chimpanzee sanctuary

A wrench in the plans

December 30, 2021 by Anna

No day at the sanctuary is off to a good start when you have to call JB to do some emergency maintenance. His plate is full enough as it is and to top it off, we’re in the middle of a cold snap/snow globe situation in Central Washington which requires additional plowing work.

This morning I begrudgingly called for his help over the radio. “Anna to JB. Door G won’t close all the way. There is a 2 inch gap at the bottom and it refuses to go any lower.” The remote controlled door simply ground to a halt with nothing visibly blocking its progress.

Any door issues we have, we take very seriously and get them fixed as soon as possible. JB would need to take a panel off the door to examine the inner workings of the hydraulics and if he couldn’t fix the door himself, we would need to call in an expert (in the middle of a blizzard, don’t forget).

JB agreed to come do some trouble shooting of the chimp door later in the morning after we finished cleaning the playrooms. Luckily, we had an alternate plan for shifting Honey B, Willy B and Mave and we didn’t need that particular door to be closed to protect staff and start our work.

About a half hour into our cleaning process, Kelsi came to find me. The broken door mystery had been solved.

A small toy nail sitting in the groove of the door, neatly tucked just out of sight of the door operator.

Now only one question remains. Was this an accidental coincidence? Did this toy casually roll into the door’s track, creating an unforeseen holdup in the morning cleaning routine? Possibly… We will never really know for sure…

But my bet is this was no act of serendipity. And there is just one suspect I have on my list that is equal parts mischievous and stubborn enough to pull off such a prank.

Suspect #1: Honey B the obstinate. Seen here casually putting her arm in a doorway to prevent room 7 from being closed off.

The Bees Knees

December 29, 2021 by Kelsi

The thing about Honey B is that she really is the bees knees. I admire Honey B’s spontaneous nature, her silly demeanor, and when she sets her mind on something she won’t let anything get in the way. Honey B decided that yesterday front room 7 did not need to be cleaned. She was kind of right as it really just had toys and a lot of paper, just the way she likes it. However, today I really wanted to clean it for not just Honey B, but for Mave and Willy B too. It didn’t look promising at first, but eventually she shifted over for us.

Honey B in front room 7, just the way she likes it:

After all the front rooms were cleaned we handed Honey B and Mave extra rolls of wrapping paper from their Christmas party!

Mave was very pleased about this!

I will leave you with one last Honey Bees photos.

Cold Snap

December 28, 2021 by Chad de Bree

The Pacific Northwest is experiencing a cold snap this week. Today the high is 18ºF with a low of 5ºF tonight. With temperatures such as these, the chimpanzees have sought refuge in the upstairs areas of their respective playrooms where it is nice and warm. They are all napping as I write this.

With days like today, it can be difficult to get photos of the chimpanzees. The upstairs areas are notoriously difficult (read pretty much impossible) to take photos of. I was able to get a few opportunistically throughout the afternoon, mostly during lunch when they all came down.

Willy B working up his display toward Cy’s group during lunch service.

Dora waiting for her turn to be served her lunch.

Rayne eating her primate chow on the highest leaf platform on the tree in her playroom.

Micro/Macro: The Sequel

December 27, 2021 by Anthony

Today’s post is a sequel to a blog entry I penned back in October: Micro/Macro.

In case you’re short for time or simply don’t want to delve back into the archives, I’ll briefly summarize the first post with this TL;DR (“too long; didn’t read”):

Macro photography is the practice of photographing objects so they are magnified at a ratio larger than 1:1. It’s good for taking pictures of small subjects or zooming in on select portions of larger things. I personally rented a versatile macro lens for my Nikon camera (they call theirs a “micro” lens) and used it to take close-ups of the chimps. Some of these images turned out nice.

Well, it probably won’t surprise you to know that I eventually purchased the micro lens for myself (partially because I’m committed to improving my skills and partially because I’m a helpless sucker for Cyber Monday deals on new tech gear).

The lens arrived on Christmas Eve and I immediately brought it to the sanctuary the next day. Some of the chimps were once again patient enough to model for me as I reacquainted myself with the new glass. Half-sisters Honey B and Lucky were extremely interested in the lens and kindly tolerated my company as they relaxed in their indoor areas, resulting in the following photos:

Honey B foraging and unwrapping gifts on Christmas Day

So This is Christmas 2021

December 25, 2021 by Diana

We are very grateful to be able to throw such fun parties for the chimpanzees! It’s all because of the people in their lives who care – people who have personally known the chimpanzees for years and those who only recently were introduced to the sanctuary online.

A giant thank you to each and every person who makes sanctuary a reality for these incredibly deserving individuals, including the bovines who got their first taste of some new alfalfa today!

The Eve of the Eve

December 23, 2021 by Sofia Castro-Loza

Holiday preparations continue as caregiver elves now take on the challenge of wrapping at record pace all the toys that were so nicely donated by our amazing supporters. For the chimps today is just a normal day. Willy B, Honey B and Mave got some hanging puzzles as enrichment this morning to encourage foraging behaviors. Willy B was all about it!

Here’s two sequences of Willy B getting going nuts about nuts!

Sequence #1

Goal achieved

Sequence #2

Goal achieved

Willy B about to catch an almond as it falls

Mave was also very excited about nuts

Three More Sleeps

December 22, 2021 by Kelsi

This month has flown by! Can you believe there are only three days left until the chimps celebrate Christmas? The caregiver elves are working really hard to get everything ready for the highly anticipated day! Today Anna and Chad built Jamie and Honey B’s workbenches! Lucky’s group has not yet experienced a CSNW Christmas and we look forward to them opening the amazing presents everyone has donated! Every year we express our gratitude to you all for your generous donations and kind words and this year is no different! As the presents roll in, I am always in awe of how much support you all give to us! So thank you!