Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Snow ghost

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With the frigid temperatures remaining, but most of the snow gone by yesterday, we awoke to yet a few more inches of fresh snow this morning! For whatever reasons, the chimpanzees LOVE to eat snow (and icicles!) so we put out several buckets again, topped to the brim with the fresh, powdery stuff. As the snow eating forage went on we could see some of the chimps shiver occasionally, covering up in blankets, slapping the ground seemingly experiencing a bit of “brain-freeze” and yet still, they continued to shovel the snow treats in with gusto and excitement!

Jamie eventually gathered her buckets around and covered herself up completely with a sheet. At first, we couldn’t tell who it was under there:

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At one point, she finally laid down and playfully buried herself in her nest completely, occasionally popping her head out…

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…only to go back to eating more snow from her nest:

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Finally, Jamie had enough and like an apparition, she headed upstairs to the warmer loft completely covered in her sheet. You can just make out her bum and the heel of her boot under there:

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And then there’s Foxie. This girl was so cold she was shivering, but was too excited to stop eating the snow!

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The chimp house is kept at a toasty temperature and they have radiant floor heating, but all that snow eating would make anyone cold! We decided we needed to warm the chimpanzees up so we offered hot tea service for everyone afterward which was quite a hit. But isn’t that one of the best things about wintertime? Feeling the elements down to your bones and then getting to warm up with a cozy treat afterward?

While this might not always be considered to be the most ideal of locations for a chimpanzee sanctuary, the four seasons we have here bring so much to the chimpanzees lives for them to explore and experience. I would think after decades of darkness and deprivation, having such a variety for their senses and minds to experience would make life feel that much more…well, alive.

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Playful Jamie

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Chimpanzees exhibit a variety of innate behaviors and vocalizations in different contexts. During play, for example, chimpanzees will often head nod to one another and laugh, which for a chimpanzee is a breathy pant with the top teeth covered by the upper lip. In grooming, chimpanzees will often lip-smack, teeth-clack, or blow raspberries. These behaviors seem to be used to communicate with other individuals that they are interacting in a certain context. Co-director Diana wrote a blog entry last year on grooming, which includes more detailed information about these behaviors and what they mean. As caregivers, we also use these behaviors and vocalizations during interactions to connect with the chimpanzees using their communication methods, which helps build rapport.

In the following video, Jamie plays with staff caregiver Elizabeth. In the beginning of the clip you can hear Elizabeth breathy panting during this tug-of-war/tickle interaction. Jamie then decided that intern Holly’s boot needed some TLC, so look closely at Jamie’s face and mouth to see her lip smacking as she grooms.

Pick your favorite November unseen photo

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Going through the photos from this month, I found some gems that hadn’t been posted of each of the chimpanzees. There seems to be a yellow theme going on. Do you have a favorite?

 

ANNIE:

Annie on yellow blanket

 

BURRITO:

Burrito pilo

 

BONUS BURRITO:

Burrito sitting on post

 

FOXIE:

Foxie in the rain

 

JAMIE:

Jamie sitting on chair

 

JODY:

Jody nesting

 

MISSY:

Missy in profile

 

NEGRA:

Negra side glance

 

BONUS – ANNIE & MISSY running together:

Missy Annie running behind

Annie putting her feet up

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The chimpanzees spent some time outside collecting their own snow today. But for the most part, everyone has been baking themselves in the sunny windows that look out over the valley below the sanctuary.

After lunch, Annie was quick to settle down in one of her favorite hot spots. When Annie is resting, and is content and relaxed, she loves to throw her legs in the air and kick them about or put them up against the window, intermittently clasping her feet together. Occasionally she throws in some feet clapping and Annie-bird noises (she whistles through her hands for this) for good measure.

Dear, sweet Annie…

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Burrito’s Tug-of-War Massage

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Today before lunch Burrito and staff caregiver J.B. played a nice long game of tug-of-war with a scarf. Burrito will often wrap the scarf around various parts of his body during this game so the caregiver can give him a little massage. Today he wanted to focus on his upper back and arms.

As per usual

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I wasn’t sure what sort of reaction I would get from the chimpanzees when I arrived at the sanctuary this morning. It’s been two months since my last shift and today marks my first day “back on the job.” After two months of being on maternity leave, I was curious. I was curious to see if the initial morning greeting between each of the chimps and myself would be any different than that of any other morning I have been here. In particular, I was curious to see what the boss (Jamie chimpanzee) would do. Would she come right over to me and demand to see my shoes or mark my absence with some other sort of greeting/non-greeting.

Turns out, this morning’s greetings were no different than any other day I have been at the sanctuary. There was no staring at my belly (or rather the lack of a large protrusion from my mid section). It was strictly “business as usual” for Jamie in particular. She barely looked at me before sitting down and demanding to see my shoes (by extending her fingers and gesturing toward my shoes), which she stared at ever so intently. Burrito gave a quick head nod and stuck his lips out through the caging to kiss the back of my hand. Negra gave a series of head nods and extended lips from her blanket nest, not moving any closer toward me. Annie and Missy were too busy engrossed in play to notice I was there and Jody was busy napping in her nest.

I wouldn’t have it any other way. I absolutely love that there was no difference in the way they greeted or didn’t greet me this morning. I love that (and I can only speak for myself and not for the chimps), it was like I was never gone.

Jamie demanded I join her for her perimeter patrol around Young’s Hill, as per usual (me on the outside of the electric fences and her on the inside).
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Why are the Chimps in Cages?

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You may have heard that Foxie has become a bit of a celebrity due to this The Dodo article and a follow up story and video on the Huffington Post.

Publicity for the sanctuary is so wonderful! New amazing people with gigantic hearts find out about the work we do and all of the chimpanzees in our care, and the world overall becomes a better place with more like-minded people connecting with causes that speak to them.

And then there are the comments on the internet…

As a general rule, it’s a bit disheartening to read internet comments, no matter the subject, but when people are commenting on something so close to your heart and making assumptions that are wildly inaccurate, it can sting.

However, it can also be somewhat enlightening.

One theme to the comments of late has been questioning why Foxie is “still in a cage.”

Here’s the truth about keeping chimpanzees in captivity – you have to put measures in place to contain them in order to keep them and the humans safe. And captive facilities, whether labs or zoos or sanctuaries, utilize concrete and steel to some extent.

Below is a photo of the type of cage that most of the chimpanzees living at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest spent years and years living in while in laboratories:

cage outside

Jody in buckshire cage

 

This is their sanctuary home now (the building and the hill inside the electrical fence):

chimp house

 

I am here to tell you right now that some of the enclosures at the sanctuary are primarily caging.

 

The next few photos are of the greenhouse, which is the chimpanzees’ favorite area year round. It is basically a large cage.

The greenhouse was the chimpanzees’ original “outdoor” area, and was caging that was open to the elements. Greenhouse panels were added to make it a usable space year round. Here are the panels going up:

greenhouse construction

And here is what it looks like in the winter. It’s pretty toasty in there when there’s even a little bit of sun to heat things up.

greenhouse in snow

 

The greenhouse is an incredibly usable space – chimpanzees, being strong and dexterous and having opposable toes, can easily climb up the walls, and the ceiling is made up of bars where they can hang from and brachiate, whether just to get across the room, when absconding with a prize, during play, or just for fun. I wish all enclosures could be as usable.

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Jamie and Missy brachiate

Burrito brachiating

The caging also allows caregivers to directly interact with and serve the chimpanzees (unlike other methods of containment that we also use at the sanctuary such as electric fencing and bullet-proof / chimp-proof glass).

serve vitamin

 

Caging is also handy for hanging food puzzles, like this raisin board that Jamie enjoyed tonight:

Jamie with food puzzle

 

But take another look at that photo above of Jamie with her raisin board.

If you didn’t know that this:

Jamie and Missy on patrol

and this:

Jamie on shakey bridge

and this:

Jamie look into distance

was also a part of Jamie’s everyday existence, what would you think?

 

We considered this when we started the blog before the chimpanzees arrived. Would we avoid posting photos of the chimpanzees behind bars, or play sessions that were filmed in the smaller front room area? We decided we would share it all, with the idea that those who were truly concerned or curious would look into things further, find out more, and then, of course, fall in love with the chimpanzees.

And for those who simply made an assumption about the sanctuary and never delved further, well, maybe they weren’t our “target audience.”

So, for those who are reading this, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to learn and wonder and question and care.

Anyone who works at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest will tell you that our ultimate goal is to put ourselves out of business. We don’t like the fact that there is a need for sanctuaries for chimpanzees. We don’t like the fact that there are chimpanzees in captivity anywhere.

We don’t want our chimpanzee friends to be living behind bars – we want them to be wild and free in their native habitat. But that is not possible. As we explain on our FAQ page, there are many reasons why captive chimpanzees in North America cannot be released into the wild, but one of the most significant reasons is that chimpanzees rely heavily on cultural knowledge for survival in the wild. Having been raised in captivity, the chimpanzees at CSNW lack the most basic skills for survival such as finding and procuring food and protecting themselves from the dangers of their environment.

We wish that Foxie had been born in Africa into a huge and thriving population of chimpanzees. We wish that she had children and grandchildren that surrounded her and enriched her life. But she was born in a laboratory. And that is tragic.

What we get to do, though, is tell the other side of her story. The story about her falling in love with troll dolls, and being the 98-pound mediator within her group of chimpanzees, and playing wild games of wrestle and troll keep-away with Jamie.

Some of this is done on the other side of steel caging, and we will continue to show those moments.

Burrito and Foxie