifts on hold until we feel that we can safely loosen restrictions without putting the chimpanzees at risk.

Volunteers and interns have been helping in other important ways, however.

They have been making paper braids in the shed near the chimp house, proof-reading marketing material, delivering totes brimming with lovingly-rolled chow bags, organizing community outreach events like the art contest and upcoming showing at Gallery One in Ellensburg, helping write grant proposals, entering historical medical data into new software, painting mountain murals in the new playrooms (we’ll share photos soon!), helping plan virtual fundraisers (The Queen’s Brunch coming to a computer near you on June 13th), and much more.

While volunteers continue to contribute to the smooth operation and outreach efforts of the sanctuary, our all-volunteer board of directors focuses on the really high-level behind-the-scenes work that you may never even hear about, like creating policies that ensure the sanctuary as an organization can carry on the vision of helping primates for a long time to come.

This strange past year has provided a lot of lessons and new perspectives, but, no matter what, we will remain grateful to those who choose to give their time to help the chimpanzees and bovines too. The sanctuary wouldn’t be what it is today without the unpaid yet hard and important work of so many people.

Thank you all!

Here are those promised photos. This first series is, “Foxie and the Carrot”:

 

This is simply: “Missy in Profile”

And this I was going to call “Burrito with Tomatoes” but I realize that might be confusing… so perhaps, “Burrito Enjoys a Forage Break” is better:

Gearing up!

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If you just so happen to be looking for an additional way to support the sanctuary, we recently updated our Amazon Wish List with more gear that we will need to help care for our incoming new residents. There are even a few items on there that will help outfit new staff members (more details on their identities another day -sorry for the tease).  Scrubs, non-slip water proof boots, nitrile gloves and a well-fitting mask (many of us use ones that require additional filters) are all part of our pandemic “uniform.”

Today I convinced a few (slightly reluctant) caregivers to model their uniforms in action:

Lisa and Anthony prepping produce in the kitchen
Kelsi scrubbing the front rooms
Lisa and Chad cleaning the greenhouse
Bonus chimp photo of the day: Jody and her grapefruit!

Thank you so much to everyone who continues to support the sanctuary in whatever way they are able to!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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My goodness today was a busy day! We had two great parties for the chimps and a staff meeting too! The seven celebrate with a Hill forage and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. On the other side Honey B, Willy B, and Mave celebrated with some pots of gold in the chute as well as a St. Patrick themed meal. What was on the menu you might be asking? Of course, there was lots of cabbage, beets, potatoes, and corn! Since today was so busy I thought maybe I would let the photos speak for themselves.

Here is a photo of the three’s pots of gold(en potatoes). It was a great day to eat in the chute and sit in the warm sunshine.

And another photo of what was for lunch!

Negra was the first one out for the party!

Jody got a few good hauls of cabbage.

Burrito didn’t do too bad either.

Missy zipped around everyone snatching up cabbage and potatoes left and right!

Annie took a more low key approach than Missy.

Foxie took a birds eye view approach.

And Jamie, well Jamie did every well for herself :).

I love this photo of her.

The three didn’t really want their photos taken today, but I managed to get a few.

When Mave saw lunch she got very excited! You can see she is pilo in this photo. Mave was hooting and asking for reassurance.

Willy B enjoying some corn!

And Honey B enjoying her pot of gold(en potatoes).

Rejoice

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Spring is still in its infancy in Cle Elum. The nights are cold, and we will likely see more snow, but it will be the kind of snow that is there one minute and gone the next. There’s no holding back the change in the seasons now.

This change from winter to spring is often the most dramatic. It surprises me every year. I don’t forget that the days gradually stretch in synchrony with the plants reaching for the sun, but I do forget what it really feels like. I can’t seem to conjure up the experience unless it’s authentically occurring.

I remember that the group of seven chimpanzees spend more time outside, and that we often scatter their meals out across Young’s Hill, the two acre habitat. We have thousands of photos of this. But still, watching and feeling the first forages of the season is familiar, but also new all over again.

This winter was, overall, remarkably mild. You may recall that we had a very notable Christmas celebration forage on the hill on December 19th. It was notable because Negra climbed up to the lookout for the first time in pursuit of a pineapple top. Go ahead, go re-live that glorious day.

Today we set out a lunch forage for the group of seven. Negra was the first one out of the raceway and onto the hill. She didn’t go even halfway up the hill, but she did seem to be remembering, like me, what spring feels like.

I couldn’t help but take a ridiculous number of photos of her as she sat, as she stretched to reach pieces of food, and as she walked, in all her glory, back inside. I encourage you to pause on each of the photos and remember. Remember that feeling of warmth and life and hope.

Maybe there are more pineapple climbing adventures in Negra’s future. But, even if there are not, today’s emergence was fulfilling.

 

On the other side of the building, Willy B spent some time sitting on the boardwalk.

We did a forage of a different sort by placing lettuce on top of the chute. I didn’t get any great photos of this forage, but Honey B, Willy B, and Mave all partook of the bounty, with Mave in particular getting into the foraging spirit.

In just a few months, the three will have new spaces to explore while we will work on creating their version of Young’s Hill that will be called The Bray. And six more chimpanzees will join that side of the building.

There’s a lot of hope in the air.