Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Snippets of the day

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I was trying to figure out some sort of brilliant narrative that weaves together the photos I took today, but my brilliance level seems to be pretty low right now. So, I’ll just share the photos as little glimpses of the day, which is how I experienced them too.

First, that photo above and the even more precious one below is Jamie and Burrito grooming through the mesh while Burrito is recovering from his latest surgery. They really do seem to like each other sometimes. Jamie may have also been wanting to groom those pieces of distraction tape off of Burrito, but they were all on the other side of his body.

Burrito is doing fantastic, by the way! He’s is hungry and energetic and left his bandage alone again today. We had more snow overnight, so he had an unlimited supply again today.

Next up, we have a photo I took of a nest in the mezzanine of Phase 1. I would put my money on it being a Honey B creation. I just love chimpanzee nests. That pink car was a Christmas gift from a very cool organization called Trees for Tigers that specifically provides enrichment for animals in sanctuaries. I haven’t yet seen anyone get into the car, but Honey B definitely likes to move it around from place to place.

Later, I managed to get the below photo of Willy B before he approached the phone/camera.

And just now, I snapped this photo of Negra grabbing some snow to take up to her night nest:

I write this now listening to the sound of Honey B work on shake bottle enrichment on one side of the building and Jody ripping blankets as she customizes her nest in the loft of the playroom on the other side of the building.

As someone commented to me yesterday, you just never know what a day at the sanctuary will be like because each day with ten chimpanzees who are full of personality is unique.

For Daniela and Runyon

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Today was sponsored by Ellen Greene in honor of Daniela Garofalo with this lovely message:

“This donation is in honor of my dear friend, Daniela’s birthday. Because of her, I formed a close bond with her special canine companion and family member, Runyon.”

Ellen, thank you so much for celebrating your dear friends, Daniela and Runyon, by choosing to add something special to the lives of the chimpanzees. We love seeing the beautiful circle of compassion and care that exists between all species.

Happy Birthday, Daniela! May your and Runyon’s day be a beautiful one filled with what, and who, make your heart full.

Foxie and Missy:

Honey B and Mave:

Annie, Missy, Burrito:

Burrito (foreground), Missy (center), and Annie (rear)

A Chimp and her Boots

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I wanted to share a small moment I had with Jamie. The other day I found Jamie cozy in a nest. She had big comfy blankets all around her and a few boots in her pelvic pocket. If you look closely you can see one of the boots tucked in. I asked Jamie if she would like a few of her boot books from Christmas. It was a very peaceful moment. Jamie politely took the boot books and started flipping through the pages. As Jamie read her books, I groomed her shoulder with a tool. It was nice to see Jamie feel so content.

Jamie is known to be fierce, super intelligent, sometimes intimidating, and quite crafty. Jamie is all of those! But, there is a side of Jamie people don’t always get to see. Like how she can be sweet, silly, and actually a very good friend. Jamie, since Burrito’s injuries has been a great friend to him. To me at least it seems like she has really been looking out for Burrito.

Everyone, except Negra, went on the first morning patrol. I found Jamie and Foxie were always staying close to Burrito as they walked around the Hill.

Happy Birthday, Bubs!

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Hearts near and far are full of love and celebration today for Burrito on his 37th birthday! I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that we couldn’t be more grateful, or more full of joy to celebrate this beloved guy, especially after all he’s come through. We even received the gift of a second day of sanctuary sponsorship from dear friend of all the primates here, Kathleen Corby! She sent this beautiful message for Burrito:

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR BURRITO! Last year you had one too many trips to that beautiful new medical clinic. May this year be filled with good health, laughter, love, joy, chase games, tug sessions, Slinky madness, and food, food, and more food! Love you sweet boy. Happiness always…..”

Kathleen, thank you so much for adding to this special day!! We so appreciate your amazing presence and support in the chimps’ (and humans’) day to day lives.

Given Burrito’s penchant for snow snacks lately, he must have been doing a snow dance for his birthday all night because this is what we arrived to, along with Burrito blowing raspberries and pointing out the window. Burrito speak for “I need a snow snack immediately, please!”

For the first portion of the party we built crazy snow snacks with frozen grapes and cherries which all the chimps loved. That is, when they could get in to sneak some from the boss, who dragged both the table and the big plastic turtle pool into a corner and went to town. Jamie really had an amazing un-birthday for herself today! 😉

Second party (like second breakfast if you’re a hobbit…or Burrito…or me…) was spaghetti boats for lunch made by Anthony! Burrito LOVES spaghetti!

Naturally, because it was a grand celebration of all things Burrito, all of the chimps, and most especially Burrito, chose to spend their entire day in the warm cozy loft together where I could capture nary a photo!! They’d run down for a snow snack and scurry back upstairs to their nests and each other. But who could blame them?

But for third party, Chad managed to capture a couple photos of Burrito enjoying his birthday dinner forage and holding onto his grab bag.

(Of course, Mave, Honey B and Willy B got to partake in the parties on their side of the house right along with the seven, enjoying snow buckets, spaghetti boats, forages and whole apples! They were more excited over those whole apples than just about anything I’ve seen from them yet).

Despite not being able to capture much on film, to be honest, it made my heart swell just to see Burrito back with the girls, ensconced in their embrace and being groomed by them most of the day, napping near them, eating with them. Finally. Back with his family. And I kinda suspect, Burrito himself couldn’t have wished for a better birthday this year.

Happy Birthday, Bubba!! We love you so very much!!

Happy Birthday, Burrito!

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This very special day of sanctuary was sponsored by Eric DeHart in celebration of Burrito’s birthday!

“My family and I love all the chimps. However, Burrito is my favorite!”

Eric, thank you for sponsoring such a special day and for loving Burrito and his family! We’re so grateful for all the love and care that surrounds them all and truly appreciate your generous gift.

Words could never fully express the profound joy and gratitude we feel today as we celebrate beloved Burrito on his 37th birthday! If anyone was ever deserving of a whole lot of birthday hoopla, it’s this guy. He’s come through so much all these long months and we’re absolutely thrilled to see him returning to his old self and finally back with the girls just in time to party.

Happy Birthday, Bubba, we just love you so much.

Burrito and Foxie:

Burrito’s Walkabout Reunion

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Today was weird, weather-wise. It started out super windy, then the wind subsided and it was nice enough for some outside time for the chimpanzees, then it snowed like it was going to never stop, until it stopped less than an hour later, and finally the sun announced itself as confidently as a spring day, completely erasing all traces of the snowstorm.

We talked it over with Dr. Erin and decided that, with the sun shining, and despite Jamie and her crew being a bit on edge earlier in the day, it was time for Burrito to go back with his group. I was nervous. His recovery has been long and he’s not back to his full strength, but when I went to “talk” to him, he pulled on the door to the greenhouse, letting me know that’s what he wanted to do. I held my breath and hoped for the best. Sometimes that’s all you can do with chimpanzees.

Because he’s been having social time with a few friends in the greenhouse these last weeks, I first let Jamie, Jody, and Foxie in with him and gave them all greenhouse access.

I thought he would be very keen to get back into the playroom since he hasn’t had access to that space in weeks, but when I opened the door to the playroom, Missy and Annie went out and the whole crew (minus nesting Negra), took off for a patrol around Young’s Hill.

It was glorious.

Lucky for you, J.B. followed along and captured some video of the walk, while I got a few photos.

He looks good out there!

 

Here he is between Jamie and Foxie:

 

Missy waiting for him:

When he got into the playroom finally, he and Negra greeted each other enthusiastically, and then everyone went about things as though no time had passed. Right now he is sleeping in the loft of the playroom.

We are still monitoring an injury on one of his toes and he sometimes walks on his wrist, but overall he’s doing great, and the extra exercise and social companionship will hopefully serve him well. Now we just need to convince the “girl gang” to stay calm for a while.

In case there is any lingering questions – we do not have plans to integrate Burrito with Willy B, Mave, and Honey B because of the conflict that caused Burrito’s injuries. Maybe there will be structured social time (“play dates”) in the future between members of the different groups, but maybe not, and not for sometime, in any case.

So, we’re back to the original seven on the old side of the building and the new three on the new side, with plans to start construction as early as we can in the spring. The next phases will give Willy B, Mave, and Honey B more space and will allow us to bring in another group of chimpanzees.

We’re looking forward to whatever the future holds, but today it was just nice to see Burrito outside with old friends in the sun.

Better Late than Never

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As promised, but a tad bit late, we have the video of the ten chimps ringing in the New Year! I have to be fully honest, I did not realize how big of a year 2020 was. It totally slipped my mind that we were celebrating a decade! Whoops! Anyhoo, I hope you all enjoy the video and some photos of Burrito!

Burrito had a play date with Jamie, Jody, and Foxie. Foxie and Burrito immediately started grooming one another and continued for a few hours. It was a very sweet moment.