Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Spring fashion runway

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We always know spring has officially arrived when dear, sweet Annie breaks out her favorite spring fashion choice of wearing a sweatband around her waist. She only seems to do this when the warmer weather arrives. This morning after breakfast she and Missy were ripping around Young’s Hill and I just caught Annie zooming by in her bright yellow spring accessory as she tried to catch Missy, hooting all the way:

Jody is recovering well after yesterday’s trip to the clinic to address her foot injury, and according to her, quite ready to return to her friends. While it’ll be a bit before she is actually ready (according to the humans), she enjoys frequent visits from everyone as they check up on her and make sure she’s doing okay. Initially she had her foot in the air to show them, but when Dr. Missy made a move to groom it, Jody thought better of it and put her foot back down. Good thinking, Jo. Dr. Missy isn’t exactly known for her light touch when grooming injuries. 😉

Jody visiting with Negra and Missy:

Just Right

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If you are new to the blog, here are two things to know about the boss female chimpanzee Jamie: she loves boots, and she is constantly ordering the humans around.

You can see the force of her personality in these photos:

She’s also very particular about the things that she wants, and sometimes it takes the humans a while to understand what she’s asking for in a given moment.

Usually, when Jamie wants us to put on boots and walk around the outside of the outdoor habitat “with” her, she wants us to change into her favorite pair of boots du jour. We turn to the drying boots from the previous days enrichment or to her own personal boot and book closet to find the pair that she’s been most interested in lately.

Over the past twelve years, caregivers have worn various boot brands and styles. Right now, however, many of us are wearing XtraTuf boots. Kelsi, Anna, and Katelyn have a pair, as do I now. Chad and J.B. were the latest caregivers to upgrade to XtraTufs. Anthony still hasn’t succumbed to conformity. We have not received any funds from XtraTuf for this endorsement, but maybe they should send Anthony a pair so he will find out what he’s missing 😉

We female caregivers have the “Salmon Sisters” style that can be worn fully up or folded down to different lengths, revealing the unique fabric on the inside.

As with most fashion, there tends to be more variety for women’s styles, and Chad and J.B.’s boots are of the kind that don’t fold down to reveal fun patterns – they just wear them up.

A few days ago, Jamie got my attention and was gesturing for something. I assumed she wanted to go on a walk, so I pulled out all of the boots that I knew were favorites of hers, but she just continued to gesture empathically. After several minutes, I finally figured out that she wanted me to change into my cleaning boots, which I did, and we proceeded on our walk.

Today it was a similar routine, but both Kelsi and I were already wearing our cleaning boots, so we couldn’t immediately figure out what Jamie wanted.

Later in the afternoon Kelsi had a moment of insight and tried unrolling her boots to their full length.

That was it!

Jamie was off in a flash, with Kelsi happily catching up to her.

I wish I knew more about what goes on in Jamie’s head, but it’s always rewarding to figure out what she wants, even if it doesn’t make a lot of sense to us.

 

Thank you, Becca!

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This day of sanctuary was sponsored by Becca Hines, a long-time volunteer caregiver and friend of the chimpanzees. Becca and her husband, Lars Foster-Jorgensen, who has also volunteered in the chimp house, are off to the next chapter of their lives. Becca shared this message about her gift of sanctuary today:

“I would like to sponsor a day for the chimps as a “see you later” party before I move to IN. With the corona virus I can’t celebrate with them in person, so I thought this was the next best thing! It’s a bittersweet goodbye, after 8 years these chimps are truly some of my longest friends. The best times of my life have happened with these chimpanzees and I am forever grateful for the staff for creating this volunteer program and putting up with me for so long! I love these chimpanzees with all of my heart and I will miss seeing them dearly. I would also like to sponsor this day in honor of a former staff member, Elizabeth. I know she will probably hate this but she gave me my volunteer orientation in 2012 and has become one of the greatest friends I have ever known. She (and these chimps, mostly Jamie with all the walks around young’s hill) have mentally and physically turned me into the person I am today, and I am not sure I would be standing here without her. Thursday’s in the chimp house will always be my favorite memory. Thank you for all you have done for me EK.”

Becca, we’re so sorry you couldn’t be here in person for a “see you later” party and know how incredibly difficult that must be. But that’s why it’s “see you later” and not “goodbye.” Thank you for always holding the chimpanzees, and all animals, in your heart. You’ve been a wonderful friend to the chimpanzees and a dedicated subordinate human to Jamie Chimpanzee, and we can’t thank you enough for all you and Lars have done for them. All of us here wish you and Lars all the good things as you head toward your new lives. Do boss lady, Jamie, proud in your new endeavors. She’ll be watching you. We don’t know how, but she will. 😉

A Chimp Guide to Shelter in Place

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I am extremely lucky to have a job that requires me to come in to work everyday. During these difficult times, it helps to have something to focus on that’s a welcome distraction from the outside world. Fortunately, the chimps don’t really know what is going outside of CSNW. Life goes on as normal for them! Which is why they have put together a guide to help inspire ideas on how to make self isolation fun. Or at least take your mind off things for 3 minutes and twenty one seconds!

Also….

Honey B has so much confidence. It is truly inspiring. She is always rockin’ some new enrichment.

Neggie’s wonderful face.

Annie enjoying the warm weather on Saturday.

Jamie 🙂

Chimping Ain’t Easy

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Prior to my arrival in Washington, I was a photojournalist for the better part of a decade. It was during one of my photography classes way back when that I was introduced to the term “chimping.” The term came about at the dawn of digital photography. It was when digital cameras were beginning to be used more frequently over film (though film cameras were still widely used). Chimping is when you take a photograph and immediately look down at the screen to see how the photo came out.

There are two explanations of how the term came to be. The first is if the photographer takes a good photo, looks down,  and sees it, their response is similar to a pant hoot. A series of “Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!” as they scroll through their photos. The second explanation is that if a photographer spends so much time looking at the photos they just took, they may miss something. The story goes that a photographer went to a zoo to take photos of chimpanzees. Every time he took a photo he would look down at his screen to see how his shot came out. As he did this, the chimpanzees would do some remarkable things, but stop once he brought his camera up to get photos.

So we were taught to never “chimp” our photos so we wouldn’t miss anything. That lesson has stuck with me even today. Though, admittedly, I will chimp from time-to-time to ensure I got a good shot. By using this method, I have taken a lot of “outtakes” to my blog postings. So I thought I would share some of my outtakes today.

Sometimes these photos are just by chance. Like this photo of Jamie which was taken last week as I was testing out another camera lens we have.

Some times I won’t use a photo because I catch a chimp in mid-yawn. Like this one of Honey B from a couple of months ago.

Or sometimes they blink the second I push the shutter. Like Missy here scratching her chin. She looked pretty thoughtful otherwise, but this is what the camera caught. I admittedly chimped after this photo and wasn’t able to catch her looking thoughtful because as you know, Missy is usually always on the move. An example of why chimping is bad.

Other times, the photos just don’t fit the overall flow of the blog post, but they are too good not to share.

Like these photos of Burrito eating chow after a recent forage on Young’s Hill, Jody waking up in the morning and checking out what is going on outside, and Honey B getting into Honey B antics.

I tried to take some photos today as well. I couldn’t think of how to piece them together to write a well-cohesive posting today. On any other day, they probably would have ended up in my outtakes folder. But they actually helped inspire me to share some of my previous outtakes.

When the chimpanzees got access to Young’s Hill this morning, it was a little chilly. Foxie sneered her entire time outside before retreating back to the Greenhouse.

Jamie held off on going outside right away and enjoyed her chow in the warmth of the Greenhouse.

On the other side of the sanctuary, Honey B made probably the best fort I have seen her make.

And per usual, Mave was just being a mixture of goofy, shy, and beautiful today.

 

Happy Anniversary, Michael!

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Today was sponsored by our dear friend, Arlene, in honor of her husband, Michael, on their anniversary!

“I want to wish a Happy Anniversary to my husband Michael. In happy times and trying times like these, I am thankful for your love and support all the time. I am blessed to be staying home with you, someone whom I am truly happy to be with and who makes me feel safe. I wish those same feelings of love, hope, home and many blessings to all of you at the Sanctuary for what you do everyday, and to all of the Chimps and Bovine who are lucky to be there, and to everyone – stay safe and be well.”

Arlene, thank you so much for thinking of all the sanctuary residents on your and Michael’s special day and allowing us to celebrate with you!

Happy Anniversary to you both, from all of us here! We’re so glad you have each other and are safe and well at home in your own sanctuary.

Burrito and Negra 🙂

Blog post by Jamie

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Jamie’s a clever woman. If you’ve been following us for any length of time at all, this isn’t news. We have the great privilege and honor of getting to hang out with her every day and yet, she is always a delight and a surprise.

Sometimes it’s easy to make the ridiculous human mistake of thinking that Jamie is acting in a random manner without intent and purpose. When that happens, it’s usually because we just can’t figure out what she is trying to tell us, it’s not immediately apparent to us. But I guarantee you she always has something in mind.

This afternoon she headed out on a walk around Young’s Hill, her cohorts happily falling into line behind her for an after lunch walk around the hill in the sunshine and fresh air. But Jamie wasn’t just out for a stroll in the sunshine and fresh air. She’d been thinking and had a plan in mind. Once she completed walking the perimeter of the chimps’ outdoor habitat, she made a beeline for the bamboo in the center of the hill and immediately began collecting sticks of a precise kind and size. Jamie had been thinking about the fact that a volunteer caregiver had spilled peanut butter on her scrub top earlier in the day (which Jamie had politely pointed out) and if she had a perfect size tool she could get the peanut butter off the human under the guise of asking to groom her. The peanut butter had been washed off, but no mind, if you’re Jamie you never know when you might need a good bunch of sticks. You may feel like grooming the humans, attempting to poke an unsuspecting human, collecting a piece of gum just out of reach outside the caging, or maybe just taking a good selfie.

As I type this I can see Jamie in the camera, watching me from atop her barrel. She is kicking the wall to get my attention and saying, “Just hurry up and post my blog because I have a task for you!” It’s been merely a couple moments and I’ve been speaking to her the entire time, but Jamie gave up on the dawdling humans and took matters into her own hands. The task she had in mind was that a piece of gum had fallen into the crevice of the drain cover outside the door. Chad walked in to check on her and discovered a tool in the drain cover and now we can see Jamie in the camera chewing gum.

The boss lady calls again! So here you go, folks. And yes, she took this selfie with her stick :):