Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Step 1: Approach a friend and start grooming them. Hope for reciprocation.
Missy reaches out to groom Jamie:
Step 2: Decide this isn’t quite the kind of reciprocity she was looking for.
Jamie grooms Missy’s eyelid:
Step 3: Move on and decide to do some self-grooming with a small stick.
Step 4: Find a different friend who is also partaking in some self-grooming.
Annie grooming her own leg:
Step 5: Look a little wistful.
Step 6: Lay down and relax.
Willy B, Mave, and Honey B are adjusting to the construction next door. Yesterday, after construction subsided Willy B found sometime to unwind. He laid on the floor while we looked through photos of chimps at other sanctuaries.
If anyone is curious about how to help we are dangerously low on Jerrol’s gift-cards. Jerrol’s is a local business where we are currently getting our cleaning gloves from and we are getting low on gloves too! Foxie and Missy have some birthdays coming up in August, so make sure to look out on the Wish List for birthday items!
There was a lot going on today, meaning there were a lot of distractions. With the construction of Phase 2 underway, the chimpanzees are ever so curious about what is going on right outside of their walls.
When Missy was given access to Young’s Hill, her first order of business was to try to get a better view of what all the commotion was all about.
It was also a hot day today, with today’s high at 92°. So after she got a look at the progress being made around the sanctuary, Missy headed in to cooler locations like the Greenhouse.
The California Three were also given access to their outdoor Chute for the first time since construction began. Though they have a front and center seat to watch everything form their windows in their front rooms, they wanted a full spectrum look from the Chute.
Honey B was the first to inspect the newly excavated area.
And Mave soon joined her.
One area being built as part of Phase 2 is a new playroom for Mave, Honey B, and Willy B. Now that construction has begun on expanding their home, hopefully time will seem to fly by and they can enjoy their new area.
Today was sponsored by the chimpanzees’ dear friend and neighbor, Shelley Winfrey, in honor of her brother, Kevin Clark, who passed away. Shelly graciously sponsors this day each year in Kevin’s memory and in her knowing that he would have loved the chimpanzees as well.
Shelley, thank you, from our hearts, for always including the chimpanzees in your life and family. May this beautiful summer day bring comforting and joyful memories to your heart. We’ll be thinking of Kevin and sending you and your family all the good thoughts.
I’m not sure you could look at this fella, Burrito, and not have a smiling heart. We love him so:
Whew! It’s near triple digits today and not the slightest of breezes. We arrived bright and early to find the construction crew already hard at work, breaking ground on the second phase of our expansion and until about 5 minutes ago, the day hasn’t slowed down once! But the upside of that is I feel fairly confident that the chimpanzees and bovines enjoyed their very decidedly summer day and all it brought their way. How does it get better than that?!
First of all, today we celebrated Betsy’s 13th birthday! This endearing little bovine family of four bring smiles to our hearts every day. They continue to surprise us with their unique, increasingly independent personalities and we’ve been loving watching their wild mountain cattle sides emerge as they explore their summer pastures and even more space to do as they choose.
Chad and Anthony made Betsy a birthday bowl of oats, corn and alfalfa and well, the birthday lady nearly knocked Anthony over to get to it!
Betsy, her son, Nutmeg, and Meredith getting every last bite:
Betsy and Nutmeg:
If you look closely, you can see Jamie in the background. We’ll just go with the thought that Jamie was wishing Betsy a happy day. 😉
Outside of Betsy’s birthday party in the pasture, much of our time was spent thinking of ways to help the chimpanzees feel a little respite from the heat. They had frequent ice cube breaks, buckets of Gatorade, AND! We broke out the snow cone machine! Shaved ice in paper boats with a dash of blue Gatorade and a couple frozen raspberries. The seven are well acquainted with the joy of snow cones, but I’m not sure if Mave, Honey B and Willy B have had them before. They were met with the three’s usual level of suspicion and deadpan looks over what crazy thing the humans may be trying to serve them/poison them with. Once they tentatively tasted them, they seemed to be on board with the idea. Apologies for the lack of photos of the snow cones, but they tend to disappear as fast as we can make and serve them.
Foxie and Orange Blossom waking from a nap in the beyond toasty greenhouse:
This joyful guy makes all our hearts soar. Just because it’s sweltering doesn’t mean he can’t flail about with France Dora while lying down:
The rest of the day was busy humans cleaning and chimpanzees in puddles, resting in cool spots. The chimps are all in their night nests as I type this, but in the cameras I can see Honey B nesting in front of the fan, and Jody, Foxie and Annie with their legs up in the air against the caging. But of course, the boss lady, Jamie, is busy, still enjoying the evening enrichment of peanut butter, seed and raisin pine cones. As I told the chimpanzees goodnight, Jamie asked for her still beloved book of Salmon Sisters Xtratuf boots and without fail, whenever I hand it to her, she hoots with joy and hugs it close. She is holding it with one foot while the other foot and both hands are busy with the pine cones. Some of which she may or may not have stolen. It’s good to be boss.
Today functioned as a brief intermission… of a sort.
Yesterday, the team wrapped up a major facelift of the existing playroom. Yesterday’s blog showed it best, but additional snapshots make it clear that the chimps were just as interested in the demolition, reassembly and repainting as they were in the finished product: a clean and bright playroom.
Tomorrow, we will finally break ground on Phase 2 of the Chimp House expansion. CSNW co-directors J.B. and Diana have been working tirelessly to make sure we have the permits, funding, plans and specialized contractors required to pull off such an endeavor. Thanks to their hard work and the support of selfless donors, this vision is being incrementally converted into a reality. Just after dawn tomorrow morning, a crew will begin digging the foundations of the new playroom- and greenhouse-type enclosures that will enable us to give the sanctuary’s chimpanzee residents some additional spaces to explore, relax, and socialize. Sometime in the hopefully-not-so-distant future, these enclosures may also provide space for other chimps who are also waiting for a permanent sanctuary home.
Of course, there was still a lot on our to-do list today. Early this morning, Dr. Erin and her sons helped J.B. to transfer a few dozen bales of hay to the barn. Around here, hay is a necessary dietary supplement for the cattle in autumn and winter, so we’re starting to stockpile now. By November, the entire barn will be filled with a pyramid of orchard grass, Timothy hay, alfalfa and straw.
After stacking all that hay, J.B. and volunteer Adam made some modifications to the perimeter fence that will allow the contractors to access the Phase 2 area without getting too close to the chimps and staff. Meanwhile, the rest of today’s personnel did the routine cleaning, caught up on some housekeeping, and set the stage for another busy week. Inside the Chimp House, Katelyn (Office Manager), Chad (Enrichment Coordinator) and Lisa (Level III Volunteer) were the supporting caregivers. Together, we made chow bags and enrichment for the upcoming week, organized the kitchen and foyer, cleaned the enclosures, took care of the cattle, and provisioned the chimps with meals, blankets and toys.
Amid all of these projects and tedium, I am feeling incredibly appreciative of our donors who have, per usual, been extremely generous with their timely gifts. Through our Amazon Wish List, amazing people donate some pretty cool items that are subsequently delivered right to our front gate. I’m a dork and tend to geek out over office paraphernalia, organizational tools and miscellaneous supplies, so opening these packages always feels like Christmas morning. This past week, we received some new hose attachments for spraying disinfectant, tape refills for the label-maker, organizing racks for the vet clinic’s pharmacy cabinet, a second whiteboard for the foyer (which J.B. has already graced with one of his informative cartoon drawings), and lots of new toys, puzzles and nesting materials for the chimps.
We look forward to updating you all on the progress of the new construction and all of the related projects!
Today was full of excitement. It started with a breakfast forage on the hill for the group of seven. While you might not choose to eat lettuce for breakfast, the chimpanzees were pretty thrilled with it.
We just got back our long telephoto lens that supporter Kathy Cochran donated to us many years ago. We’ve been having trouble with the focus so I sent it in to be repaired. It was expensive, but so worth it. They must have cleaned everything too because the photos are not only in focus but vibrant.
J.B has been working really, really hard this last week repairing and renovating the playroom. The other staff have lent a hand here and there, but he’s put in the bulk of the work and all of the worry about whether it will withstand the test of Jamie (see video above).
I decided that the chimpanzees needed something special for dinner after putting up with us all week, so I made some waffles out of the “dust” from their primate chow mixed with blended bananas, raspberries and soy milk. According to Kelsi and J.B, the waffles received 9 out of 10 thumbs up from the chimps. Willy B politely took a bite, but then just as politely put his waffle on the floor.
I keep looking at the camera monitor and having to do a double-take on the playroom. The light is streaming in and I hear Jody ripping up blankets to make her nest.
That’s probably my cue to get out of here and, like the chimpanzees, have a nice long sleep tonight after a long week.
