Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

The Thing About Honey B

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The thing about Honey B is that she is amazing. Honey B is funny, she is quirky, fierce, mischievous, very opinionated, and not afraid to show you how she feels. My favorite part about Honey B is her humor. She’s never afraid to be herself at any point in time whether she is cracking her caregivers up or secretly getting into something she is not suppose to.

While she recovers we are working hard to keep her brilliant mind occupied, but as you have seen in the video or any of the video of Honey B, she has no problem keeping herself busy!

Ohhh! Wait! Before you go. You can now purchase the winning photo of Burrito, “Hey Girl” canvas, on merchandise website!

Battle of the Toes

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It is hard to find Missy without Annie far behind. If they are not near each other- they are definitely keeping tabs on one another. I often will see Annie scanning the Hill if Missy has gone out on her own, just to make sure she know where she is (just in case). The best is walking in every morning to hear them laughing and playing together. I think we all have that go to friend(s) that we are so incredibly thankful for. And though Missy may be higher in the ranking, Annie seems to be very thankful for her close friendship with Missy, even if she doesn’t get any special favors. I hope you enjoy this sweet video of two besties playing and laughing with each other.

*Honey B update*

Honey B is recovering well and healing in the way we hoped so far!

Bonus photos:

A series of Burrito! They may all look the same, but I swear they are all a little different and it was too hard to choose!

Burrito in the portrait studio:

Annie in the portrait studio:

Jamie nesting:

Indoor Recess

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Brrrrr! It has been cooooold. Luckily, it will start to warm up a little after today, at least in the afternoons. Since it has been so cold and the chimps haven’t been able to go outside, we have been trying to make sure the chimps have a lot of enrichment opportunities such as forages, food puzzles, and of course snow cones. As you will see in the video, Honey B has no problem keeping her friends busy! When watching the video I can’t believe all three of those girls can fit on that leaf, they have such great balance. I hope that you all are staying warm and this video warms your heart like it did ours. Also a special thanks to Grace for lending me the amazing video footage!

We have been using Stur (water liquid enhancer) to help spice up the snow that we put out as enrichment! We are getting a little low on the Stur as well as some other items, check out our Amazon Wish List if you would like to help us stock up. 🙂

Our current situation:

Jamie loved her “snow cone” was dragging the sandbox with her everywhere! Don’t worry we put out smaller snow cone buckets for everyone else:

Jamie snuggled up with her Lucy book in a cozy nest:

Rayne during the lunch forage:

Willy B:

Honey B picking through the forage in the green house:

Gordo with a whole lot of chow:

Mave:

Terry:

The Allure of Willy B (aka William, Wilbert, or Willard)

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If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that all chimp personalities are different. Each chimp has their own unique quirks, traits, and histories that have no doubt played a role in who they are today. One of the greatest joys for me, as a caregiver here, is having the opportunity to get to know each of them on their own terms.

Life in the chimp house is a busy one and a lot of our days are taken up with cleaning, enrichment / food prep, and other important tasks that have to get done every day and usually by a certain time. In between the tasks of the day, we try and find moments to hang out with the chimps- if they want to see us, that is. Sometimes, we have everything done early and have a good amount of time in the afternoon to hang out with the chimps, but they’re not feeling it and would rather hang out with each other or nap (fair). Sometimes, we have to make the tough choice of balancing time with a chimp that’s asking for attention vs. catching up on the long list of tasks. Most of the time, though, it all works out to where we are able to get everything done and make ourselves available for the chimps.

These moments, I think, are where we really get to know each other. Trust and mutual understandings can be built and solidified through serving meals and little interactions throughout the day, but I think when we set aside everything we have going on and are totally present with a chimp friend is when we get to know them and they get to know us.

Willy B, as mentioned throughout a variety of our blogs, does seem to have some anxiety that can make it tough for him to interact or engage with both other chimps and the humans. He’s really grown as a person in the last few years as his group was integrated with Cy’s group and it’s been so wonderful to see him forming bonds with the other chimps in his group, who seem to have a high level of patience for the often-awkward guy who enjoys causing intermittent chaos throughout the day.

Up until recently, most of my interactions with Willy B have been him asking to look at photos / videos on my phone, which is totally fine. The last few weeks, though, he has seemed more interactive.Yesterday we finished cleaning in the morning and the task list was looking good, so I changed out of my scrubs to head out for office time. I went in to say goodbye and immediately Willy B initiated a game of play! It was the longest I’ve ever experienced with him and I couldn’t get myself to walk away, until he signaled to me that he was wrapped up with it too.

He can be aloof and hard to read, but he can also be so funny and sweet. He’s a complex guy and it’s such a special moment when he initiates spending time together!

Willy B, also affectionately known as William, Wilbert, Willard, and / or Sir William:

Bonus Photo:

The drive to work in the winter can be treacherous, but boy is it a ‘beaut!

Bubba’s Bouncy Ball!

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Enriching chimpanzees is hard work. We have particular guidelines to ensure that the chimps will not consume something unsafe and that the item of enrichment cannot harm them. Sometimes, we think an enrichment item will be so perfect, only for it to arrive and realize it was made of a material the chimps can’t have. Caregiver Chad did a lot of research on the Jolly Ball that we wanted to give to Burrito on his birthday, but when it arrived it was leaning towards a little to soft of plastic to give to the chimps. However, this morning we were discussing how we knew he would love it soooo much! We decided that we could keep a close eye on the Jolly ball and that if it was destroyed we could remove it. When we showed Burrito his belated birthday present his eyes lit up! Once their group was invited back into their freshly cleaned Playroom, Burrito immediately grabbed it. He was beaming with joy. I think you will all be pleased to know that the ball is still alive and well!

This is a screen grab from the video. I know the quality of the photo might not be great, but it might be the best part of the whole video!

Burrito’s Big Birthday Bash!

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Yesterday, our dear Burrito turned 41. Can you believe it? To me, Burrito personifies youth, playfulness, & goofyness, so it’s hard to imagine that he is a day over 21.

We adore our dear Burrito for so many reasons, not the least of which being the fact that after just a few moments with him you’re smiling- no matter what kind of mood you were in beforehand. It’s like he is his own scientific principle and instead of Newton’s Law, it’s Burrito’s Principle: Emotions other than happiness cannot exist in the presence of Burrito.

Burrito’s back story makes us appreciate his reliably happy disposition even more, I think. Burrito was born in a lab in 1983 and used in research when he was just over a year old. Then, he was moved and used as a ‘house chimp’ before being leased out to an animal act. He spent one year outside of the lab before being sent back into research.

His story, like many others, is hard to hear and, often, hard to reconcile with the chimp that I know today. He greets me in the morning with a game of chase, then throughout the day he has a caregiver or two race him around Young’s Hill, then play a game of tug-of-war. All between grooming with his chimp family, watching his neighbors, and the other shenanigans he gets into throughout the day. Knowing what he has been through and seeing who is he today is a privilege and we owe it to him to share his story (and his joy) with as many people as we possibly can.

So, in honor of Burrito and all he is, we celebrate him every chance we get!

Yesterday, staff and volunteers put together a big birthday bash that included snow cones (with fresh fallen snow!), slinkies, giant kongs, coconuts, a Young’s Hill forage, TV time, and a special dinner of spaghetti with special sauce of sweet potato, red pepper, avocado (and love, of course).

Check out the video for the full party and don’t forget to vote for Burrito’s photo contest! It ends tomorrow, January 8th at 6:00pm!

 

Burrito’s Birthday Bash in Photos:

Burrito’s birthday wouldn’t be complete without Giant Kongs and Slinkies (and snow-cones)!

The sun came out for a bit, so Burrito’s group enjoyed a lunch forage on Young’s Hill:

Annie (back), Negra (middle), Burrito (front)

Everyone got into the party spirit!

Jamie enjoyed her spaghetti on her table:

Negra:

7 years bad luck

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Let me begin this story by telling you that today is my birthday… This is not a plea for birthday wishes, but rather an ironic cherry on top of this latest chimp house caper… More on that later.

Today, Jamie and her group received a roll of paper. This is a standard enrichment item that they receive regularly. What wasn’t standard about today, was Jamie’s mischief she decided to create with the cardboard tube at the center of the roll of paper. Unbeknownst to her caregivers, Jamie spent her morning using the cardboard tube as a a tool to knock down a very breakable mirror that we have had mounted on the outside of the caging (for many years!). We use this mirror to spy into the loft of the playroom so we can see who’s up there from our vantage point on the ground. Today though, Jamie decided it had to go.

To truly tell this story, we had to watch Jamie’s antics back on our security camera footage. Unfortunately, the video quality wasn’t great so to really appreciate today’s blog, you’ll have to use some imagination. After finding her ready to use tool, Jamie spent about a half an hour working on Project: Destroy Mirror. She tried multiple angles and methods until she successfully sent the mirror crashing down to its demise.

After hearing the crash of something shattering into a million tiny pieces, I naturally responded to the incident with a broom and worked on making sure the glass pieces were safely out of chimpanzee reach… Only to be greeted by Jamie and a handful of feces flung at my head. How dare I move her sharp glass, she had worked so hard on that! Volunteer Dusty and I spent an extra hour diligently cleaning up my happy birthday mess, artfully gifted to me by my creative chimpanzee boss/overlord.

Thanks James.

Speaking of birthdays, Burrito’s big day is coming up.  As Kelsi announced yesterday, in celebration of Burrito’s 41st birthday we will be having a photo contest to have our followers pick their favorite photo(s) of Burrito, we will then be selling the photo with the most votes.  We will post the contest every day on the blog, so you can vote once per day and you are welcome to vote for more than one photo! The contest ends on January 8th at 6:00 p.m. PT.