Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzee sanctuary

Getting prepped!

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Exciting things are happening at the sanctuary! We are preparing to break ground on Phase 1 of our expansion plans! Today JB moved our temporary clinic/break room (AKA the Desert Fox travel trailer) just outside the perimeter fence to make way for the construction that is imminent! We also have a special groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Saturday and a date set for construction to begin early next month! We will post a more thorough blog update soon, with the details of what’s to come with our expansion, but for now enjoy these photos from today.

Ellie the elk was on hand to supervise the trailer moving process:

Annie, Negra, and Foxie investigating the new empty space in their view:

Here’s what their view looks like now! Next up, this shelter is going to be transplanted to a new location at the sanctuary. Stay tuned!

In memory of Ruth Syrop

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David Beckett sponsored today for the chimpanzees in memory of Ruth Syrop.

David, thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees in Ruth’s memory. We’re always so touched when someone chooses to remember and honor someone special to them by making a difference in the lives of others. I can’t think of a more wonderful remembrance and legacy of one’s life. We so appreciate your gift and so do the chimps!

Jody:

Missy:

Annie:

The joy of being Foxie

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Foxie has been full of spitfire and shenanigans today, her hair standing on end (pilo-erect) almost all day due to her seemingly constant state of joy and excitement. She’s been engaging us in wild games of chase, carrying a minimum of three dolls everywhere she goes, and just entirely enjoying her day.

J.B. captured photos of Foxie the other day during the celebration of the chimps’ 10th anniversary and Negra’s birthday, her and her new France Dora doll, out on Young’s Hill by themselves enjoying a spin under one of the structures in between foraging. Pure joy. Pure Foxie.

In memory of Koko, a very special gorilla

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As you may have heard, The Gorilla Foundation sadly shared that Koko the gorilla passed away in her sleep on June 19th. People the world over have been moved by Koko and her story, as well as the two other gorillas at The Gorilla Foundation, Michael, who became part of Project Koko, learning American Sign Language with Koko until his passing in 2000, and Ndume, who was brought to The Gorilla Foundation from the Cincinnatti Zoo in the hopes of forming a bond with Koko, and currently still resides there.

As humans we tend to be intrigued, if not deeply passionate about our fellow great apes. We often see so much of ourselves in them, but also so much of them in ourselves. We are mesmerized by the beautiful, creative, unique, complicated, intelligent and emotional individuals they are.

We’ve been touched this week by friends of  the chimpanzees who have chosen to make a difference in their lives by sponsoring days of sanctuary as a way to honor Koko and the unique person she was.

Arva Roland sponsored today’s day of sanctuary “in memory of Koko, a very special gorilla.” Our hearts and thoughts are with all those who cared for and loved Koko.

Koko (photo credit to Ron Cohn and The Gorilla Foundation):

Arva, thank you for your compassion and for remembering Koko today. Your heartfelt gift makes a lasting difference in the lives of the chimpanzees and we appreciate you including them as you honor Koko and her life.

Negra:

Burrito:

Foxie and Jamie:

Evening adventure

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Last night, like so many other summer evenings, Jamie and friends decided to keep the day going past dinner time, when staff might ordinarily close up and say good night. This is a pretty common practice for Jamie during the summer months, to want to keep the door open to Young’s Hill for more perimeter walks in cooler weather (and who can blame her?!). The chimps have access to the rest of their enclosure, including the open air green house, all night, but before staff can finish for the day, we need to close off Young’s Hill and make sure everyone is safe and secure at the sanctuary.

Yesterday Jamie (who was working on enrichment food puzzles in the playroom), was assisted by Foxie, who ran to block the doorway when we went to close the door to the hill. As a sanctuary, the chimps ultimately get to make the decisions on where they want to be at any given time, so we humans just needed to wait and see where the evening would take us. With the decision made on keeping the door open, Jamie and I set out for our first perimeter patrol of the evening (with me on the other side of the fence of course). As we walked our final leg of Young’s Hill together, Annie let us know with raucous alarm calls, that a snake had been spotted on the hill. She was so loud and intent that her alarm calls echoed off the neighboring hillside and amped her up even more!

Jamie and Foxie were first on the scene to look for the snake. Jamie searched through the grass and must have seen it, because she screamed and needed a lot of reassurance from the other chimps. She went from browsing through the grass, to climbing the structures and avoiding touching the ground so she could keep an eye out for it.

Here’s the boss keeping a lookout last night:

And some of her agile maneuvering to stay out of the grass:

The snake seemed to change Jamie’s opinion of spending a lot more time outside, because she soon decided she’d rather fish out peanut butter from enrichment tubes than keep up the search. Never fear, the hunt resumed today as she has returned to the area several more times to look for the offending creature. For now, the coast seems to be clear!

After the party

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The chimpanzees, and particularly the boss lady, started the day out a little tense and have pretty much stuck to that theme all day. There have been a lot of minor arguments and screaming, tension at meals, all stuff that is normal at times in the realm of chimp society. And if even one person is feeling tense, it affects the entire group. Who really knows what the cause is today other than the chimps.  There has been a lot of excitement and new happenings in the last week, perhaps an argument between them last night, getting used to the sudden warmer weather, or maybe just waking up on the wrong side of the nest like we all do sometimes. At any rate, a breakfast forage in the cool morning air with time to explore the hill together, and apart, seemed like a good way to start the day.

We’ve been writing all this special week of celebration about a new side of Negra we’ve been seeing. And today’s been no different. With what seemed like an extra purpose in her step, Negra was the first to lead everyone onto the hill this morning and she explored and rambled around on her own for quite some time:

Annie and Negra (background):

Jody chose ALL the watermelon then high-tailed it back to the greenhouse to relish it all while making her classic happy dinosaur (low moan) noises as only Jody can do:

Missy looking so little out there:

Jamie: “This is serious business.”

Foxie and France Dora were busy exploring up and down and hither and yon:

Even within a day of rest and relaxation after all the excitement of the week there have been things happening left and right! As the weather heated up this afternoon we decided to serve snow cones using the chimps’ shaved ice machine with a few frozen grapes and watermelon mixed in.

Then later in the day there was suddenly a huge ruckus with Annie screaming at the top of her lungs. We assumed a disagreement was happening when everyone broke out into alarm calls and we ran in to see a rather large (and harmless) snake, a beautiful yellow-bellied racer, in the playroom who was desperately trying to find his/her way back out the barn doors they had crawled under. The chimps will usually grab or hit smaller garter snakes, but I think due to the size of this one no one was willing to touch it (thankfully, for the snake). But that didn’t stop Jamie from toppling her kitchenette over onto them and throwing random items in attempt to squish the snake. The poor thing was doing their best to get the heck out of there, but couldn’t get traction on the slick floor! We humans were all quietly cheering the snake toward the door, holding our breath (because these things don’t usually end well for the snake) when who but brave little Foxie (and without Dora!) finally took one big swipe and pushed the snake back outside! Yeah, Foxie! Kelsi and I ran outside just in time to see the snake racing off through the fence, unscathed and probably trying to figure out what the heck just happened.

As I write this, all the chimps are settling down into their night nests after a wonderful dinner forage of fresh summer veggies and a favorite evening food puzzle of grab bags. These bags are filled with a variety of enrichment and toys and most importantly to the chimps, some kind of food. Tonight it was stacking containers that screw together filled with small amounts of peanut butter. To say Jamie adores these bags is an understatement. She typically runs around collecting as many as she can, tossing them over her should into a big pile that none of the other chimps would think to touch. As we said our goodnights she was literally surrounded by all her bags, happy as a clam.

Somewhere in all the happenings today I unfortunately lost a few extra photos from yesterdays party I was going to share. Who knows, maybe they will resurface. But! I did capture a priceless bonus photo from today! Often when Jamie builds a nest she likes to incorporate larger items to surround her, rather like a fort. Today she seemed to have had enough of everyone and went all out creating a wall to surround herself with from her kitchenette (notice the doors open to provide more cover) and the brilliant move of using the shopping basket to secretly peer through and watch our every move. All she needed was a moat. A little creepy, a lot brilliant! She is amazing. But we knew this.

More firsts after ten years

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The featured photo (the one at the top of the page) literally brought tears to my eyes this morning. Well, not the photo itself, but seeing Negra in the grass with that very relaxed face. She has come so far in the last ten years, and has made new strides just in the last two weeks since I wrote about her (and Foxie’s and Annie’s) independence. And she’s not the only one (there’s a bonus Burrito story down below the photos of Negra).

Two days ago, following our PRT session, I was starting on a walk with Jamie, when I noticed an unmistakable figure ahead. Though I knew it could only be Negra, I really questioned my eyes when I saw this chimpanzee person climb into the hammock. Luckily I had the camera with me and was able to get evidence of what I believe is a first-ever event.

 

Negra’s main purpose on the hill these days is to find prickly lettuce. She sets off on these expeditions with a certain amount of determination, so it was very special that she stopped and took in the view from this new perspective. And just look at her face in that photo of her in the hammock and the featured photo – she is relaxed, content, and at home.

After this pause, she continued on her journey:

 

almost disappearing into the sea of grass:

 

Once she happened upon a spot to forage for the plants she is so fond of, she disappeared again, this time into a sea of wild mustard:

 

I moved to get a better angle (Jamie was being quite patient with me taking photos of Negra, waiting to continue the walk we had begun):

 

Here’s one for perspective. Negra is at the very top of the hill, beyond the tower structures:

 

Lately on these treks, another chimpanzee, usually Jody (below) or Missy, will join Negra. Perhaps they are ensuring everything is okay, or maybe they are hoping to share in her harvest:

 

At 45, after decades of living in confinement, Negra proves that it is never too late for anyone to try something new and become something you never thought you would be.

 

Perhaps Burrito has been observing Negra’s new sense of adventure because today he climbed up onto to the bar structure!

Sometimes I don’t notice when someone hasn’t done something until I see them do it for the first time.

 

I am pretty sure that Foxie was aware that this was a new occasion because she was very excited to see Burrito up there next to her.

 

and he seemed pleased with the experience too:

 

What a fantastic week of firsts as we head into tomorrow’s celebration of the ten year anniversary of the chimpanzees’ arrival to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.