Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee sanctuary

International Primate Day 2020!

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Today is International Primate Day! The day was created in 2005 as a way to educate and raise awareness about various issues primates all around the world face, both in the wild and in captivity. As you know, all of our residents have come from the biomedical industry. Seven have called Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest home for 12 years now, while three have called it home for a year. Though we as staff consider ourselves very fortunate and lucky to be able to try to provide the best possible life for these 10 remarkable individuals, there are more who are in need of a new home.

Currently, there are chimpanzees at the Wildlife Waystation in Southern California who are awaiting new homes. For years, staff and volunteers there have provided care for all the animals who called Wildlife Waystation home. Unfortunately, the decision was made to close their doors last year. This left hundreds of animals in need of a new home. The only residents who remain are their chimpanzee residents. If you have been following our blog and/or the news, then you know we are one of the sanctuaries trying to expand in order to provide homes for some of these individuals as soon as possible.

Honey B watches the construction crew everyday as the new playrooms start to take shape.

You can read more about how you can help maintain those chimpanzees’ current care until they find new homes at The Chimpanzees in Need webpage.

You can also support us as we expand to bring some of these chimpanzees home to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. We are currently preparing for our first ever online gala! Due to the current pandemic, the decision was made to hold Hoot! online this year. Be sure to visit the Hoot! 2020 site to browse some of the amazing things that will be up to bid on September 12th with more to come!

Now for the happenings of today (and yesterday)!

If you watched the video, then you know there was a lot of playing going on between Mave, Honey B, and Willy B! There were scarce moments where we couldn’t hear laughter coming from that side of the building.

Yesterday, we gave them a food puzzle that seems to becoming one of their new favorites: Firehose Cubes! We put small things into the cube for them to fish out. Some things have food in them, some don’t. One item that did have nuts in them were fanny packs. Honey B was very delicate with hers and would carefully unzip the pouches to retrieve the food inside. Willy B, on the other hand, used his canines to rip it open. We could only guess what Honey B was thinking as she watched this all unfold to one of her fanny packs.

The Seven received a breakfast forage on Young’s Hill.

Beautiful Jody was seen all over the place, picking up as many orange slices and apple slices as she could.

She had to take a break and eat some of her haul, as Jamie casually ate as she went.

Missy’s first place to forage for food was in Negra’s Cabin.

Negra was actually on a platform a little bit away.

Burrito had both hands and mouthful as he grabbed whatever was in sight.

Later in the afternoon, we decided to treat everybody with a round of paper braids!

Jody enjoying hers.

Annie seemingly inhaled hers!

Note: As I was taking these photos of everybody enjoying their paper braids, I felt this presence. Like the feeling a shark circling it’s prey. With one loud stomp of the foot, my eyes shifted a little to the right. There was a flash of fur and paper braids through a child’s slide in the Greenhouse.

The presence was getting nearer and nearer. I could almost hear the theme song to Jaws being played but in a rendition of raspberries/Bronx cheers.

Who could it be!?

Burrito!!!

He was very enthused to play, but also very occupied with his paper braids. Not knowing what he wanted to do, he decided to play toe tickle. This version was with him on his back while poking his toes through the mesh. This allowed him to play and eat his paper braids.

We also gave Willy B, Honey B, and Mave paper braids.

Honey B decided to help Mave by picking up the seeds she missed as she tore into the braids.

At lunch, Foxie decided to enjoy her beets, bell peppers and (Orange) Blossom dolls inside, while the others ate outside.

We all hope you had an amazing day and have a great evening!

 

Enrichment comes in many forms

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As you may be aware, Willy B and Honey B both love watching videos and checking out their photos on our phones. They also quite enjoy watching movies, more so than any of the other chimpanzees. Though we don’t play movies all the time, they are one more form of enrichment we offer the chimpanzees that they can choose to engage with or not. With Willy B and Honey B, as soon as the TV gets wheeled in they both get really excited! They seem to enjoy nature documentaries in particular, and will both sit in front of the TV, RIVETED, especially Willy B. (Honey is a busy woman and perhaps cannot contain her zooms quite as long as he does 🙂 ).

But we recently discovered the ultimate movie in Willy B’s opinion. He cannot get enough of it! I walked in Phase 1 after the chimps had lunch yesterday to find Willy sprawled out on the bench, glued to the TV, just like any of us might do on our couch. And his favorite movie??

Ice Age!

We have no idea what it is about this movie, but he LOVES it. It took me ages to get it set up and he somehow patiently waited for what must have felt like an eternity, never once losing interest. Some time later, one of us accidentally tripped the cord walking past and unplugged it and Willy B blew raspberries to let us know. Then one of us accidentally walked in front of the TV and Honey B waved her arms, seemingly suggesting, “Get out of the way!”

Willy B!!

But also just like most of us, I eventually caught him napping in front of the TV:

In other news, we caught Jamie and Foxie in a good ol’ game of head-butting (??). They were laughing so hard and then, these faces!!

And we recently had a kind supporter bring the gift of fresh mangoes for the chimpanzees! Annie is allergic to mangoes, so we cannot give them to the seven, but what a wonderful surprise for the three! Just to be on the safe side and prevent anything making it’s way to Annie, we don’t buy mangoes so we hadn’t yet offered them to Mave, Willy B and Honey B and we weren’t sure how they’d respond (they can be known to be a little particular with their food choices). Well, they knew exactly what they were and were so excited! Here’s Honey B enjoying hers at dinner tonight. And let me say, it’s incredible to watch them eat these! Literally, within seconds it’s completely gone and they spit out the pit that ends up looking like a Pringles potato chip. Honey B might suggest we all go try that.

Hype for HOOT!

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It would be an understatement to say that 2020 has been a rollercoaster of a year. At times, it’s felt more like a haunted house full of people who have all taken hallucinogenics (or something that is equally chaotic, confusing, and concerning).

Still, there are plenty of reasons to celebrate and we have much to be hopeful for. The chimps’ lives have been largely unaffected by the public health crisis and we’re working hard to keep it that way. Despite the economic uncertainty and logistical hurdles, we’ve managed to keep the residents happy and healthy, sustainably expand our staff, make upgrades to our existing property and facilities, and begin constructing new areas that will hopefully provide a home for more rescued chimpanzees.

All of this progress would be impossible without the financial support that comes from generous supporters, and we’re getting ready to host our biggest fundraising event of the year: HOOT 2020!

Unlike previous years, this edition of HOOT! will be a virtual celebration so that you can all participate from the comfort of your home (or office… we won’t tell anyone if you choose to spend your work day bidding on items). Of course, we’d love to be hosting you all in Seattle for a big ole’ shindig, but the “virtualness” of this year’s party has some benefits of its own. As always, there are some amazing items and experiences up for auction (bidding starts September 2nd!) and the itinerary also includes a happy hour and a pant-hoot contest.

The preparations have been underway for quite some time, but some aspects of the event are still developing. Burrito witnessed something that excited him today, but you’ll have to tune into the event to see what it was…

To get started, you can go to the HOOT! 2020 website hosted by Auction Frogs. Seriously, go to the website! I’m not going to post too many spoilers here, but we have a lot planned for this big event!!!

P.S. Here’s a little spoiler. Saxophone by Tobi Stone.

Never too old to play

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If Burrito and Negra in today’s video do not put a smile on your face and a desire in your heart to help support them and the sanctuary, well I just don’t know what will.

HOOT! is coming up fast! I’ll be spending the next few days madly uploading more auction items – there are some really fun and beautiful things to bid on, and there are a lot of reasons to give. Hope for the future!

P.S. I’m still waiting on your pant-hoot submissions – don’t forget!

Burrito Takes Over The Live Stream

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Today, we let you all watch one of the most exciting events that takes place at the sanctuary every day: lunch.

For those of you who were busy during the live stream or were unable to connect via Facebook, you can watch the recording here. (Unfortunately, it’s not possible to embed Facebook videos directly into the blog post.)

Despite some early technical obstacles, I was eventually able to broadcast a live feed that showed the Seven foraging on Young’s Hill, their outdoor enclosure. I then brought my phone to the Greenhouse so that the chimpanzees could join in on the chat. Burrito, of course, was interested in playing chase and seemed intrigued by the Facebook video being sent to all of you from the palm of my hand. As usual, he stole the show.

It was great to see so many viewers join in on the broadcast, despite the short notice and connection troubles. I tried to answer some questions during the stream while Diana typed out additional responses from the sanctuary’s office. I wasn’t expecting so much engagement (170+ comments in 24 minutes!), so I will do my best to address any additional inquiries throughout the day.

Thank you all for your patience, interest, and support!

Here are some still photographs to accompany the today’s events.

Annie:

Negra:

Honey B:

Burrito:

The Neighbor’s Horses:

And, finally, an intimate moment shared between Honey (one of our resident cattle) and one of the neighboring mares:

 

Enriching the Day

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It has been one year and one week since Mave, Honey B, and Willy B arrived at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Since their arrival, we have introduced them to the nightly routine of evening enrichment puzzles. Talking to some of the other staff members, when the Three first arrived, they would have this look of confusion on their face when they received something AFTER their dinner.

The Evening Enrichment Puzzles are a way for the chimpanzees exercise their cognitive abilities while also receiving a food reward. Puzzles could also be seen as a means to try to alleviate boredom. The key to an enrichment problem is to not make them so easy, there is no challenge in completing them. It also means not to make them so difficult, they get frustrated and quit. There is a balance to be made when developing an enrichment food puzzle.

Now that the Three have been here for a year, they are used to (and sometimes anticipating) their evening puzzles. Here are some photos over the past several months of them engaged in their evening food puzzles:

Honey B cleverly found a new way to complete the PVC Tubes.

Mave decided to forego using her chopstick for the Dipper Tubes and just use her fingers.

Willy B searches for more raisins in his Raisin Board.

Mave searches for more hidden treats inside her Firehose Cube.

Honey B trying to find the sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a peanut butter Pine Cone.

Mave tries to fish out nuts from a Kong.

In the video, the Three interact with a puzzle called Frisbee Puzzles (or Hanging Frisbees). We realized after their party last week, that may have been the first time they received this puzzle. After it seemed they really enjoyed them last week, we decided to bump them up in the rotation and make the puzzles for them again today.

Happy Birthday, Becky!

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Good friend of the chimpanzees and bovines, Tobin, sponsored this day of sanctuary in honor of Becky Babcock, in celebration of her birthday! Tobin shared this message about today which is sure to bring a smile to all your hearts:

“I am sponsoring today in honor of my erstwhile “Chimpanzee Pal”, Rebecca Babcock. Ever since I first introduced Becky to the website of CSNW and the residents thereof, she has gone bananas (or, as the other August birthday chimps – Foxie and Missy – might have it, she has gone completely watermelons and tomatoes)! Rarely does one of our marathon cross-country phone calls transpire wherein we both speak at length about the Cle Elum 14. While our gossip is not salacious, no doubt our conversations are enough to make Annie’s ears perk up. And now that Becky is becoming a woman of a certain age, it is time for her to assume her adult responsibilities. If she is going to continue to rave and rave about Mave, the least that she can do is to become her Chimpanzee Pal on her birthday.”

Tobin, this is wonderful! Thank you for sharing your own love of the chimpanzees and continuing to add so much to the lives of the chimps and humans of the sanctuary, alike. We so appreciate you!

Happy Birthday, Becky! We’re so happy to welcome you to our chimpanzee family and we definitely understand the raving about Mave! I mean, how could you not? 🙂 Have a beautiful day!

Marvelous Mave:

Honey B and Mave:

And a bonus photo of beautiful, Jody, for you, Tobin: