Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Cle Elum 7

Photos from today and Negra’s Journey

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Check out this post on One Green Planet we posted today about Negra. It’s truly a wonderful story and we’d love it if you would share it on social media, or just forward the link to your friends!

Here’s some pictures I took today — the weather is absolutely gorgeous so we set up a quick lunch forage for the chimps to enjoy!

Foxie:

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Burrito:

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Jamie checking out some welding work J.B. was doing down at the caregiver house:

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And then she took her pile inside to enjoy and let me snap this nice head shot of her:

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Jody and the Bamboo

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Jody loves to harvest her own plants from Young’s Hill. In addition to a variety of wild plants that grow out there, we have planted several groves of bamboo generously donated by Provitro Biosciences. While Missy appreciates the bamboo for its climbing potential, Jody prefers to break off shoots and eat the leaves.

I snapped the following photos the other day when Jody brought this bamboo inside to enjoy.

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And as I was typing this blog post, Jody dragged this giant piece of bamboo in from outside. Let’s hope the bamboo survives Jody’s love.

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Carrying things around when you’re a chimpanzee

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Everyday I put on clothes that have pockets to hold my keys, cell phone and wallet. When I leave the house, I carry a purse to transport the many “vital” items I might need throughout the day. Most of the time, I do this without thought since it’s such a natural part of my day. While I am grateful for the ease that these modern conveniences provide I can tell you with confidence that they are not strictly necessary. You might think that carrying things around as a chimpanzee could be challenging. The chimpanzees do not have pockets or purses (although they do have access to them provided by the daily enrichment) and yet they manage to carry around the important things just fine. In fact, their ingenuity is often inspiring! There are various solutions to the problem of carrying things when you’re a chimpanzee. Here are just a few.

Of course, hands and arms are always up to the task.
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Mouths are often quite useful as well.
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Carrying things on your back takes a little practice, but Foxie is a pro.
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Options that are particular to chimpanzees are the hip pocket (the area between the thigh and the abdomen) and the ever popular foot grab!
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Sometimes, you just have to make it work with whatever you have at hand. Jamie’s problem solving skills often lend themselves to situations like this in interesting ways. For example, she has been seen on more than one occasion to use this table to carry her portion of food from a meal to a more comfortable location were she can enjoy her selection at leisure.
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Choice

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The chimpanzees spend a lot of time in the doorway that leads from the greenhouse to Young’s Hill, deciding whether they want to go outside. Sometimes they decide against it and opt to stay in the sunny greenhouse or hang out in the indoor playroom. But I think these moments of choice are just as vital to captive chimpanzees as fresh air and sunshine and room to run.

This morning I’ve seen Negra sit in the doorway to Young’s Hill several times, taking in the view of the hill and pondering. She hasn’t yet ventured out, but I imagine that seeing two acres of green grass in front of her is something that she never imagined during her decades in a lab cage.

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Sidewalks!

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You may have picked up that Katelyn mentioned that J.B. and Ken Mikkelson were prepping the areas around the chimp house for sidewalks on Wednesday, and yesterday the Poppoff crew came out and started work on forming the concrete. Today they finished the sidewalks and now they are curing and drying so we can start using them in a few days. The Poppoffs are long-time supporters of the sanctuary and have helped us with other construction projects including Young’s Hill and even years ago when we created the greenhouse.

So, why sidewalks? It’s all part of the veterinary clinic project that we started last year. The cement pad in front of the gate will make it easier if we need to move big equipment in or out of the chimp house, including the trailer itself. The sidewalks go from the chimp area doors to the clinic, so we can easily transfer a chimp to the clinic if we need to. They also will be much nicer to shovel and put ice melt on in the winter! So, we are pretty excited about these sidewalks.

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The chimps were very interested in all the work going on, and watched from Young’s Hill:

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Today is in memory of Norman A. Johnson

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Paula Nelson in memory of her father, Norman A. Johnson. Paula shared this lovely message about her father:

“My father passed away a year ago on May 9th. I wanted to honor his memory. He so enjoyed watching the videos and pictures of all the chimps. We had family in Cle Elum so that made it special for our family. I know he is smiling down still enjoying them. Love you Daddy.”

Paula, we are so touched that you thought of the chimpanzees when honoring the memory of your father. It makes us happy to know that they brought such joy to his life. Thank you so much for giving them a special day and our thoughts are with you and your family.

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View from the top

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Almost three years after we opened Young’s Hill, the chimpanzees are still exploring new facets of it all the time. This afternoon volunteer caregiver Denice called me outside to take a look at Jamie, who had scaled a 25 foot tall post to the very top, and was clinging to it and taking in her surroundings. She didn’t even come down when Denice announced that it was lunch time. Due to a camera mishap I wasn’t able to get a photo of her on her perch, but here she is climbing back down.

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After a little more meandering, she headed to the greenhouse to enjoy some lunch.

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