With Honey B recovering from her eye injury, we felt it would be nice for her if she got first dibs on a brand new enrichment toy before the rest of her group. The Round Thingie from the Wildlife Toy Box was one of the items in this past Comfort & Joy auction. A huge thank you to long time sanctuary friend Monica B. for winning this item for Honey B and all the other residents of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest! Thank you so much, Monica!
Honey B was born at the Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates (LEMSIP) to mother Missy and father Herbie. Her mother, Missy, has been a resident of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest since the beginning and was part of the original Cle Elum 7. Honey B was taken away from Missy only a few short hours after she was born to be raised by humans. Her father, Herbie, was not only used in testing, he was also used as a breeder and sired a decent amount of offspring, which include Cy, Lucky, and Rayne!
Honey B, along with Willy B and Mave, arrived at CSNW from the now defunct Wildlife Way Station animal rescue in California on August 18, 2019. In April 2022, Honey B, Willy B, and Mave were integrated into a larger group of chimpanzees who also came from WWS. This group also included her half-siblings Cy, Lucky, and Rayne!
Honey B is a very intelligent and very intense individual. When she is getting to know you, she will stare you down to try to figure you out. Caregivers joke around that in these moments, Honey B now knows our social security number, credit card numbers, and what grade point average we got in 4th grade. She is ever observant and loves keeping tabs on the humans, hoping they will slip up at some point (see A Little Bit of Mischief, The Great Hose Heist, CSNW Candid Camera).
The Honey B Stare was how I was introduced to Honey B. I remember it with crystal clarity. It was right after her quarantine period when volunteers were finally given access to that side of the sanctuary, which at the time I was still a volunteer. At this point I heard the hazing stories from other volunteers who served her a meal for the first time. From screaming to spitting smoothie at volunteers to kicking the caging to dominance displays, Honey B was not going to make it easy. I had to psych myself up before I served her lunch for the very first time.
The second I walked into the front room area, her eyes locked on me. The intimidation game had begun. I started with a carrot (a food item that is long enough to if she did try something, I would have time and space to react). Without breaking her stare, she let me put the carrot in her hand and she slowly pulled it through the mesh. She didn’t eat it right away. She just sat there staring at me with carrot in hand.
Finally she brought the carrot up held it with both hands, and snapped it in half and began slowly eating the top end. Keep in mind, she did not break her stare the entire time. This lasted the entire lunch service. It ranks up there of times in my life where I was genuinely intimidated and uncomfortable. Luckily for me, it ended well and she didn’t have any hazing in store for me, unless she’s playing the really long game… which I don’t think anyone would put it past her to play.
Honey B is such an amazing individual. Highly intelligent, very sweet but also very sassy, imaginative and fun loving, and a woman who knows what she wants. It’s been such an honor to watch her be her individual self and making some new friends (I still think her and Lucky plan beforehand to throw a wrench in caregivers’ shifting plans so they can have the front rooms to themselves for play sessions).
Now that Honey B has more pals who live with her, she would love to have more pals from all over the world to become a Chimpanzee Pal and help keeping the gears in that wheelhouse of a head of hers going with more puzzles!
It’s impossible to not fall in love with Honey B.
And a huge thank you to all of her current Pals!
Monica, Sharlene, Darcy, Carrie, Barbara, Paulette, Sarah, Lana, and Alexsandra.
