Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
A dusting of snow fell overnight but by morning it was vanishing rapidly. With each passing hour, the gang had to venture further and further to get their fix.
By afternoon, only a portion of the Twister climbing structure showed any evidence of last night’s snowfall.
Missy and Burrito filled their mouths before it, too, was gone.
But it won’t be long until the snow returns.
What a week! Sunday was weird, Monday was better, and Tuesday and Wednesday were both busy and fun. It’s been another busy day of construction projects, produce shopping and delivery, routine cleaning and caregiving, and planning for the winter holiday season.
Speaking of which, we’d love if you all took a moment to consider purchasing something off of our holiday Wish List! Outreach Coordinator Kelsi curates the list and has added some special items. The additions include a new skateboard for Honey B, books for Jamie, fleece blankets for all the chimps, and hardware that will help us to furnish the new playrooms.
If the item you hope to donate is already purchased, there are always items such as dietary supplements, storage totes, cleaning products and office supplies that are equally important! I can’t speak for the other staff, but I get pretty stoked when people donate mundane items like wet erase markers and refills for the label printer. If you feel like making my day (or contributing to the welfare of the chimps), you can access the list directly by clicking here.
Additionally, we caregivers have two primary wishes that are not Prime items but are equally tangible: for all chimpanzees to reach their sanctuary homes and for all the sanctuary’s residents to stay happy and healthy.
Of course, this wish also applies to the bovines. As Katelyn mentioned on Monday, Meredith looked much better than the day before and her check-up went well, so we’re not too concerned but are still taking precautions.
To facilitate the health exam, we shifted the cattle into the Bud Box and then isolated Meredith in the narrow chute. Dr. Erin plays the role of “quarterback” during veterinary exams, managing the team and doing the specialized tasks that require her expertise. In this case, J.B. and I served as her assistants (and Chad also helped on a couple of occasions by promptly running some supplies up from the sanctuary’s vet clinic).
In summary, Dr. Erin did a full visual inspection, palpated and listened to Meredith’s gut, tested her reflexes and responses, collected blood and fecal samples for diagnostics, and used the opportunity to administer some preventative antibiotics. We then let Meredith back out with the herd and monitored her for further discomfort or difficulties.
Since then, we’ve been frequently visiting the barn to check on Meredith and give her supplements. These include minerals, probiotics, electrolytes and anti-inflammatory meds. Surprisingly, though, Merry looks fantastic. She’s eating heartily, breathing normally, moving with the herd and laying down in the straw bedding at night. As happy as we are with this improvement, it makes her Sunday troubles even more mysterious. Dr. Erin and the staff are working to rule out some possibilities, but our initial diagnosis of “ain’t doin’ right” currently still stands. This whole thing loosely feels like a low-budget episode of House, M.D. where the team wears Carrhart overalls instead of lab coats.
The best part of the exam, however, was this series of opportunistic portraits that depicts Nutmeg showing affection for his mother, Betsy…
…to the point of being mildly annoying.
P.S. I took all of these photos with the new mirrorless camera and an 85mm portrait lens. A generous supporter purchased both of these items for us via the same Wish List I mentioned above. Consider it further evidence that your contributions help us to do our jobs!
As mentioned on Sunday, there were a couple of mechanical issues that need to be fixed. When there is an upcoming project to take place, we as caregivers try plan the day out to ensure the projects can be finished in a safe manner, while not impeding on the residents’ daily activities too much. With so much going on during days like today, it can be somewhat difficult trying to take photos and develop a blog. So when the projects were completed, I was running around trying to salvage what time I had left in the day to at least get some photos. As the minutes kept ticking away, I may have started to panic a little bit. I almost decided to give up and just post whatever crummy photos I was able to get and call it a day. Then Honey B happened.
As I was still trying to get photos, I found Honey B, who immediately wanted to groom. As she was plucking rocks from the bottom of my boots, Mave made her way up to the Mezzanine. She began hooting, started to become piloerect, and was working herself up for a display. Honey B stopped grooming and started playing with me. I can’t confirm this, but it sounded like she exaggerated her laughs so Mave could hear. As Mave continued to build up her display, Honey B finally walked over to her with a play face, grabbed her foot, and raced away laughing. Mave’s hair was soon no longer on end and she raced after Honey B, playing a game of foot grab along the way. The game then evolved into a wrestling and tickling match. Here are a few of the photos captured with faces visible within a cloud of fur and laughter.
Earlier, Mave, Honey B, and Willy B were also treated to one of their favorite food puzzles: firehose cubes. When they first caught sight of the cubes, there was a chorus of pant hoots, food grunts, games of chase, and excitement that followed.
Unfortunately, Honey B grabbed hers and headed down stairs, so I was not able to get any photos of her.
Now that the day is over, Willy B is ready for bed with his favorite cheetah print blanket!
Sundays are usually quiet around here but today was unusually busy and a bit chaotic.
We experienced some of those bright moments that we expect when working around happy and healthy chimps, but we also encountered a few unexpected hang-ups that ensured this day would not go as smoothly as we initially hoped.
These days happen from time to time. Such is the life of a sanctuary caregiver.
Today’s minor obstacles included staff car troubles, sheets of ice on our vehicles and sidewalks, and mechanical issues around the building that required substantial effort to fix. I even hit snooze too many times and missed out on my usual dose of coffee. We’ll be fine (especially since I keep emergency coffee grounds in the Chimp House), but I would have been happier if everyone made it through the day without further setbacks.
To add some sour frosting to this moldy cake, Chad noticed that Meredith was acting strangely (even for a Jersey cow) and we gave her a preliminary diagnosis of A.D.R. (the common but dreaded condition of simply “ain’t doin’ right”). Of course, this condition warrants a follow-up exam by a veterinarian, so we called in Dr. Erin.
We love seeing Dr. Erin at the sanctuary, but we definitely prefer when she’s hanging with the chimps or delivering supplies for the vet clinic. Having to do an unexpected physical exam on a curiously-behaving bovine is not ideal, and it was difficult to get the suspicious cattle isolated as the sun rapidly set and plunged the pasture into darkness. We eventually secured Meredith and her companions into the winter paddock for what we hope is a quick check-up tomorrow morning. Hopefully, this is just some temporary discomfort and the cattle will be back to their usual activities soon.
With all this stuff to do, I didn’t have time to take many photos or type out any additional thoughts. Therefore, today’s blog will center around this portrait series of Burrito, the Most Charismatic Chimpanzee in the World. I happened to capture this moment as he ventured out onto the Hill this morning (before everything else unraveled).
As with most of the unusual events that transpire around here, it’s much easier to get through if you maintain a wry sense of humor and a little optimism. Of course, as with any life situation, there’s also a Simpsons bit that encapsulates my feelings perfectly.
I stand by Katelyn’s post from the summer that there is no doubt that Honey B is her own unique person, quite separate from her biological history of having been born to Missy. But just as time shows us her own special uniqueness, new similarities between mom and daughter have also revealed themselves.
These two formidable and intelligent beings were tragically separated from one another at the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP), shortly after Honey B was born on June 11, 1989.
Missy was forced to continue her life of servitude as a laboratory test subject and breeder and Honey B went to the lab’s “nursery” where she was raised by humans in preparation for the same future. Unlike many other chimpanzees at LEMSIP who moved to a notorious laboratory in New Mexico called the Coulston Foundation, Honey B escaped that future when she and dozens of other young chimpanzees were moved to Wildlife Waystation in California as LEMSIP closed permanently.
Missy and Honey B were only reunited here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest 30 years after their separation.
As Katelyn mentioned in her post, there were no signs of particular recognition or even fondness between the pair when they met face to face before we abandoned the introductions of the two groups last fall.
Though they do not share the same rooms or have close interactions with one another, they do still see each other every day.
Just today, I spied Missy in a window of the playroom spying on her daughter as Honey B snacked on some lettuce in the Chute.
To be clear, there are shared preferences, quirks, and other similarities among some of the unrelated chimpanzees (the stand-out example is both Honey B and Annie wearing stretchy headbands around their waists), so who’s to say if the similarities between Missy and Honey B are inherited or simply coincidental. If you’ve ever taken a psychology or biology class or just on your own pondered the “nature vs nurture” question, you know the answer is almost always “both”.
Yet, it’s fun to consider that some of these traits just might have an element of heredity to them.
Similarities were brought up by other staff earlier this week, so it seemed a good time to reflect on what I’ve noticed that seem to characterize both mom and daughter.
Kelsi’s and Chad’s posts earlier this week that included the videos below clearly showed that Honey B and Missy are both quite quick on their feet and run for sheer enjoyment. That is not really the case for the majority of the other chimps.
It’s not just running that defines their love of movement. On any given day we see both of them climbing, swinging, leaping, and balancing.
This was again inspired by a post earlier this week, this time Anna’s. Check out Missy’s ghost play with Annie from a few years ago compared to Honey B playing with Mave this week in the two videos below:
Playing Ghost is not specific to Honey B and Missy. Notably, Jamie sometimes ghosts around too:
Even when by themselves, Honey B and Missy seem to enjoy their version of ghosting.
If Missy could have one food for every meal for the rest of her life, that food would be tomatoes. I have never known another chimpanzee to like tomatoes with the sincerity and fervor of Missy.
Honey B, however, comes a close second, though she is pickier about the quality.
Perhaps this goes along with athleticism? I’m really not sure. Either way, both mom and offspring seem to like being inverted, both during play and sometimes when making a nest.
The photo above of Missy comes from a blog post that I wrote over ten years ago. For some reason I remember putting it together like it was yesterday.
The photo of Missy above with a sock on her arm is from the first month that the seven arrived at the sanctuary. You can still see Missy’s shaved belly from the medically indicated hysterectomy she had before coming here. Our photography equipment and file saving procedures were in their infancy – that’s why I couldn’t find a larger photo.
To be fair, Mave and Jody are also pretty into socks:
Jody’s style is to wear the sock just over her toes
I was reminded of one other similarity today as I was shifting the chimpanzees during meals to make it safe for us to enter a space for cleaning; if you were a betting person and you had to bet on which chimpanzee in each group would hold up shifting, it would be very safe to put your money on Missy and Honey B (Willy B’s more recent bout of rebellion notwithstanding). Missy is generally the last person in her group to leave a space and the least motivated by food. Her daughter? Pretty much the same.
I should know better than to make predictions regarding construction timelines but I think it’s safe to say that we are within a couple months of the “Cali 3” moving into their new playrooms. Then, assuming our year-end fundraising is successful, we move on to completing the greenhouses. When that is done, we plan to welcome six more chimps and then create a 2nd two-acre habitat. It’s going to be a busy year!
Chimps always seem to know when the things we are building are meant for them. When we built Young’s Hill in the summer of 2011, the Cle Elum seven knew right away that it was their new habitat. How would they have known that? They’d spent their lives in small cages and hadn’t been outdoors since they were little kids, if ever. And surely they had never seen an electric fence before. But somehow they knew. In fact, months before we were ready to let them out, I took out my keys to unlock a chain near the entrance to the new enclosure and the chimps began hugging and screaming – they thought I was letting them out! Needless to say, I felt pretty bad about that. Luckily, they did go out later that summer and now Young’s Hill is part of their home. Honey B, Willy B, and Mave are just as ready to claim their new spaces and we’re looking forward to seeing them run, climb, and swing their way through the new playrooms and beyond.
In addition to the video above, I thought I’d share some bonus photos of Foxie from this morning. This is typical Foxie – she starts our patrolling with the gang and then wanders off by herself. She’s got a real independent streak.
Before I get into the happenings of today, there was some BIG news announced today in our newsletter and social media sites (here is the Instagram post). Today, we announced the names of the group of six who will hopefully be able to call Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest home next year! We are all beyond excited to meet Cy, Lucky, Rayne, Terry, Dora, and Gordo! We are also truly grateful to all of you, the followers of this sanctuary, who have donated and spread the word about us on Giving Tuesday! All of your donations will help us continue to complete our expansion as quickly as possible so they can arrive next year! We all know this year has not been the easiest on anybody, but your constant generosity not only helps us provide care for our current residents, but also plan to bring more home! So thank you! Thank You! THANK YOU!
Lately, both Jamie and Burrito have been inviting caregivers to races around Young’s Hill. Some of you already know, Missy is not one to pass up a good run around Young’s Hill. Sometimes she just seemingly appears out of nowhere and passes you within a blink of an eye!
I am truly convinced she waits for everybody to leave first, so she can catch up! I found her today waiting at the bottom of the hill as Burrito and J.B. raced around.
She even found a place to stake out where on the hill Burrito and J.B. were.
And like a bolt of lightening, she was off! (Long before I could bring the camera up and realize she was gone!)
Missy even likes to take her lunch on the go!
Missy is known to have two speeds: 0 and 100. When she isn’t a chimpanzee pinball, darting and bouncing around Young’s Hill, she likes to take in the sights and sounds usually from the tallest structures.
Missy is amazing and we couldn’t imagine a life without her here!
BONUS PHOTOS:
Here are a couple extra photos of some other adventures today.
After breakfast, Negra was one of the first people to go out onto Young’s Hill, even before Jamie!
After she had her moment of basking in the morning sun, it was back to her nest.
Foxie decided today called for not one, but TWO dolls!
And Burrito pondering if this outing on Young’s Hill will be a race or stroll. (Luckily for this human, this time was just a stroll!)
