Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Socially Savvy

March 20, 2024 by Kelsi

Rayne is known to be one of our more socially savvy chimps, it’s kind of her superpower. She is exceptionally good at reading what her group members need in the moment. Rayne is particularly good with Willy B, who has been known to be socially awkward. Their friendship has really grown over the years and it is so special to watch. Sometimes when Willy B seems to be getting worked up, Rayne can get him to start playing and make Willy B forget about causing a ruckus! It takes an extremely observant individual to read someone and know when to leave it or when to step in, Rayne is just one of those individuals.

Rayne and Willy B:

Rayne and Honey B:

Rayne and Mave:

Rayne and Lucky:

And the photos of Rayne could go on and on :). Rayne really is one really special chimp and we are sooo lucky to know her!

Celebrate St. Paddy’s Day with CSNW!

March 17, 2024 by Grace

Happy St. Paddy’s Day, everyone!

Today, we hit the jackpot (literally). It feels like early summer outside, without the wildly frigid wind that we get in the springtime, which made it the perfect day for both groups to have outdoor forages! We celebrated with forages of green Gatorade with a raspberry garnish, corn, fingerling potatoes, beets, and cabbage. The chimps have been in a great mood most of the day, with lots of grooming and playing, and it feels like a breath of fresh air after we’ve all been cooped up inside for the winter. As much as I prefer the cold or rainy days over the heat that comes with the summer months, it does good things for the soul to see the chimps enjoying the sunshine and blue skies.

Photos From The Day:

Annie, lucking out in today’s forage and snagging four pieces of corn

Burrito, enjoying his corn in the sunshine

Sweet, dear Cy relaxing in the afternoon

Foxie, watching the party prep

Jamie, enjoying a purple fingerling potato!

Brave Lucky, out on the Bray

Wish List Wednesday!

March 13, 2024 by Kelsi

Today is Wish List Wednesday! We want to give a continuous thank you to everyone who donates to us. The wish list is a great way to directly donate to the chimps. It has everything from fun party items, like our upcoming Easter party, to our day to day cleaning items.

We noticed yesterday as we put books and magazines out for Cy’s birthday, that we are dangerously low on Lucy books! Lucy the bonobo seems to be a big hit for not only Jamie, but for Rayne and Lucky too!

Rayne holding two Lucy books in her pelvic pocket:

Jamie holding her favorite Lucy book in her pelvic pocket:

Bonus!

Honey B with one of her favorite enrichment items, paper!!

Join Honey B and Dora for a Play Date!

March 10, 2024 by Grace

Honey B has been back with her group for over a week now! She is so happy to be back with her friends and the humans are so happy to have a bit of a routine back. 🙂

Last week, I posted a video from Honey B and Lucky’s play date. Since Honey B had been out of the group for a while, we opted to do a slow re-introduction process to ensure she had some time with individuals instead of going back into the group all at once. It also allowed the humans a little bit more control over the situation, in that we would have a better chance of separating the two of them if her partner for the play date started grooming her eye too much.

Dora was another great play date that she had and I was lucky enough to catch some footage to share with all of you! Watching it back this afternoon made me chuckle just as much as I was when I was watching them, so I hope it brings some cheer to your day too.

Also- how many headstands can Honey B fit into one play session?! Check out the video to find out. 🙂

Bonus Photo:

Handsome Willy B, waiting for lunch today 🙂

A Tranquil Morning With Cy’s Group

March 9, 2024 by Sabrina

Cy’s group of nine is known for being a little turbulent at times and still unsettled since it takes a long time for chimpanzee’s to find their place in their new group and with each other after being introduced. That said, today the group had peaceful morning together enjoying their meals and their enrichment with minimal conflict. Enjoy the morning with Cy’s group in today’s video.

Cy, enjoying the two whole apples we put on the Bray as part of the group’s lunch forage:

Gordo enjoying his lunch forage:

Rayne, saving her paper towel to wipe her mouth during breakfast:

Rayne, later in the morning she enjoyed some deep relaxation with her tomato sheet:

Honey (B), I’m Home!

March 3, 2024 by Grace

Over the last month and some change, we have been working to keep Honey B enriched as she recovered from an eye injury that she sustained during a fight in the group. It was an extended recovery process due to the location of the injury and the need to go back in for a revision, so she has spent quite a bit of time away from her group. Last week, we excitedly got to begin re-introducing her to her group!

We decided to begin with monitored ‘play-dates’, where we put Honey B and a friend into the front rooms together during the day. This was helpful for two reasons- one, her eye is still healing so we wanted to be able to separate them if they began grooming her eye too intensely. Second, it allowed for a slower re-introduction process, which was nice since she had been out of the group for a while. The play dates were a great success and on Tuesday she went fully back with her group! She was (and is) so happy to be back with her group mates and they were excited to see her too. And, so far, her eye is still healing well. So, wins all around! 🙂

It’s been so nice to see Honey B getting back into the swing of things and to see how happy she is to be back with her group. It’s been a serious source of compassion satisfaction, that’s for sure. I wanted to take a moment to extend another big THANK YOU to Dr. Erin and the team she put together to ensure Honey B received the best possible care that we could offer her (Leah Bezzo, CRNA; Christine Zielke, CRNA; Tyler Sugerman, DVM; Jerry Woodfield, DVM DACVIM (Cardiology); Karen Brantman-Crosetto, DVM DACVO). It’s truly amazing to see the community of professionals that Dr. Erin has been able to bring together for our residents and we are so grateful!

For today’s blog, I wanted to give you some videos I got while observing Honey B’s play date with Lucky last week. It’s sure to put a smile on your face! 🙂

What’d I miss?

March 2, 2024 by Sabrina

One of the best things about working here with the chimpanzees is that you are always excited to see them in the morning when you get to the Chimp House and if you’re lucky the chimps are equally thrilled to see you. When the mornings are quiet, it is so enriching for us and the chimps to have a quick grooming session or a game of chase to get the day started.

One of the more challenging aspects comes when one of us gets sick. I recently had my first experience with Covid-19, so I was out of work for over a week and I was finally able to return a few days ago. This is challenging for most caregivers because we definitely feel some amount of sadness over not being able to be a part of the chimps daily lives when we’re sick. I know for me personally, I miss them when I’m away for more than a few days and I find myself wondering what they’re doing a lot during my day.

While we can’t know if the chimps think of us or wonder where we are, we do get some indications that we’ve been missed when we come back and are greeted with very exuberant pant hoots and invitations to groom and/or play.

A memorable instance of this occurred when J.B. took a vacation last year. After a week-long absence, he came by to visit the chimp house when he returned, only to be spotted immediately by Jamie from Young’s Hill. Jamie, in her excitement let out an enthusiastic vocalization, that I imagine must have been just for J.B., and the whole group came out very excitedly to see him and take him on a walk around the Hill.

And now..

A quiet moment with Neggie and her carrot: