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Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

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chimpsnw

Continued Discussion on Chimpanzee Integrations

August 13, 2022 by Diana 5 Comments

You may remember, several months ago I asked you all if you had additional questions about the integration of the two chimpanzee groups, or integrations in general, for a follow-up discussion I was recording with Jen Feuerstein. I finally put together both parts of the video together, and it’s now public for anyone to view.It’s a long one, but you can skip ahead to the second part if you’ve already seen the first.

We’re always open to answering questions, as you know, so do feel free to ask us anything that we may have left out of the discussion, and we’ll do our best to answer!

Overall, I would just say that for me personally, introductions between chimpanzees is the most stress-inducing thing I’ve voluntarily done. I can’t give enough praise to all of the staff who really made the introductions happen. And to Cy. And, especially, to Jen.

 

Filed Under: Chimpanzee Behavior, Introductions Tagged With: chimpanzee, chimps, chimpsnw, integration, introductions, social integration

Portrait of a Pant Hoot

December 11, 2021 by Diana

The day started out on the warm side, considering that we are well into the month of December. The chimps’ greenhouse spaces were cozy all morning.

A storm came through in the afternoon, making the most delightful sound as the droplets hit the greenhouse roof panels.

Just as the rain began, Dora went into her greenhouse, looking up towards the sound:

glancing at me:

and then beginning a glorious chimpanzee response to the rain – a classic pant-hoot (for a classic video of pant-hoots, go here):

Her display was short-lived. She calmly retreated to a windowsill:

Filed Under: Chimpanzee Behavior, Dora, Sanctuary, Weather Tagged With: ape, chimpanzee, chimpanzee portrait, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, chimps, chimpsnw, dora, pant hoot, photo, portrait, vocalization

Important Change to Blog – Action Needed by You

July 15, 2021 by Diana

Attention all blog subscribers – we are changing the subscription gateway for the blog and you need to sign up in a different place to continue to receive blog posts. We won’t be making the switch immediately, and there will be some days of overlap, but you may as well sign up now to be sure you won’t miss anything!

All you have to do is enter your email address into this box and click the Subscribe button below.

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That’s it!

Thank you so, so much for following this blog. It continues to be an incredibly uplifting way for us to be able to share the lives of the chimpanzees and bovines and other sanctuary goings-on with you and also to get to know some of you through this experience.

It’s very motivating for me personally to read your comments and know how much you care about everyone here at the sanctuary.

p.s. Don’t worry – you’ll be getting a real blog post from Anna later today!

Filed Under: Featured Post, Sanctuary Tagged With: blog, chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, chimpsanctuary, chimpsnw, form, sign up, subscribe

Full Hearts

July 3, 2021 by Diana

Getting to know the new Lucky Six chimpanzees is an incredible experience. In some ways, it seems like they’ve been here much longer than one week. But it’s true that we barely know them. So each new observation, every moment spent with them, fills our hearts.

The thing is, it’s still the same with all of the other non-humans in our care. They are all such interesting and unique beings; we can never know everything there is to know about them, and we still delight in the little moments.

I’ve been reflecting on little moments lately because our dog Wilson, who I’ve written about on the blog before, passed away this week. He had numerous medical issues over the years, and far outlived anyone expectations. His end was sudden, but not surprising, and J.B. and I were both with him. Though his body, specifically his heart, was failing him, it never slowed him down or changed the goofy, lovable, big-headed, empathetic dog that he was. Our hearts are broken, but that’s because they were filled with so much love.

We’re surrounded by life at the sanctuary. Grief is a strange bargain we make, but it’s worth it to feel so much love.

 

Dora Chimpanzee
Dora watching herself eat dinner
The one and only Jamie. She tied this scarf on with purpose and wore it all afternoon.

 

Jody

 

Wilson

 

Filed Under: Cy, Dora, Foxie, Gordo, Honey (Cow), Jamie, Jody, Latest Videos, Lucky, Rayne, Sanctuary, Terry Tagged With: animal rescue, animal sanctuary, ape sanctuary, chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, chimpsnw, drinks from the hose, grief, love, peanut butter pinecones, video, wilson

Video Clips of the Day

January 30, 2021 by Diana

I didn’t have anything that I felt could be a stand-alone video, so I decided to throw together a bunch of clips taken as we were going about the day today (ok, one was from yesterday). I hope you enjoy it!

Filed Under: Boots, Burrito, Cattle, Dolls, Enrichment, Foxie, Honey B, Jamie, Latest Videos, Play, Sanctuary Tagged With: animal sanctuary, chimpanzee, chimps, chimpsnw, Enrichment, Play, primate, primate protection

For Shani Campbell

August 14, 2020 by Diana

A second sponsor-a-day for today is from Kery and Terran for their friend Shani Campbell in honor of friendship and life. Here is the lovely tribute they gave to us to share about Shani:

Today, we wanted to honor a beautiful person and celebrate not only the gift of life but friendship. Shani Campbell, beloved daughter, sister, wife, friend and cat mom. Many know her other half, who is the creator of Cowspiracy and What the Health. What they don’t know is how much this incredible woman had contributed to those projects. Shani is a legend in her own right, not only supporting and being hands on throughout her husband’s work but also as an activist. She’s a long time vegan, fierce advocate for human and non humans. Shani’s not afraid to stand up for injustice or even for that matter get arrested. Overall she is just an amazing and beautiful human being, who has taught us the true meaning of compassion and forgiveness. Happy 40th Birthday Shani!

Filed Under: Friendship, Grooming, Sponsor-a-day Tagged With: animal rescue, chimpsnw, freindship, Sanctuary, Shani Campbell, Sponsor-a-day

the tale of the snake

August 1, 2020 by Diana

If you, like Annie Chimpanzee, do not like the sight of snakes, beware that there are some photos of a snake in this blog post.

Today I was outside on the new side of the building while the door was open to the Courtyard. Willy B had been out once, but was back inside the building. Honey B was on the down slope of the chute, towards the door to the Courtyard.

This is actually significant. She has been avoiding that part of the chute, especially when the door to the Courtyard is open. Perhaps she’s making plans to eventually go outside. To acknowledge her progress, I went around to the other side of the chute to say hello.

While I was standing there, we both spotted a snake slithering by on the ground. The only kind of snakes we worry about around here are rattlesnakes, and I knew right away that’s not what this snake was. I just looked it up and it appears to be a yellow-bellied racer (thanks, Google).

Usually when chimpanzees see snakes of any kind, they emit loud alarm calls, but that’s not what Honey B did.

Instead, she whimpered and stuck her fingers through the caging, asking for reassurance. So, I gave her the back of my gloved hand to touch, told her it was okay, and that, surprisingly, was that.

I was keeping my eye on the snake, mostly because I didn’t want Willy B to get startled if he decided to go back outside into the Courtyard. I’m not exactly sure what my plan was to keep him from seeing the snake… maybe if the snake started to head into the Courtyard I would have called for Kelsi or J.B. to bring out something enticing so Willy B was distracted.

Luckily, I didn’t have to enact my (lack of a) plan, because the snake stayed in place as Willy B ventured back into the Courtyard and went about his business of being stunningly handsome.

Snakes don’t normally bother me; I don’t know why. But I will admit that this snake made me a little uncomfortable today. Not frightened, more a feeling of social awkwardness.

Perhaps sensing that I was watching him/her, my gaze was returned, and the snake remained looking at me the entire time Willy B was in the Courtyard.

Awkward, right?!

Soon, it was time for lunch for Willy B, Honey B, and Mave, so they all went back into the building and I busied myself with other things. Rather, Jamie busied me with other things, specifically walking around the hill while she collected cattails:

as Missy watched from a perch up high:

Side note: we are still limiting Jody’s activity while her sutures heal, so her cattails were delivered to her in the front rooms:

About 20 minutes later, I heard some alarm calls coming from the direction of the greenhouse. I had a feeling I knew what this was about…

Sure enough, Kelsi reported that the snake had found its way into the greenhouse and the chimpanzees on that side of the building were not reacting in the surprisingly calm manner that Honey B had earlier.

Annie in  particular REALLY DOES NOT LIKE SNAKES, and she was doing most of the alarm calling/screaming:

Fun fact: when the chimpanzees are screaming, Wilson, a pit bull / bull mastiff rescue who lives with me and J.B. on the property, howls. It is the only time he howls, but he does it reliably if he is within earshot of the chimps screaming. If they are merely pant hooting or food grunting, he lets that go.

Read the following as the sarcasm it was intended to be, and include the proper inflection for air quotes: If you are wondering why we allow a 100lb dog to sit on our picnic table, well I really don’t need your questions or opinions on “good” or “bad” dog behavior or whether establishing “rules” for dogs are important. Please, let me get back to the story.

 

So, I’m sitting outside listening to Annie seriously losing it and Wilson howling, and I’m picturing that poor snake, who really had no idea what she/he had in store for themselves today.

Some of the more brave chimpanzees (NOT ANNIE), will approach snakes and try to either throw them or whack them, or some combination of those moves. Foxie and Jamie are usually the two who take this upon themselves. Kelsi came back and reported that is exactly what happened and that the snake appeared to be dead because it was lying upside down and not moving.

The chimpanzees came to that same logical conclusion and left the snake to go do other things.

I went out to the greenhouse quite a bit later and saw the snake as Kelsi had described.

Then I watched as Missy approached it and poked it with something.

The snake was alive!

What ensued was predictable – another round of Annie screaming as Foxie, Jamie, and this time Burrito too, tried to dispatch the snake in whatever way they could.

I grabbed the snake tongs that we have for capturing rattlesnakes (we’ve only had to use them a handful of times in the last dozen years), and attempted to convince Jamie to coax the snake in the direction of the caging where I was waiting with the tongs. She looked at me quizzically and did not go along with this plan.

Kelsi attempted to pick up the snake with a piece of plastic tubing through the caging, but that too was not successful. Eventually, the snake got itself into a rather hidden place in the greenhouse and everyone calmed back down.

Jamie knew exactly where the snake was. I later saw her watching the spot where it had disappeared from a very safe vantage point at the top of the platform.

The day progressed, with Kelsi serving dinner to the chimpanzees in the greenhouse without any snake sightings or drama of any kind. After dinner, I was walking around the greenhouse to close the hill for the night, when I heard something in the underbrush.

Could it be?!

I closed Door Y and excitedly returned to where I had heard the rustling. I had to separate the plants to find him/her again, but there was no doubt this was my old steely gazed snake friend.

He/she slipped behind a railroad tie, wedged between that and the side of the building. It wasn’t easy, but I was finally able to lift him/her out and relocate the snake-with-nine-lives to the barn, where I hope he/she will make a nice home and not venture towards the chimp house again.

Filed Under: Annie, Chimpanzee Behavior, Honey B, Jamie, Jody, Missy, Sanctuary, Wildlife, Willy B, Young's Hill Tagged With: animal rescue, animal sanctuary, Animal Welfare, chimpanzee, chimpanzee sanctuary, chimpsnw, primate, snake

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