Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzees

A Bunch of Lousy Photos

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I recently noticed that I have over 8000 pictures and videos saved in my phone.  Many of them are blurry, or photos I just don’t need to keep for one reason or another.  So I started deleting the ones I don’t want to save.  And I came across so many photos of my chimpanzee friends, not always the greatest photos, but special nonetheless.  So I thought I’d share them with you!  These photos go back about a year.  It’s interesting to see who I have pictures of, and who I don’t.

(If you’re wondering how it’s possible that I don’t have any pictures of my good friend Burrito, stay tuned, I’m saving his photos for my next blog!  There are SO many!)

 

 

George in the chute on a lovely summer afternoon.

George lying in the front rooms shortly after he arrived last May.

George enjoying time in the chute.

Sweet Foxie in the Greenhouse.

One of the many fawns that call the Sanctuary grounds home.

The first bunny I’ve seen around the Sanctuary.

Gordo having a snack and chilling in the Greenhouse.

Gordo with one of his favorite things…a box!

Jamie watching the comings and goings of the Sanctuary.

Jamie all wrapped up and enjoying the warm Greenhouse.

Marmots!!

Mave taking a break and contemplating her life.

More contemplation.

Neggie peeking out from under her blankets.

The first rattle snake of the year, last spring.  Just a wee baby!

Rayne & Cy getting to know George through the intro process.

Good friends Rayne and Lucky enjoying some fresh air on a fall morning.

Rayne and Lucky looking down on me from the Greenhouse.

Terry doing some thinking.

Krissy (me), practicing PRT with Terry while Rayne looks on.

Beasts of Burden

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It is really interesting watching the chimpanzees throughout the day. Whether it is onsite at the sanctuary, or checking in on the security cameras. After witnessing all the great moments such play and grooming, and even the bad moments like fights, there really is no other term to describe them other than “family.”

Families play. Families take care of each other. And families fight, whether with each other or side-by-side one another. Though there has been some instability in Cy’s group, which led to our reintegration plan, I still can’t help but to view them as a family unit. Though the fights can be a stress inducing event and seem like it dominates the day, that’s not necessarily the case. The good moments outweigh the bad by a landslide. 

As we moved forward with the reintegration process, we have seen some magnificent moments with the chimps. Though we wish this process would eliminate all the fighting, we are realistic that it won’t stop all of the fighting. Though the real underlying hope is for the fighting to be reduced from the level it was. Personally, I think it’s working. A good chunk of fights we have seen in the past few months have mostly been just screaming and hollering at each other. 

What initiated this train of thought? This photo I took a couple weeks ago:

Willy B (bottom) and Rayne (top) link fingers before lunch service.

One day, when lunch was brought out, Rayne reached toward Willy B for some reassurance, and this was the outcome. To me it looks a lot like the American Sign Language sign for “friends” if two people were to make the sign together. Here is a photo of a memorial of Washoe making that sign at Friendship Park in Ellensburg.

To me it’s kind of a reminder that there is always beauty in a chaotic world.

Here are some other old photos I found on my phone taken over the course of several months.

Willy B

Annie

Terry

Negra

Though these two photos look the same, they were actually taken months apart. The first photo is her perusing through a peanut butter magazine. The second was from Jamieween after she acquired her food.

Lucky

Cy

Mave

Honey B

Jamie’s Group watching TV

That is Foxie and Jamie on the floor, Burrito sitting on the firehose, and Annie waaaaay up top.

Firehose Cube

Yes… That is a firehose with it’s own nest in between Rayne and Lucky. This isn’t the first time either. I have another photo of a different firehose in a different nest on a different day, but couldn’t find it quickly. And the answer to your question, it was Rayne. Both times I seen this, Rayne was close by or it was in the nest with her.

Sanctuary Wildlife

There’s a frog in our pipes.
A baby gopher snake.
A yet to be identified lizard on the human entrance of the Riverview and Oakwood Greenhouses.

Barn Kitty in hunting mode

I know some of you are wondering where I have been for a while. There was always some sense of happiness anytime one of the other caregivers let me know people have been inquiring about my whereabouts. No, I didn’t quit or get fired. No, I wasn’t in a coma. No, I wasn’t off galavanting around the Cascades with Barn Kitty or any of the other wild conspiracies some of some of you had… Though I do wish one of those were the case, especially the BK scenario. 

The uneventful, boring reason is I got injured while working. It happens at any workplace and no matter the safety precaution, these’s always that small chance. Hello, I am that small chance. I have been recovering for a little bit and am starting to ease back into doing full Chimp House duties. It’s been one step at a time but I am ecstatic that the trend is swinging toward the right direction. I also want to emphasize this was NOT chimp related. It was on my own.

I do want to take this time to thank literally everyone. From my amazing fellow caregivers to the co-directors, and yes, even to you, our dedicated, loving blog readers. My fellow caregivers really rose up to continue our same level of care for the chimps and cattle being down one caregiver for such a prolonged time. Hence the title of this blog. They are my beasts of burden. Plus I had happen to be listening to The Rolling Stones when this was typed. I will be forever grateful to them for their strength and determination, as well as understanding that when I did come back, I would have to ease into everything at a slow pace. Or at least it has been slow to my liking. 

I am looking forward to continue caring for the chimpanzees and bovine side-by-side with my team at full capacity when it’s time. Hashtag New Year, New Me.

ONE LAST SUPER BONUS PHOTO

Remember that time Burrito first climbed the tree and nobody was able to get footage of it until later?

I got this when it was announced on the radio that he was in the tree and I was serving lunch to Negra. This is the only known footage of that day!

*Sorry if some of the images maybe repeats or similar to others in the past few months. I forgot who I gave photos to publish for the blog and what photos have been used.

Moments with Annie

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Is there anyone sweeter than Annie?  I think not!

Take a few minutes to share some moments with our beloved Annie.  From a play session with Burrito, to a lovely afternoon breeze in her nest, a drink from the hose (perfect for summertime!) and a shouting match with the neighbors!

Sounds like a pretty good day, to me.

A Few Handsome Guys

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It has been an uber busy day in the chimp house today with cleaning, general tasks, staff meetings, and more! The day has flown by, so for this blog I went through my phone for a few ‘photos from the vault‘ and found some great ones of our handsome chimp gentlemen. They really are just the best guys around!

We’re off to serve dinner to the chimps now, so I hope you enjoy! 🙂

Terry, eating a snowball earlier this week:

Willy B, enjoying a quiet moment:

Gordo enjoying an avocado for dinner this past fall:

Cy, taking a moment to look through his magazine before diving into his coconut during a party this summer:

Burrito, finding out what we stuffed pineapples with during a party on Young’s Hill this summer:

Happy Tuesday!

Road to Chimpanzees

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Originally, I didn’t know I wanted to work with chimpanzees. From a young age, I was drawn specifically to orangutans. I have a vivid memory of being probably 8 years old, my mom and I were at the mall and we were in a candy shop that, in addition to candy, also sold random stuffed animals and Beanie Babies. There was a large size orangutan Beanie Baby (think the size of a 6 month old infant) that I BEGGED my mom for. It was $39.99, which was outrageous for a stuffed animal of any kind. Luckily for me, my mom gave in and bought it for me. This stuffed animal was just the beginning of my fascination with apes. I went on to do book reports in high school about orangutans where I would rave about how amazing they are.

Fast forward about fifteen years, I stumbled across the primate behavior program at Central Washington University while I was researching graduate programs and it immediately caught my attention. When I applied and even began the graduate program at CWU, I assumed that this was the beginning of the road to working with orangutans.

That is until I went to Fauna Foundation for a summer internship.

My internship at Fauna Foundation was the first time I had been around chimpanzees. I don’t think I had ever even seen a chimp in-person, as the Phoenix Zoo (where I grew up) only had orangutans and other smaller primates. I remember on the very first day of the internship, myself and the four other interns, were led around property by Dr. Mary Lee Jensvold. When we approached the chimp house, Tatu and Loulis greeted us from the outdoor aerial tunnels. Tatu began using American Sign Language to sign to her long-time friend, Dr. Jensvold. Dr. Jensvold signed to Tatu that we interns are new friends. I will never forget this interaction.

There was another memory from that summer that will always stick with me. We were doing a behavioral observation study where we were recording the chimpanzees’ activities throughout a day. We were creating a baseline for them, so their “normal” activity level would be recorded. Therefore, for about fifteen minutes at a time, I would observe a chimp’s activities and record them on an iPad. This one day in particular, I was observing Rachel. She was out relaxing on one of the islands when I walked up. After a few minutes of me observing her, she gathered her two stuffed gorillas and headed over to sit in front of me (her on the island behind the fencing, me on the sidewalk). Rachel sat there and stared at me for awhile. I tried not to stare back too much, as to not make her uncomfortable. It was clear to me she just liked being in the presence of someone. It’s a moment that is hard to describe, now that I’m behind a keyboard. Truly, it’s like everything clicked when I was sitting there with Rachel: how human-like chimpanzees are, how chimpanzees shouldn’t be in captivity, how they are just. like. us.

Ever since that summer, I knew I wanted to work with chimpanzees for the rest of my career.

Working with chimpanzees can be dramatic, stressful, exhausting, but it also is the best thing I have ever done.

When did you fall in love with chimpanzees? Comment below!

Burrito:

Negra:

It’s Love a Chimpanzee Day 2023

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Can you believe it’s Love a Chimpanzee Day again already?! Supporter Monica Best named April 23rd Love a Chimpanzee Day and has sponsored this day each year since 2010 for her chimpanzee friends at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, creating a calendar-worthy official holiday and another excuse to throw a party! That’s a lot of years of love that Monica has shared with the chimps.

With our birthdays so close together, Monica and I have once again teamed up by creating a joint fundraising page for GiveBIG, and we invite you to celebrate this day by checking out our page and making a contribution.

Donor Donna is matching up to $20,000 in funds raised through the end of GiveBIG on May 4th, so your donation now is doubled! HUGE thanks to donor Vicki for making a gift on our page that encouraged us to raise our initial goal!

Monica’s love of animals is not exclusive to chimpanzees – she’s also studied wolves and worked in dog and cat shelters. She’s had many feline and canine friends over the years and created Love a Chimpanzee Day on her birthday in honor of her cat Ozzie during a difficult and uncertain time when Monica was fighting cancer. She credits the sanctuary (especially Negra) with helping her in her years-long battle with the disease and the aftermath.

We are so incredibly grateful for Monica and all of her generosity. She’s been instrumental in the expansion of the sanctuary these last several years and in helping encourage others to give.

You can help us celebrate today and the on Monica and Diana’s GiveBig fundraising page or the sanctuary’s main GiveBig page.

Happy Love a Chimpanzee Day, everyone!!

Burrito loves Duran Duran
Monica is a fan of Duran Duran and we took this photo of Burrito during the 2011 Love a Chimpanzee Day!

Ladies Who Groom

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It’s Wednesday and for many of us, we are busy with work, life, and all the in between. Personally, watching Dora and Honey B quietly groom and spend time with each other felt like some type of meditation. If you need a little zen or quiet time, this is the blog for you!

Sleepy Dora:

Bonus photo of Foxie this morning: