Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

chimpanzee

Priorities

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The rain pounds the metal roof above in a deafening roar. Bolts of lightning streak across an ominous sky. Thunder cracks just overhead, shaking the building to its very foundation. This could be how it all ends.

Mmmmm, but this night bag…

Mave’s certainly got her priorities straight. There’s some interesting research dating back to the ’70s showing that primates often overreact to perceived dangers when they are young, and only with the help of those around them do they learn to narrow their alarm calls to specific threats such as predators. Perhaps Mave never got that lesson, as she is the only chimp at CSNW that reacts in such a sustained and exaggerated fashion to thunder. But I can’t blame her. Fortunately for Mave (and our poor dogs), thunderstorms are relatively uncommon here in Central Washington.

Happy Birthday, Donna and Paula!

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Donna Haggarty-Robbins sponsored today in honor of a double celebration with this really lovely message:

“Today is my sister Paula’s (Andrews) birthday and mine! I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our birthdays (4 years apart) than to support the wonderful work you all are doing at Chimpanzee Sanctuary NW. These retired and rescued medical research chimps deserve all the loving care the dedicated Sanctuary staff provides them, year round.”

Happiest of birthdays to you both, Donna and Paula! Thank you so much for your generous support and kind words. We’re so grateful for the love and abundance that surrounds the chimpanzees and their home. All of us hope you have a beautiful day!

Annie and Missy:

Jamie and Foxie:

Burrito and Jody:

Honey B and Mave:

The First Fall Harvest

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Happy Fall Equinox, everybody! Though today was the first day of fall, it still felt like summer. It was a pretty mild day with clear skies. With conditions like these, we are trying to capitalize on as many forages for the chimpanzees we can fit in before the colder weather starts to creep in.

On today’s menu were kale, sweet potatoes, carrots, and oranges.

Missy:

I know we think of Missy as Fake Negra, but I almost had a moment where I thought there was a Fake Jody.

Annie:

Jody (the REAL Jody):

Negra:

Burrito:

Jamie:

Foxie:

On her way down from the Escher, Foxie came across one of her nemeses: Grasshoppers!

After their forage, it was perfect weather and timing for naps and relaxing!

Jody resting while still nibbling on some of her greens from the forage.

Foxie about to nod off for an afternoon slumber.

On the other side of the building, the Three were treated to leeks for dinner.

Willy B:

Mave:

Honey B decided to take her food and run, literally. She demanded her portions (especially the leek) and ran into the Chute.

Summer’s last sigh

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The end of summer. How can it be? I am an autumn person through and through. If there were nine months of autumn and one month each of winter, spring, and summer I would be pretty happy with that. But this year, no one I know, myself included, feels ready to let summer go.

Given the many days of Burrito’s recovery (now thankfully healed and returned to his family), followed by the many days of hazardous, smoke-filled air (now thankfully cleared away), we are all beside ourselves with gratitude at the sense of ease, joy and freedom we’ve been having this week. The chimpanzees’ have continued to enjoy lunch forages on Young’s Hill and we’ve all been basking in the final gifts of summer, each of us sighing along with summer’s last breath:

Jody holds her reign as “Farmer Jo”:

Negra enjoying her lunch with a view:

Foxie:

Burrito:

Jamie:

Annie:

Diana mentioned on Saturday how we’ve been anxiously awaiting the chimpanzees’ grapes to ripen and have finally been able to harvest these beauties. Can you believe these gorgeous things?!

I went out to harvest some for dinner, but Annie, Jody and Burrito insisted they should be served immediately, garden to belly:

Everyone squeezed (politely, somehow) into the raceway (the chute that gives the chimpanzees access to Young’s Hill from the greenhouse) and lined up for their serving. Bunches of grapes aren’t the easiest things to serve through the caging so apologies for all the caging shots. But, their faces! A fleeting summertime gift.

Jo!! My favorite photo, look at her eyes! 🙂

Foxie:

Burrito’s tactic is just shoveling them in as fast as he can, naturally:

Missy and her sweet little runner’s legs:

(And fiddlesticks, I just realized that my photo of sweet Annie with her grape cluster didn’t take, and Negra chose to stay in her nest, though she did receive a few grapes via delivery).

Meanwhile, I could hear Willy B blowing raspberries from the other side of the grapevines, in the chute, where he and Honey B were anxiously waiting for their serving:

Honey B:

In the past couple of days that we’ve been harvesting the grapes we’ve learned that Mave in particular LOVES them. She chose to wait inside for hers and when I rounded the corner with them her hair was standing on end in sheer excitement (pilo-erect) making her glorious fluffy self even floofier! Here she is gazing adoringly at them:

Somehow the grape feast, being a hot ticket event, went off without a hitch. For the most part that is. Turns out the seven were not in a sharing mood and had a lot to say about the three partaking in the feast as well. That’s alright. I don’t like sharing, say, my cookies, so I get it. 😉

A bonus photo of Jamie enjoying her beloved boot book in her nest:

It’s been such a beautiful day. It’s nearly dark already and as I type this I hear geese flying overhead and the raspberry patch is a chorus of frog song – I suspect from the little guys I rescued and put in there earlier today. Betwixt and between. Wherever are you, and whichever season you happen to be saying farewell to in your part of the world in welcome of the next, I hope there’s beauty there. I’m convinced it’s there for all of us in one form or another. We just have to keep an eye and an ear out.

If Looks Could Kale

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Jody has a healthy appreciation for fresh, hand-picked greens.

Recently, local volunteer Krissy has been delivering bags of primate chow to the sanctuary’s front gate. More often than not, she also leaves behind a large bin of produce from her home garden. This weekend, we added the generous assortment of leafy greens to the chimps’ lunches, which we then dispersed in Young’s Hill so that they could spend the afternoon foraging.

Most greens are cultivars of one species: cabbage. In its wild form, cabbage (Brassica oleracea) grows on the seaside cliffs of Europe. Over millennia, the domesticated variants have become a common food crop for humans around the globe. Despite their distinct grocery names, kale, collared greens, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, and Brussels sprouts are all just types of cabbage that have been shaped by artificial selection. Of course, “Farmer Jo” loves them all equally.

Today, Jo did her usual thing (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) and gathered up an impressive bundle of greens. Although it was an unusually quiet day at the sanctuary, even around the chimps, the loud crunch of woody stems filled the Greenhouse for a short while. Negra spent the early minutes of the forage collecting the grapes and chow biscuits nearest to the Greenhouse, but missed out on the kale. Upon returning, she sat behind Jody and begged for a piece. Jo ignored her, but eventually discarded enough leafless stalks to satisfy Neggie, who promptly scooped them up and waddled inside.

Compared to the usual dynamics, today’s drama was relatively tame.

Tickle Therapy

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It looks like today will be Burrito’s last day on restricted activity. Which is great for him, obviously, but a relief for the staff, too, because we can’t keep up with him. He’s just too playful. Thankfully, Nurse Jody took another shift this afternoon and tried to tickle him back to health.

Earlier in the afternoon, we tried to offer Burrito some lunch. It did not go as planned.

He was convinced that it was playtime, not lunchtime. Soon his onion was a toy and he began laughing to himself.

He tossed his green pepper aside and rolled the onion around the room.

He insisted that I stop serving lunch and join him.

He thought it was the funniest onion ever.

It was!

But then he noticed the lettuce on the table behind me. Lettuce is good.

Maybe even better than playing?

Yup.

Oh, but that onion!

Our thanks go out to all the amazing Produce Patrons that keep Burrito and the gang supplied with delicious food (and, er, toys?). Learn how you can be a Produce Patron here.

A Tale of Annie and the Twister

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There once was a chimpanzee named Annie who lived on a beautiful hillside with nine of her chimpanzee friends. One day Annie and her friends were all out on the Hill. Everyone went inside to their cozy warm Green House. Annie decided to stay out and go on her own adventure, this time without her very best friend Missy. As Annie walked around she came across a very tall tower, known as the Twister. Annie climbed and climbed until she reached the tippy top. After a moment of taking in the smoky view and feeling quite proud of her accomplishment. Annie quickly realized she would have to climb down this very tall twister. Feeling alone without her dearest friend Missy, she began to worried and let out a few big screams. She screamed out to her friends in hopes that they would hear her. Annie being the brave chimp she is, mustered up the courage to climb down. Meanwhile, Missy zipped up the Hill as fast as she possibly could to find her dear friend Annie. After Missy found Annie and gave her reassurance they went back inside to unwind after Annie’s solo adventure.

This is my personal interpretation of this story. Only Annie really knows why she got scared at the top of the Twister. For JB and Diana who could only hear the screaming, thought snake, and came to make sure this was not true! While JB and Diana came sprinting up Chad and I observed the events unfolding while eating our after cleaning/we served lunch Popsicle.

Here is what we know:

1. Annie climbed to the top.
2. She seemed at peace for a moment
3. Annie began to exhibit nervous behavior
4. Annie started screaming
5. Missy sprinted to Annie and all was fine.

Here are some scenario that could be why Annie reacted the way she did:

1. Maybe she saw a snake from that bird’s eye view (Annie hates snakes)!
2. Maybe the cattle startled her.
3. Annie could have been nervous to climb down.
4. She could see any animal or heard any sound from up there!
5. Maybe she just felt like it.

We will never actually know. But I guess what we do know is that us caregivers are still a little on edge, insert emoji smiling and sweat drip on face.

Annie on top of the Twister.

Annie becomes pilo.

She starts hooting.

And begins screaming.

On a side note, Burrito is also doing very well and is enjoying his Jody hangout sessions very much. Have a great night everyone!