Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Happy Birthday, Linda!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Linda Crawford! Linda shared this lovely message about her generous gift:

“Today’s my birthday, and nothing would bring me greater joy than to have the chimps partying with me! But since they’re so far away, and sponsored parties aren’t an option any longer, I’ll sponsor a day, and hope that there is either pineapple or coconut involved, and to see the Tiny One busting open the troll dolls I sent! Something to make their Sunday a little special, the way they, and you, all make most of our days special by sharing a glimpse of your work and their lives in sanctuary!”

Linda, thank you so much for your heartfelt care for each of the chimpanzees and the unique individuals they are. We so appreciate you thinking of them today, your compassion and your gracious contributions toward their well-being and happiness. All of us here wish you the happiest of birthdays yet! May your big heart come back to you tenfold as you celebrate your special day, and all days. Happy Birthday!

Tiny, but fierce. Beloved Foxie:

Snow: Treat or Trick?

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Burrito, Annie Jody, Foxie, Missy, Jamie, and Negra arrived in June of 2008. Their first experience of snow at the sanctuary (though they may have encountered it earlier in their lives) was almost exactly eleven years ago today. If you can believe it, we’ve been doing the blog this entire time, so you can take a look back at that post, which includes a video, right here.

That was before the greenhouse was a greenhouse with a roof and removable walls, so the chimps just leaned outside of their indoor rooms and grabbed handfuls and mouthfuls of snow. Seriously, watch the video.

It was such an exciting and endearing first at the sanctuary that Seattle’s King 5 television station shared the video on air.

Eleven years later, snow is still an exciting winter treat that produces anticipation and food grunts. There are many, many blog posts that feature snow. We often talk about how it’s the perfect food enrichment because it has zero calories, lasts a long time, and it’s both plentiful and free this time of year.

Here are some photos from today of Jody finding some ice and snow for snacking:

This one of her scurrying inside with her quickly diminishing treat is a little blurry:

Burrito was making raspberry noises at me this morning, and I thought he was trying to convince me to get him a banana–he knows I’m a big sucker and have been giving him pretty much whatever he wants as he recovers. Eventually, I realized what he actually wanted was some of the good stuff that had blanketed the outdoors.

He was pleased when I finally figured it out and gave him a special delivery:

Mave, Willy B, and Honey B’s reaction has not been the same. They do not know what the fuss is about at all.

Mave spent quite a bit of time in the chute today with the sun shining, but she didn’t go down to the area that still had snow:

I tried to convince Honey B that it was a a great treat by eating some myself and then placing some in the fencing for her.

This was her reaction:

Will they grow to love it, or will eating snow remain a strange custom that these three chimpanzees from California do not appreciate? We’ve got a couple more months to find out.

First Snow Experience

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This morning was the first real snow of the year. We gave Honey B, Willy B, and Mave access to the chute, which was quite snowy! The three chimps came from California, so we were curious what their reaction would be to the snow. Today, Honey B seemed to be the only one who adventured out into the chute. However, Willy B and Mave did look curious. As enrichment we put snow buckets out, which they all seemed to enjoy. There is still more snow coming down, so there will be plenty more opportunities for all three to explore the snow!

Gloomy Yet Beautiful

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Today was a bit of a gloomy and frosty day.

Though when you get closer it is beautiful. Everywhere around the sanctuary was covered in hoar frost.

J.B. has been very busy building what we are calling the courtyard, which is where we extended Young’s Hill and the new structure was built. He put fencing up to help create a smaller Hill for Mave, Honey B, and Willy B, which also includes a boardwalk to the new structure since they are still getting use to their new surroundings. We are hoping this will entice the three to go out onto the Hill. Their first experience was not great. They all touched the fence many times. The Hill is also a huge open spaced compared anything they have ever experienced. Honey B, Willy B, and Mave have lived on concrete for a long time in a relatively small space. This kind of open area could take a long time to warm up too. Willy B especially, seems to not like touching the ground. This may be one of the many reasons the three have not yet adventured onto the Hill again.

Jody was on Young’s Hill and excited to see Willy B in the chute:

Willy B in the chute and the girls looking at him from the playroom windows:

Mave joined in too:

Missy (top) and Annie (bottom) watching Willy B and Mave in the chute:

Jody decided that this was fun, but she needed to nest:

Willy B let Burrito borrow his TV! Burrito enjoyed a film about Koko the gorilla and a documentary about Jane Goodall 🙂

Mave <3:

I also wanted to let you all know, we have started putting the chimps Christmas presents on the Amazon Wishlist! So if you missed out on the blankets or were wondering what the chimps would like for Christmas, check it out!

 

 

The Burrito barometer

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Burrito still has a ways to go in his healing process, but more days than not we are beginning to see the return of all the little things that make Burrito, Burrito and endear him so to us. Tiny things, such as he loves to play a game I refer to as “up high, down low” (for lack of a more creative name) in which he sits at the caging with us and pokes his fingers out of the caging “up high” then “down low,” waiting for us to follow suit so he can tickle the back of our wrist.

Another Burrito “thing” is, of course, always having a small plastic or wooden toy to bite on, especially while he’s in a playful mood. Or making a play face while covering his face or play-biting his own hand from afar, a silly gesture he gives us even if he doesn’t feel like getting up and coming over. All of these seemingly insignificant gestures are the daily markers we grow accustomed to seeing on the Burrito barometer of wellness. I’ll be honest, we haven’t been seeing a lot of these small things from him for quite some time as he’s been busy with the work of healing, resting and regaining his strength. Even knowing this, from the humans’ perspectives, it’s difficult not seeing these behaviors from the chimps that we know indicate that they’re feeling happy, well and at ease. Small moments that translate to our own hearts feeling happy, well, and at ease.

Burrito’s coming back to himself, little by little each day. And our hearts couldn’t be more relieved, more happy.

Willy B’s cabbage

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The chimpanzees don’t follow the same food etiquette rules as most of us. Chewing extremely loudly with your mouth wide open is no big deal if you’re a chimp and somehow it’s still pretty endearing! We posted this video on Instagram yesterday and due to popular demand, decided it needed to be shared on multiple platforms.

Happy Anniversary, Via!

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Long-time chimpanzee friends sponsored this day of sanctuary, Carrie Miller in honor of Sylvia Gandolfo! Carrie shared this message for Sylvia:

“Happy Anniversary to Via, who, like the CSNW team, gets to it every day to take care of caregiving business no matter how much crazy is going on in the wide world.”

Carrie and Sylvia, thank you both, for your loyal friendship to the chimpanzees and so generously making a difference in their lives countless times over. We so appreciate you both!

Wishing you a beautiful day, Sylvia!

Annie. Beloved, sweet, Annie:

Annie holding her bestie, Missy’s, foot:

AnnieMissy (one word, because, well, AnnieMissy! 🙂 ):