Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

If Looks Could Kale

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Jody has a healthy appreciation for fresh, hand-picked greens.

Recently, local volunteer Krissy has been delivering bags of primate chow to the sanctuary’s front gate. More often than not, she also leaves behind a large bin of produce from her home garden. This weekend, we added the generous assortment of leafy greens to the chimps’ lunches, which we then dispersed in Young’s Hill so that they could spend the afternoon foraging.

Most greens are cultivars of one species: cabbage. In its wild form, cabbage (Brassica oleracea) grows on the seaside cliffs of Europe. Over millennia, the domesticated variants have become a common food crop for humans around the globe. Despite their distinct grocery names, kale, collared greens, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, and Brussels sprouts are all just types of cabbage that have been shaped by artificial selection. Of course, “Farmer Jo” loves them all equally.

Today, Jo did her usual thing (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) and gathered up an impressive bundle of greens. Although it was an unusually quiet day at the sanctuary, even around the chimps, the loud crunch of woody stems filled the Greenhouse for a short while. Negra spent the early minutes of the forage collecting the grapes and chow biscuits nearest to the Greenhouse, but missed out on the kale. Upon returning, she sat behind Jody and begged for a piece. Jo ignored her, but eventually discarded enough leafless stalks to satisfy Neggie, who promptly scooped them up and waddled inside.

Compared to the usual dynamics, today’s drama was relatively tame.

The Bounties of Sanctuary

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First, the news you’ve been waiting for: Burrito is back with his group! It’s been two weeks to the day since his encounter with the rattlesnake.

I’m going to be completely honest here. I thought we were going to lose him the day that he was bitten. I also thought we were going to lose him those many months ago when the big conflict that ended our attempts at integrating the groups occurred.

I’m not the most optimistic of people, so take that into consideration (I can picture J.B. giving me a look that says, “you don’t say?!”).

Burrito, however, seems to be an optimist with an incredible will to live. That, combined with an amazing staff and quick-acting veterinarian in Dr. Erin, who has a whole network of medical professionals on speed dial (a particularly grateful shout-out to anesthetist Dalila Fairchild), gave me hope.

What was truly heartwarming, however, was the immediate outpouring of support you all showed, which carried over into last week’s HOOT! virtual event. I really just can’t get over it. THANK YOU!!! You all remind me that there are good, no, not just good, but great people in this world who truly care and take action when needed. It was the bounty of love, even more than the financial contributions, that was so moving.

Anyway, enough of my yammering, here are some awesome photos of the day, most of them taken by Anna and J.B

First order of business for Burrito on the hill: approach Jody for some reassurance:

which she deftly provided, even while managing a bounty of cabbage leaves (thanks, Krissy!)

Burrito decided to stick close to Jody for a bit:

Then he ventured towards Negra, who gave him a reassuring extended arm gesture:

Negra’s bounty was kale:

Appropriately reassured, Burrito settled into foraging on his own:

 

 

Later in the day, it was time for the other group to have access to the Courtyard. To carry the theme of this blog post, I noticed that there was a bounty of grapes hidden under the grape vines on that side of the building.

Here’s a photo of the vines with Honey B at the top of the chute in the background:

Here’s what I picked in just 20 minutes:

Willy B was watching my activity from the Courtyard, so of course grapes were on the menu as part of dinner:

I hope you experienced a bounty of something good this past week too.

Nurse Jody

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We sometimes refer to Missy as “Dr Missy” because she is the go to groomer for keeping any wounds open and draining. She is quick to investigate any scab or stitch her friends might have and remove them (stat!).  While having a doctor on hand is a valuable asset, we also need a nurse to perform the daily care and keep our patients’ spirits up. Jody would definitely more than qualify for this position. She has been spending her afternoons with Burrito grooming and playing with him as he finishes his recovery from his rattlesnake bite. As you might be able to tell from the video, Burrito is back to his usual silly self and will hopefully be getting a clean bill of health this weekend.

A Tale of Annie and the Twister

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There once was a chimpanzee named Annie who lived on a beautiful hillside with nine of her chimpanzee friends. One day Annie and her friends were all out on the Hill. Everyone went inside to their cozy warm Green House. Annie decided to stay out and go on her own adventure, this time without her very best friend Missy. As Annie walked around she came across a very tall tower, known as the Twister. Annie climbed and climbed until she reached the tippy top. After a moment of taking in the smoky view and feeling quite proud of her accomplishment. Annie quickly realized she would have to climb down this very tall twister. Feeling alone without her dearest friend Missy, she began to worried and let out a few big screams. She screamed out to her friends in hopes that they would hear her. Annie being the brave chimp she is, mustered up the courage to climb down. Meanwhile, Missy zipped up the Hill as fast as she possibly could to find her dear friend Annie. After Missy found Annie and gave her reassurance they went back inside to unwind after Annie’s solo adventure.

This is my personal interpretation of this story. Only Annie really knows why she got scared at the top of the Twister. For JB and Diana who could only hear the screaming, thought snake, and came to make sure this was not true! While JB and Diana came sprinting up Chad and I observed the events unfolding while eating our after cleaning/we served lunch Popsicle.

Here is what we know:

1. Annie climbed to the top.
2. She seemed at peace for a moment
3. Annie began to exhibit nervous behavior
4. Annie started screaming
5. Missy sprinted to Annie and all was fine.

Here are some scenario that could be why Annie reacted the way she did:

1. Maybe she saw a snake from that bird’s eye view (Annie hates snakes)!
2. Maybe the cattle startled her.
3. Annie could have been nervous to climb down.
4. She could see any animal or heard any sound from up there!
5. Maybe she just felt like it.

We will never actually know. But I guess what we do know is that us caregivers are still a little on edge, insert emoji smiling and sweat drip on face.

Annie on top of the Twister.

Annie becomes pilo.

She starts hooting.

And begins screaming.

On a side note, Burrito is also doing very well and is enjoying his Jody hangout sessions very much. Have a great night everyone!

An Apple A Day Keeps The Smoke Away

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As you may know, the entire West Coast of the United States is covered in smoke. But today, there was some reprieve. If I were a person who believed adages, I think it would be the one with apples. As the saying goes,” An apple a day keeps the smoke away,” or something to the like.

Regardless, the sky was clearer today than it has been the past few. So much so, the chimpanzees were able to enjoy a considerable amount of time outside.

Foxie took her morning serving of apples to go and enjoy the outdoors.

Missy also took her breakfast to go. But before she made her rounds around Young’s Hill, she had to try to take a peek at her neighbors.

Later on during the day, Foxie took Strawberry Shortcake and Orange Blossom for a walk around the Hill.

I couldn’t decide which photo to include, so I’m just going to include both.

Afterward, she decided it was a good time for a nap.

Burrito also had his apples for the day. For lunch, he was given an apple, which he became really excited about.

Burrito still continues to recover from his incident. His enthusiasm and energy could deceive anybody that anything had ever happened to him. We are hoping the day comes soon when he will be reunited with his family.

This next photo I just wanted to share for the sake of sharing it. I took it on Sunday. Willy B and Mave were over the smoke and construction. So we decided to give them one of their favorite enrichment items.

Firehose Cubes!

I probably have blabbered on long enough. As I was closing up the different areas of the Chimp House, I found Mave like this two minutes ago.

She’s more than likely waiting for me to turn off the lights and lock the doors so she can get some sleep. So I will oblige and let her and everyone else get some sleep.

Good night, everybody!

Smoky day games

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Much like the entire west coast, the air at the sanctuary has continued to range between very unhealthy to hazardous the last few days.

So we did our best to find some extra enrichment activities to keep everyone busy with their extra indoor time. For Mave, Honey B, and Willy B, this turned out to be peanut butter filled hanging frisbee puzzles. These are still relatively new to the three and they love them!

Mave:

Willy B:

Honey B (apologies for these pixelated photos, but she’s cute!):

Like everything Honey B does, she does it with passion. Her face and cheeks are covered in peanut butter. 🙂

In between hanging frisbees, the three made their own enrichment by supervising the construction workers, as demonstrated by Willy B:

The construction crew continues to amaze us with their hard work and progress. They’re incredible – pandemic, brutal heatwaves, wildfire smoke, it doesn’t matter, they are out there! And it looks entirely different every day. Things are moving right along:

Over on the other side, Burrito (left) enjoyed a lunch date with sweet Jody (right), who ended up spending the entire afternoon with him. Granted, she was also enjoying her “alone time” by building a huge nest and resting peacefully while Burrito played with his human caregivers. But believe me, no one provides better care to a chimpanzee, than another chimpanzee. And caregiver Jody is about the best you could hope for:

As the day ended we caught a few brief glimpses of blue sky with birds circling high again. It felt like a deep breath, mentally and emotionally at least. We can see the neighbors’ homes on the hills above us again. We are hoping these are signs that the smoke is beginning to break up and lessen a bit. That said, we are currently some of the fortunate few who aren’t currently threatened by wildfires. And while there are no words adequate for such experiences, please know our thoughts are constantly with all of you who are navigating the profound worry, fear and devastating loss they are bringing. From our hearts, we wish for your safety, well-being and recovery.

Happy Birthday, Tina!

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Tina Dilts sponsored a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees as a way to celebrate her birthday!

“I could not think of a better way to celebrate my birthday than pant-hooting and blowing raspberries with the Cle Elum gang!”

Happy Birthday, Tina! Thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees and generously sharing your own special day with them! We definitely recommend pant-hooting to celebrate and blowing raspberries to get everything you want. And you can always throw in Negra’s patented hand-claps for a little something extra! 🙂 We hope you have a wonderful day!

Burrito:

Annie blowing raspberries:

Negra:

Honey B: