Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzee sanctuary

Countdown to Jamieween!

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October is one of the most exciting months here at CSNW. Between the respite of cool weather after a hot, dry summer and the excitement of Jamieween around the corner, it’s a month that everyone looks forward to. Speaking of Jamieween, we are only two sleeps away from the big party day!

As we countdown, I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane and look back at previous Jamieween celebrations. 🙂

Of course, our Great Pumpkin Thief herself a la Jamieween 2011:

Jamie, circa 2013, enjoying party festivities:

2013 Negra enjoying a chunk of the great pumpkin:

2013 Foxie & Great Pumpkin:

2015 Burrito enjoying a pumpkin bowl:

2021 Annie, A Scarecrow, & A Pumpkin:

Missy, last year, with her pomegranate loot:

We’re prepping and getting excited for this year’s Jamieween celebration! Let us know your favorite Jamieween party memories in the comments so we can re-live all those good memories, together.

Also! There’s two other exciting things happening on October 31st. First, our annual Comfort & Joy Quid Pro Throw online auction opens up! Register to bid on items for the chimps that we will give to them on your behalf and also bid on unique items for yourself or for a loved one! We will be adding new items regularly, so you’ll want to check back in throughout. Plus, registering means you will have the opportunity to join us for a live zoom on Lucky’s birthday (November 6th). Be sure to register and get your account set up today, so you’re ready for when it goes live!

Also, Jamieween is the last day to vote for our 2025 CSNW Calendar Cover Photo. You can vote once a day through October 31st, so be sure to vote for your favorite!

A Moment with Gordo

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Today has been a very busy day here in the chimp house, so I am here with a photo blog from today’s lunch forage! It’s been a bit of a rainy fall day here, but the rain came later in the afternoon so we were able to do lunch forages for both groups. I took the camera out to see what everyone was up to and boy, was Gordo ready for a close-up!

Also- a reminder that one of our favorite holidays is right around the corner, Jamie-ween! We have some new boots for her up on our Amazon wish-list, because what better way to celebrate than a new pair of boots? 🙂

A montage à la our handsome Gordo:

Bonus shot of Lucky in the latest fashion:

Grooming with The Boss

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The chimp house is laid out such that depending on where you are standing in the foyer, chimps from either group could see you and might be working to get your attention. Whether it’s Burrito trying to get you to come over for a game of chase or Terry inviting you for a grooming session, it’s easy to get pulled in different directions.

Jamie is another who will work to snag a few moments of your time. 🙂 She might want to go on a patrol around Young’s Hill, or maybe she wants a specific book that’s on the windowsill, or perhaps she is wanting to groom.

Earlier this week I shuffled through the foyer and into the kitchen to work on some afternoon task list items, when I looked down the hallway and spotted Jamie sitting in one of the front rooms, staring right back at me- intensely. I thought she might want a book or a boot, so I went over to see if I could get something for her. When I got close and crouched down, she shifted her sitting position and pressed her right arm / side against the caging. This was her way of inviting me to sit for a grooming session, so I asked her to wait while I went and grabbed a grooming tool.

An example of Jamie presenting her arm for grooming.

We engage in protected contact with the chimps and we will often use our knuckle (with our fingers tucked into our palms) to knuckle rub them when their body is pressed against the caging enough so that our fingers do not penetrate through the caging. We will also use tools (in this case, a long flexible plastic tube-like thing) to groom with them and this allows us more range. I was hoping for a longer grooming session, so I went and grabbed one and Jamie kindly waited for me to hustle back.

Jamie presenting her shoulder / side for grooming (from another grooming session, this one in the greenhouse).

We sat together, quietly, for about twenty minutes while I groomed Jamie. We use species-specific behaviors with the chimps, which means that I was teeth clacking and lip smacking throughout. Every now and then I would pull the grooming tool back and breathy pant, to gauge if she wanted to continue or if she was done. She would make eye contact with me and give slight head nods, which was my cue to continue. Every now and then she would shift her position to give me access to her back, or her shoulder, or her left side. We would also pass the tool back and forth, with her taking turns grooming the dirt off my legs or my scrubs. When she was ready to be done interacting with me, she got up and walked into the playroom.

Jamie taking a turn grooming me with our grooming tool.

Grooming is a great way to spend quality time with the chimps. It builds your relationship with them and allows for quiet moments in each other’s presence. I eventually found my way back into the kitchen and continued on with the to-do’s of the day, but it’s those moments that stay with you.

Also! In case you haven’t heard, Giving Day for Apes is coming up on Tuesday, October 8th. We need your help to reach our fundraising goal and every dollar goes to the care of our deserving residents and two important projects here at CSNW. We have grown quite a bit over the last few years and one of these projects is building a support building for staff. The other one is to honor the individuals who have called CSNW home and passed on. This will be a space to honor the individuals we have loved, said goodbye to, and continue to love. It is located at the base of the hill where both outdoor enclosures are built. I have to say that watching the construction over this last week has been emotional for me personally. It will be a lovely area to reminisce, honor, and ensure that their stories live on.

Construction on the Memorial Garden. 

Early Giving is open now, with day of prizes for organizations in a variety of categories (Most Donations Raised between 10:00-11:00am PT, for example). Be sure to save it in your calendars and maximize your generosity!

And a preemptive thank you, for all that you do to support the work we do here. The support of this community is truly felt every day.

Five Years Later

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Five years ago to the day CSNW grew by three and welcomed home Honey B, Willy B, and Mave. After beginning their lives in biomedical research and then living at Wildlife Waystation, a wild animal shelter outside of Los Angeles that closed its doors after more than 40 years, they arrived here on August 18, 2019.

A lot has happened in five years- their group grew by 6 in their integration with Cy’s group and they gained access to and gained confidence exploring their 2-acre outdoor enclosure (The Bray). These are just two examples out of many. Their worlds have grown quite a lot since arriving here and ours have, too. Every day with them is exciting and we are so glad to know, and adore, them!

Check out today’s video to see how we celebrated (hint: pasta!).

But first! Thanks to those of you who filled out the survey from Diana’s blog post about the series Chimp Crazy. The first episode airs this evening (August 18th) on HBO and streams on Max at 10 p.m. PT.

The North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance (NAPSA) and Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest (CSNW), along with a special guest, will be hosting a discussion of the first episode. Join us this Tuesday, August 20 via Zoom at 6:00 PM PST/9:00 PM EST to explore Episode 1: Monkey Love. We will be discussing the contents of the episode as well as some history around the use of primates in entertainment and the pet trade, the legality of owning primates as pets, and the Captive Primate Safety Act. Register to join this discussion!

We understand that there may be scenes in the series that could be difficult for primate welfare advocates to watch. Our goal is to provide a space where people can openly share their thoughts and learn more about how they can help these remarkable primates.

Mave:

Honey B:

Willy B:

The Pudding Situation

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There are a lot of important roles here in the chimp house that have to be filled daily that staff members rotate through. We have our lead caregiver who shifts Jamie’s side of the building and writes the blog, a second shifter that shifts Cy’s side of the building, a second staff role that is in charge of meds prep and receives safety checks, and a cattle care role who is in charge of cattle for the day. Everyone cleans and helps with the task list, but these roles change up how your day looks.

Each role has its challenges, from chimps not shifting to cattle trying to steal each others food. The second staff role, though, can definitely be challenging- depending on the day, the meds, and the chimp who needs them. 🙂

Negra, lovingly referred to as the Queen of CSNW, is our nearest, dearest, eldest resident. She has arthritis and she receives pain medication to help with her symptoms. She prefers to take her meds in a dixie cup mixed with non-dairy chocolate pudding, naturally, and it’s been a pretty consistent strategy to make sure she gets them daily. It used to be peanut butter that she preferred and it wouldn’t surprise me if, at some point, she decided that she was totally over the pudding, but that’s a worry for another day (and for the unlucky individual who is second staff when it happens).

This morning Negra allowed me to film her as she enjoyed her pudding cup, while she watched the rest of her group explore Young’s Hill. I hope you enjoy her happy food grunts, kissy lips, and general contentedness.

It Takes a Village: Willy B’s Trip to the Clinic

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One of the amazing things about sanctuary work is how it brings together so many different people. Individuals with different skills, backgrounds, and interests collaborate to ensure that all the residents of CSNW receive the top-notch care that they deserve. From behaviorists, to veterinarians, to anthropologists, to dentists, to ultrasound experts, to fundraising gurus- it truly takes a village.

And, in this line of work, it takes a village of people who are always ready to step in and help- no matter the day, time, or situation. Today was one of those days where we needed the village. 🙂

During a fight yesterday, Willy B sustained a traumatic near-amputation of the tip of a toe on his right foot. In other words, someone bit the end of his toe off but it was still attached. This was clearly a wound that was not going to heal easily or comfortably on its own without surgical intervention. After seeing the wound, Ellen, Chad, and Krissy immediately worked together to get Willy B isolated in the front rooms to better assess it and contacted the staff who weren’t on site. Erin and JB got to work on the logistics of the procedure.

Unexpected plot twist: a caveat of working with nonhuman primates is that we have to take very seriously not exposing the chimps to any illness that we might have. If we feel like we are coming down with a cold, sore throat, etc., we are not in the chimp house until we feel better. You likely have seen photos of staff wearing masks, which is a precaution we take since chimpanzees are so susceptible to human illnesses. Sunday morning we learned that JB and Diana would be out due to illness and yesterday evening we learned that Erin wasn’t well either, so the three of them would have to avoid the chimp house if at all possible.

It’s for this very reason that Dr. Erin and the team here at the sanctuary have worked so hard to establish a network of veterinarians, physicians, technicians, and nurses that can lend a hand or even take over entirely when primary veterinary staff aren’t available. It’s also the reason why Dr. Erin includes roles for staff members in every procedure, even when she has enough support, so that we all feel comfortable jumping in to help when it’s truly needed. Like today.

While Dr. Erin worked to put together a team for the procedure, we were also navigating the logistics of staffing to meet the needs for the chimp house. We needed people in the clinic and we also needed people taking care of our three bovines and other 14 chimps- cleaning, laundry, meds prep, meal prep, enrichment, etc. Since today is Monday, half of our staff were also on their weekends. Kelsi, Jenna, and Anna all sacrificed their Sunday to come in and help with the procedure and also with the running of the day.

Dr. Erin is amazing for a lot of reasons- not just because she is so wonderful at her job. From last night to this morning, she was able to put together a team of experts from her network for today’s procedure. Today, we had the pleasure of working with Dr. Donna Mensching (DVM and CSNW board member!), Dr. Yousef Jafarey (DVM), Spencer Soffe (CRNA), Christin Burns (Vet Assistant), and Jessica Mace (LVT). This was my first procedure that Erin hasn’t been on site for and I realized how much I’ve taken for granted the comfort that comes with having her here, because we all know she would do anything for these guys. I think I can speak for all of us, though, that as soon as the team she assembled arrived we all immediately felt like Willy B was in great hands. The team worked together to ensure Willy B got the best care. The last two bones in the injured toe were removed in order to get good wound closure and optimal healing and we will be keeping a close eye on him as it heals.

Dr. Donna Mensching working on Willy B’s toe:

Dr. Yousef Jafarey (DVM), Christin Burns (Vet Assistant), and Kelsi (Outreach Coordinator and also now X-Ray Technician?!) getting x-rays on his foot before toe amputation:

From left to right: Dr. Yousef Jafarey (DVM), Jessica Mace (LVT), Spencer Soffe (CRNA), Christin Burns (Vet Assistant), & Dr. Donna Mensching (DVM)

The procedure went smooth and Willy B has been recovering very well. As I write this, Ellen and Kelsi are by his room keeping an eye on him. 🙂

A huge thank you to everyone who helped today run so smoothly. This is a darn good village to be a part of.