Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee sanctuary

In special memory for Antionette

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This day of sanctuary was sponsored by Antoinette Bronson for her wedding anniversary and she shared this touching message about her gift:

“This is the first anniversary since my husband died and I wanted to honor his memory and the love we shared in a special way. Thank you for all you do to help the chimps in your care!”

Antoinette, thank you so much for sharing your heart, and such a special day, with the chimpanzees. We are deeply sorry for your loss and are touched that you would choose to make a difference in the chimpanzees’ lives as a way to honor your husband and your lives together. All of us here are sending you all the good thoughts and may this day bring memories of comfort, joy and ease to your heart.

Missy and Annie:

Cuddle Puddles and Tricky Puzzles

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There was a lot of activity in the Chimp House on this busy Sunday, but this post just focuses on the happenings in the newer part of the sanctuary’s main building.

In that wing of enclosures, Honey B, Mave and Willy B have continued to settle in and seem to grow more comfortable with each passing day. Mave, of course, is an expert nest-builder and can make herself comfortable in any place, at any time, and with any partner. This was true on her road trip from California, it was true when we introduced her to a group of strangers, and it remains true each and every morning.

Willy B

During the late morning hours, Mave sprawled out on the heated floor in a beam of sunlight and lazily picked through the remnants of breakfast. She was soon joined by Honey and Willy in what became a massive raft of fuzz. Grooming is done for more than just hygiene and maintenance; it is the glue that bonds chimps together and also serves to alleviate stress. It certainly seemed to be doing all of the above as the three chimps took turns dozing off while gently picking through each other’s hair.

The Cuddle Puddle

Afterwards, though, the chimps began to act goofy and rambunctious. Lately, Willy B has been making raucous displays using a pink toy car that he can drag and push around the front rooms. Last week, he used this unusual object to make constant noise for the entire duration of our weekly staff meeting. Even with the doors between the chimp area and the foyer closed, we still had to shout just to hear each other. He continued to drag the little car around today, but he seemed to be in a good mood. He interspersed the loud drumming with quick play sessions. During these bouts of play, Willy waits for a caregiver to approach the caging and then skips away with his characteristic double stomp serving as a figurative exclamation mark. I tried to take photos of him and Honey B chasing us around the building, but both were fascinated by the camera and kept trying to groom and kiss the lens.

Honey B’s intense stare
Honey B’s nose hairs
Willy B’s pink lower lip
Willy B’s nose hairs and inquisitive gaze

The day ended with a challenging set of enrichment puzzles that today’s volunteer crew worked hard to stock with nuts, seeds and raisins. Chimps don’t seem to have the finely-tuned dexterity that most humans have, but they still tend to do quite well for themselves and can even learn how to use simple tools for grooming and foraging.The three new chimps were skilled with such tasks long before the even arrived at CSNW, but it’s still fascinating to watch them solve the puzzles in order to extract the valued snacks that are tactfully hidden inside. Today’s smörgÃ¥sbord of hanging puzzles included raisin boards, boomer balls, shake bottles, and drop-down puzzles; each type requires a different perspective and strategy, but the chimps are intelligent enough to figure most of them out eventually. The seven original residents are experts at these tasks and even last year’s arrivals are not far behind, so the pressure is on us caregivers to devise novel challenges that also meet our standards for safety and durability. Kelsi recently highlighted some enrichment activities on the blog, and we also curate a public enrichment database on our website.

Honey B teases peanuts out of a ball puzzle
Willy B shakes nuts and raisins out of a bottle puzzle
Willy B uses a plastic tool to drag the raisins into the enclosure for optimal snacking accessibility
Honey B uses a chopstick to work raisins out of the board puzzle
Honey B successfully punches a raisin out of the board

Provisioning the chimps with a steady stream of enrichment objects, foods and materials is a massive endeavor. For blog readers and Facebook followers, the best ways to ensure the chimpanzees have ample enrichment are to purchase items directly from our wish list or to become a Chimpanzee Pal. As Diana highlighted yesterday, an amazing supporter will be giving us bonus donations for every new Chimpanzee Pal and Bovine Buddy who signs up before the end of this month. Honey B, Mave and Willy B (the three chimps mentioned in this post) are all available to be sponsored. Of course, we appreciate all the generous people who have already made contributions to the sanctuary!

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P.S. I mentioned that Mave is an expert at maintaining a constant state of warm comfort. As I sit here putting the finishing touches on this blog post, I can see her silhouette on the security camera. Even with the limited night vision, her Ewok frame and hobbit feet are easy to distinguish. She’s snuggled up in a giant blanket nest on the heated floor of Front Room 7 and her right leg is propped straight up on the caging. She’s one of a kind.

P.S.S. Mave just lazily rolled over and I’m shutting down the Chimp House for the night. It’s easier to leave when you know that the chimps will be safe and warm in their nests until morning. I hope that you all do the same!

Happy Valentine’s Day, Matt!

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This lovely day of sanctuary was sponsored by Sharon Langone for her husband, Matt Langone!

“Happy Valentine’s Day to my husband, Matt! We both love the work the team does at the sanctuary on Valentine’s Day and all year round- so it seemed fitting!”

Sharon and Matt, thank you so much for your support of the chimpanzees and cattle who call Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest home! We so appreciate your love for them and all of us here wish you a beautiful day filled with all, and who, you most love.

Chimpanzees “hug” and “kiss” all the time. And while it’s nearly impossible for us humans not to equate these gestures with our own human equivalents, in chimp lingo they are typically gestures of greeting and reassurance. But I don’t believe there is any less heart behind them. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! (Naturally, be sure to tune in later for the chimps’ party 🙂 ).

Annie and Missy:

Jody and Missy:

Jody and Missy:

An oldie, but goodie of Foxie and her troll doll:

Burrito:

Run with the Wind

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The sun was out. The clouds were gone. But the wind was a force to be reckoned with. With weather forecasts predicting the winds to be in the range of 14 mph to 34 mph today, the wind could be heard all throughout the Chimp House.

When I gave the Group of 7 access to Young’s Hill, there were only a few takers to initially go out. Jamie and Foxie were the first to go out and conduct a patrol around their outdoor enclosure. As they came around to the last stretch of their patrol, both Jamie and Foxie were racing toward the Greenhouse.

Judging by Foxie’s sneer, she was not a fan of the wind and just wanted the patrol to be over with.

Missy initially watched as Jamie and Foxie began their patrol, but seemed to be at a crossroads on whether to join them or not.

But Missy is Missy, and without warning, shot out of the raceway onto Young’s Hill. So fast I was only able to lift the camera and get a somewhat blurry photo of her racing to catch up with Jamie and Foxie.

But the wind was too much for Annie. She stayed in the doorway between the Greenhouse and Young’s Hill and watched as Missy charged up the Hill.

Burrito took no time at all to make his decision: Stay in the Greenhouse and let the plexiglass paneling block the wind.

Negra decided to bypass all that. She remained in the Playroom, covered in blankets, basking in the rays of the sun through the window.

On the other side of the Chimp House, Willy B was eager to go into the Chute. He grabbed the best seat in the house so he could watch a train go by and the birds who are starting to return from their winter break.

Let’s hope this isn’t a false Spring so more outdoor adventures could be had.

Happy Birthday, Stanley!

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A day of sanctuary was sponsored for the chimpanzees by their amazing friend, Jamie Reagin, in honor of Stanley Friedman who is celebrating his 89th birthday today!

Jamie, thank you so much for being such an incredible part of the chimpanzees’ lives and all you do to make sanctuary possible for not only Jamie, Missy, Annie, Jody, Burrito, Foxie, Negra, Mave, Honey B and Willy B, and Betsy, Nutmeg, Honey and Meredith, but for each of those to come. We so appreciate you including the chimps (and us all!) in your celebration with Stanley!

Stanley, may this be the best birthday yet! We hope you have the most wonderful day and are so happy to celebrate with you! Thanks for sharing your day with the chimpanzees and making a difference in their lives.

Honey B, scootin’:

Boss lady, Jamie:

Burrito, being Burrito:

A day in the sun

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I once had the great privilege of watching a mama coyote step out into the cool morning air of the forest, stop and look at me, and then look over her shoulder where I saw her very young pups exit their den and come tumbling after her, rolling and wrestling with each other, feeling perfectly safe and at ease and full of joy in the early morning light. It’s remained one of my most cherished memories actually, and I think of it often. When I opened the door to Young’s Hill for the seven this morning, that memory lit up in my mind’s eye again as I watched them literally spill out of the door and onto the hill together, Jamie in the lead, Missy and Jody wrestling and grabbing one another’s feet all the way up the hill behind Jamie, followed by Annie and Foxie chasing each other as they took their joy-filled procession around the perimeter.

As I followed the girls I caught sight of Burrito, hesitantly bringing up the rear. He has been accompanying them around the hill, but sometimes appears unsure about having to catch up on his own or being able to keep up with their speed. Burrito is healing so well, but understandably, he’s still working on gaining his full strength and stamina back. Once he saw that I was waiting for him he immediately did his patented hop and skip (I don’t think we’ve caught this on video yet, but it’s an adorable little springy-bouncey-kick-of-the-back-legs thing only B does) which my heart did in turn at the sight of him, and we were off. We occasionally stopped along the way so he could rest and take in the sights and I just followed at his pace.

This one melts my heart a little. Whenever I’d slow down, he would give a little jump and make sure I was still coming:

Annie sat silently for the longest time, just taking in the view and the sunshine:

It was just one of those lucky days when all ten of the chimpanzees concurred with my plans for shifting and cleaning today so that right after breakfast everyone was able to scoot outside, where they remained for the majority of the day! It’s been possibly the warmest, sunniest day we’ve this winter and everyone was basking in all the light. **A sidenote for those who may be wondering: Mave, Honey B and Willy B continue to have frequent opportunities to access their own private courtyard along Young’s Hill, but they haven’t been ready to leave the comfort and familiarity of the chute yet and that’s okay. They’ll get there, or not, in their own time and way. In the meantime, they seem to thoroughly enjoy hanging out in the chute, watching the other chimps, hooting and hollering, taking in the sights and the sun. And to be honest, they still tend to spend the majority of their time inside even when they have access to the chute. But it’s always their choice, just as it should be.

It didn’t take long for Jody and Foxie to realize that Mave, Willy B, and Honey B had chute access and could be spied upon from their spot on Young’s Hill:

I looked up to see Negra multi-tasking from her favorite spot in the playroom: baking in the sun, taking in the view and keeping an eye on the neighbors while blowing an occasional kiss to caregivers:

These were from a couple days ago when there was still a dusting of snow on the ground. It’s just so heart-lifting to see everyone enjoying these sunny, crisp midwinter days outside, or indoors from a variety of sun puddles.

Foxie and Strawberry Shortcake:

Missy:

Jody searching for an ice treat:

I’ll end with a quick story from this morning. If you’ve been following the blog awhile you are probably aware of Burrito’s complete and utter obsession with eating snow this season. He’s always loved it, but this year is a whole other level of snow snack love. Before we’re even fully in the chimp house in the morning, he makes sure we know the first order of business is to get him a snow snack immediately. And I do mean immediately. He’s madly blowing raspberries, kicking the caging and pointing out the window and will NOT be ignored (not that we would ignore him 😉 ). We’re only to happy to oblige, but with these spring-like days the snow is all but gone. But yesterday, I found one remaining pile down the driveway and along the shady side of the barn. So staff caregiver Chad was sent on a mission this morning and returned a bit later with a hammer, frozen fingers and two buckets of snow, much to B’s delight. Now Burrito’s latest thing is to finish up the day by having a final snow snack before bed as well! We are going to have to buy bags of ice and fire up the snow-cone machine before long to keep him in snow snacks year-round I guess.

The Best Volunteers

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To say we lean on our volunteers (and interns) when times get tough is an understatement.

There is so much to do and the days feel so short right now. To appreciate how critical the volunteers are, it may help you to understand how our team operates.

Each day, one of our staff members has the role of Lead Caregiver and is primarily responsible for opening and closing the facility, operating and unlocking doors, responding to safety issues, and synchronizing all of the day’s personnel. Think of them, as Chad nicely puts it, as “air traffic control.” A second staff member is tasked with completing daily chores, preparing meals and enrichment, distributing medications, and approving all of the Lead’s door operations. In short, two caregivers manage the Chimp House as partners for the day. Their typical itinerary looks something like this:

Open, check, serve, shift, check, clean, check, shift, check, clean, check, shift, serve, organize, tidy, blog, check, shift, clean, serve, check, close. Somehow find time to answer emails. Repeat all of it the next day.

A third staff member may be asked to help them, but that still only leaves just enough time to complete the bare essentials, with no time left for administrative work, sanctuary upkeep, or other miscellaneous projects. It’s safe to say that we need extra help, and we’re fortunate enough to have a full corps of capable and eager volunteers who support our staff every day.

Volunteering is a big commitment. Just to even be on site, applicants must go through rigorous training. This process includes a preliminary application and a safety orientation followed by months of interactive learning. Even for volunteers and interns who come in weekly, it takes months of hard work to become proficient at basic tasks. While becoming familiar with all the essential duties, most volunteers also learn to distinguish the individual chimpanzees and conduct the necessary checks before unlocking enclosures for cleaning. This is not a task to be taken lightly. At the highest level of responsibility, some volunteers are even trained to have protected contact with the chimpanzees through the steel caging. With this specialized skill set comes the ability to directly serve meals to the chimps.

Because volunteers “lend a hand” with many time-consuming tasks, caregivers sometimes have the flexibility to work on other endeavors (such as writing long-winded blog posts with accompanying videos). The volunteers also advocate for chimps via outreach events, work to inspire donations, devise and build new enrichment items, and assist with monitoring chimpanzee health and behavior. They’re an integral part of our team.

Most importantly, the individuals who volunteer here are great people who love the chimpanzees. In addition to making the workplace more interesting for our staff, they certainly help the chimpanzees to have a good time. Volunteers will often be seen dutifully putting on cowboy boots for Jamie, running around the Hill with Missy, playing tug-of-war with Burrito, stomping around with Willy B, and pretending to be excited when Honey B gifts them random items through the caging (today’s most notable gift was an elastic headband). We appreciate the extra hands, but the chimps may appreciate them even more.

Of course, the volunteers get unique experiences and acquire new skills in exchange for their efforts. Some volunteers are enrolled in internships for academic credits through our partnership with Central Washington University, and dozens have utilized this pathway to earn graduate degrees or professional certificates and advance their careers. Many of the sanctuary’s alumni have progressed to serving at other reputable sanctuaries, working as zookeepers in accredited zoos, studying nonhuman primate behavior in academic contexts, advocating for animal welfare and conservation via science communications, and caring for nonhuman animals in veterinary settings. A few former volunteers have even found themselves employed at CSNW as caregivers (I wonder if you can guess who I am referring to). Still, other volunteers have unrelated professions but equally contribute to the chimps’ well-being in impactful ways.

It truly is a diverse, talented, and diligent group of people. I can’t say that any one of them is the best volunteer, but I like to brag that we really do have the best volunteers.

Also, I would like to specially thank the Sunday Squad for letting me awkwardly film them as they worked in the Chimp House. You’re all rock stars.