Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Give Them Smoulder

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I think we can all agree that Willy B is one handsome chimp, Jody might even use the word hunk! This morning we changed up the routine and let Willy B’s group out onto the Courtyard first. Willy B seemed pretty excited because he went straight to door W which leads right out to the Courtyard and waited for me to give him access. Willy B spent the whole morning out there! The sun was so warm, he decided to lay down on the boardwalk and bask in it. While relaxing on the boardwalk I snapped a few photos of Willy B, I mean look at him! He has this almost smouldering or brooding look.

 

Stopped to Smell the Roses

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Today was a busy day! It took us a little longer than usual to clean because as J.B. mentioned a few days ago, somebody (I won’t mention any names) held out in allowing us to close off areas so we could clean them. Though we were eventually able to close them off to clean later throughout the day, we had a staff meeting once cleaning was done for the day. As Caregiver Kelsi has mentioned in the past, days when their are staff meetings can be hectic. So the equation of a hold out and staff meeting, my plans for a well developed blog about enrichment have gone out the window for today. But never fear, here are some photos I started to take throughout the day as I was plotting my original blog theme.

Jody returning from her morning patrol with a handful of rose hips before breakfast.
Jamie with her own branch of rose hips she collected during today’s browse. We started to include rose hips in the browse rotation because Jamie’s group really seems to like them and there are plenty growing around the sanctuary for all to enjoy. You can see a photo of Rayne with some from a few days ago here!
And last but not least! Honey B!

Isn’t Sanctuary Life Grape?

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A million thanks to all Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest supporters that participated yesterday in our HOOT! For The Holidays virtual celebration to welcome the Lucky Six. We are all so grateful for the generous donations and bids because we surpassed our goal by plenty and more, assuring future plans to develop. Sanctuary life for these amazing 16 chimpanzees could not be possible without all of you amazing souls. We hope that learning more about the Lucky Six and their past brought everyone a bit closer to them.

To continue the celebration we harvested some grapes directly from our small vineyard and gave some to the chimps as an afternoon snack. Everyone was very excited about fresh grapes!

I walked to the green house and noticed this chimp lineup. Caregiver Katelyn had many sets of eyes looking at her while she harvested grapes from the vineyard.

Caregiver Katelyn serving Missy some grapes fresh from the vine.

Negra all cozy this morning in the green house. Thanks to everyone that has donated blankets, they certainly appreciate it!

Foxie coming in from Young’s Hill after enjoying a beautiful sunny day.

Gordo resting high up on the green house platform after a scrumptious lunch.

Mave looking into the camera while enjoying the breeze in the outdoor chute.

Rayne looking down from a platform in the green house with a wooden toy in her mouth.

Boxes, BidWars and Blankets!

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Just like the title says this blog involves boxes, BidWars, and blankets! Gordo enjoyed his lunch while sitting in a box today. After lunch he found another box in the Greenhouse to soak up some sun.

The HOOT! online auction is still going strong! Bidding will end at 7:00pm Pacific tonight unless an item goes to BidWars. Even if you aren’t bidding, you might want to tune in to the auction site to see BidWars (explained on the FAQ page). If you missed the exciting live-streamed virtual event last night, you can still watch the recording on YouTube or Facebook.

Lastly, Jamie was spotted looking mighty comfy in a blanket nest today. The weather was a bit cooler, so big blanket nests seemed to be the theme of the day for a lot of the chimps. At one point Missy was so wrapped up in a blanket we couldn’t tell who it was until she poked her head out!

We can’t thank everyone enough who has participated in HOOT! this year. It’s so amazing to have so much support and help in expanding the home for these wonderful chimpanzees (and bovine!). You all are amazing!

Gordo looking fabulous in his box!
Honey B always watching.
Terry resting between a game of chase
Jamie in her blanket nest.
Burrito resting after a run around the hill with Chad. Katelyn and I were ahead of them racing Jamie in the gator!

Building friendships

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If you’ve been following along with our latest round of introductions, we’ve had some ups and downs in the process. Despite a few setbacks, the chimpanzees and their caregivers have bravely forged ahead, trying and retrying different small configurations of the groups so they can continue to build (or rebuild) relationships.

We continue the intro process so the chimps can share moments together like today’s lengthy play session between Rayne and Honey B.  The two of them had another raucous play date in the front rooms this afternoon. It’s our hope that this is just one of many joy filled moments that the two get to share together.

Be sure to bid on the note card sets featuring photos of Rayne, Honey B and the rest of their group mates. You can check them out on our Hoot! online auction, happening right now!

Cy and Honey B Meet Again

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As Chad mentioned yesterday, it was a busy day and today was no different. Introductions continue, today we were able to have Cy and Honey B meet again! We can almost guarantee when we try to separate chimps to do introductions that Cy is the first to offer his help. While this is helpful, we also want Mave, Willy B, and Honey B to meet other individuals. However, it is important for everyone to establish strong relationships with each other, so meeting multiple times is good. So far Honey B is kicking butt at making friends! As you will see in the video, Cy and Honey B have a lot of fun together, it is rough play, but the both of them have a good time!

Do not forget to bid on our amazing auction items. If you haven’t looked at the art pieces yet, they will take your breath away! I personally have my eye on the Nutmeg watercolor. Join us on Saturday at 6pm for virtual HOOT!

Cy greeting us good morning in the Green House.

Lucky wrapped in a LOT of paper.

What A Day

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Whew! What a day! When we arrive in the morning, we never know what kind of day it will be. This is why we expect most scenarios that can arise and try to be prepared for them.

After we got done cleaning all the enclosures, we were prepared to start the introduction process for today. As we are continuing planning and preparing for each introduction, we decided it was time to try a two-on-two introduction. One thing to keep in mind is that just because certain combinations of one-on-ones go well doesn’t necessarily mean things will automatically fall into place when you combine certain dyads together. So today Cy and Lucky met with Willy B and Mave. When they first met through the mesh caging, there was the expected displaying and screaming. When things calmed down and they were showing signs of wanting to be together, we let them into the same areas with each other. When the doors opened, they greeted each other with some grooming. But it was short lived. Similar to humans, when you are starting to get to know another person, you’re also getting to know their body language and how to translate their intentions. There was some miscommunication between Cy and Mave. Cy seemed like he wanted to play, and Mave misinterpreted it wrong. There was a lot of screaming from all parties and a non-injurious scuffle. We were able to separate everybody from being in the same area, though they still could have contact through the mesh. After an event like this, it’s also important that amends can be made. As we were discussing our plans to reunite them with their respective groups, we found all four of them grooming and playing with each other through the mesh. We allowed them to continue their interactions to ensure there were no hurt feelings between them until dinner time.

(Front to back) Mave and Willy B (left side) groom with Cy and Lucky (right side).

Though this meeting wasn’t the best outcome, it also wasn’t the worst. There were glimmers of hope mixed within the chaos. And amends were seemingly made as it took a little bit of convincing at dinner to have Mave and Willy B leave Cy and Lucky at the mesh caging. Most of this is what we expected might happen and were prepared for it.

So with the kind of day it was, I wasn’t able to get very many photos. But thankfully, Kelsi and Sam allowed me to use some of the photos they were able to get from throughout the day to share.

Kelsi was able to get this photo of Lucky lounging on the firehose after her meeting with Mave and Willy B today.
Sam was able to get this photo of Burrito today during a break between one of their play sessions.
And one I was able to take of Cy eating a sweet potato yesterday during lunch.

We want to thank you all for the support you have given us throughout this process and throughout the years.

For those you have followed for a while, then you know that our annual gala is upon us! Similar to last year, Hoot! will be held as an online auction! There are some amazing items up for bid, with bidding live now! Be sure to check out some of these items and don’t forget to tune in this Saturday at 6PM PST for the live event! We hope to see you there!