Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

Foxie

Burrito’s Sense of Humor

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Burrito is a funny guy! He is always making us laugh, but from time to time his group doesn’t always think he is so funny. For example, in this video Burrito may or may not have gotten a little too wild for Foxie’s taste!

As you can see, Burrito is having so much fun playing with the giant stuffed bear. Make sure to check out the Comfort & Joy auction! There are a lot of great Squishmallows I know Burrito would love!

Please enjoy this silly video and some bonus photos!

The rare close up of Missy:

Beautiful Negra:

Jamie eating snow:

A series of Foxie photos:

 

Emotional Beings and Where to Find Them

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Before we get into the thick of it, let’s play a game!

This is an identification game: super hard expert level! All nine in Cy’s group were caught napping on the second floor of the Marmot Mountain Playroom! Even some of the staff couldn’t get the correct answer. I admit, I would probably be wrong too had I not been cleaning in the adjacent Lupine Playroom to see who is who at the time. I would be pretty astound if somebody can get them all identified correctly!

Good Luck!

There has been video circling around on the internet recently that has been gaining popularity. The video is of Mahale, a female chimpanzee from the Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas, being reunited with her new born son, Kucheza. It is such a sweet and endearing video. I personally have probably watched it maybe 100 times, and that’s the low estimate. I was taken aback when I read some of the comments, however.

Perusing through the comments, I was astonished that it seemed a lot of people were just now seeing a species outside of Homo sapiens can experience emotions such as compassion or motherly love. I know I’m in a unique position where I have studied chimpanzees for several years and worked with them for a few, so the concept of them having emotions is not a foreign concept to me. I am excited, however, that video has generated the discussion and awareness of animal emotions.

Let’s face it, it is a very emotional video. Mahale was giving birth when there were complications. The veterinarian staff decided and emergency c-section had to be performed to save Kucheza. After two days in intensive, Kucheza was finally given back to his mother. And the rest is history, as they say. I am really happy for Mahale and Kucheza, and applaud the care and veterinarian staff of the Sedgwick County Zoo. But where there is a bright side, there is a dark.

After a few more watches, hit it me thinking about this type of situation with our residents and how they were never afforded the opportunity to be reunited with their child and raise their children. What kind of mother would Jody really have been? Would Foxie still be famous if she had the opportunity to raise her children instead of bonding with a Troll doll? Would Negra have a less grumpy attitude if she was able to raise her children? Would Annie be as sweet and caring as she is with her friends? Would the first rounds of integrations a few years ago be different if Missy was able to recognize Honey B as the daughter she gave birth too? There are a lot of what ifs that can play out, but I find it best to just focus in the present time.

In any case, they are here, now, living the best life they possibly can with such a horrid pasts behind them. I think we are all just thankful and relieved Mahale and Kucheza are able to spend all the time they can together and not suffer the same fate.

I wasn’t able to get any good photos today since it is now snowing and the chimpanzees spent nearly the whole day in those out of reach spots. Luckily enough though, I had some I almost forgot about!

The ever adorable Honey B
Mave working through her night bag
Terry enjoying an evening ice egg
Cy and his afternoon reading material

Have you guessed who is who in Marmot Mountain Playroom?

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Here is the answer!

Rainy Day Adventures

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It’s a rainy, cool day here in Cle Elum today. Driving into work this morning through the mist I thought that the chimps would maybe be pretty relaxed and be content to spend the day in comfy nests listening to the rain.

I was wrong. 🙂

When I went to say good morning to Cy’s group, everyone was rearin’ to play chase, groom, or just stare at me for long periods of time without blinking (hi, Honey B). On the other side of the chimp house, everyone was off on their adventures as soon as I gave them access to Young’s Hill! I’m pretty sure Missy spent the whole morning after breakfast out under the trees and everyone else came and went as they pleased. I was cleaning Playroom 1 with one of our awesome volunteers, Patti, when Jamie decided it was time to go for a patrol around the hill. She had me wear one of her new favorite boots and when we made it to the top of the hill, she stopped and hung out for a while. It was a pretty exciting walk- be sure to check out today’s video to see why! 🙂 I might have cried a little bit, but that’s just me.

This afternoon, though, has been quiet as everyone nests in warm, fresh, cozy blankets. All in all, it’s been a pretty darn good rainy day.

Cy:

Gordo, holding his feet, because why not?

Sweet Lucky:

Terry, mid-chew:

Honey B, gazing into my soul… pretty sure she knows my social security number, what I got on my SAT’s in high school, and every other little secret about me:

 

more tree-climbing adventures!

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What a day! The video above says it all, but below are a few still photos.

Chad, on his day off, happened to see Missy’s climb as he was accompanying a former chimp house volunteer on a walk around the hill. He and J.B. took some videos with their phones as I walked up with the camera and telephoto lens, which was not working right away, but I did get one good photo of Missy amidst the branches, foraging on pine needles:

and some photos on her way down:

Spotted on Young’s Hill: Negra

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Today was a beautiful day for a lunch forage on Young’s Hill! While it is still quite cold, the sun was out which overall made the day more tolerable. The forage included red onions, mini sweet peppers, and tomatoes. Here are some photos from today’s forage! As you will see, Negra was too fast for my rookie camera skills. Enjoy!

Foxie:

Jamie:

Missy:

Burrito:

Here is evidence that Negra did go on the hill… hold the applause for these excellent photos (camera couldn’t focus in time).

Negra:

On Friday, I posted two photos of “Mystery Lips”. Many of you got #2 correct, but #1 appeared to be more difficult. How did you do?!

Mystery Lips #1:

Mystery Lips #1 belong to……. CY!

Mystery Lips #2:

Mystery Lips #2 belongs to…… HONEY B!

A few weeks ago, Jen Feuerstein made a comment suggesting we should have a game where we guess how many blankets are in the very popular hangout spot, aka Room 7. So instead of guessing how many candies are in the jar…

How many blankets do you think are in Room 7? We will post the answer tomorrow!

Let Tree-dom Ring

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Well, we have some exciting news! I am not sure if anyone picked up on Anthony or Chad’s very subtle hints, but today Jamie’s group received access back to the new and improved Young’s Hill! For those who might be wondering about Cy’s group, the Bray Hill isn’t quite ready yet.

This afternoon, watching the seven go back out into their outdoor enclosure was a spectacular event to witness! I will share a few highlights of the day and tomorrow JB will have a video with more details to share!

Annie trying out new structures:

Burrito exploring:

Fearless little Foxie:

Missy and Annie inspecting:

Jody:

Jody and Foxie checking out their new structure:

Chad took this photo of Jamie. To me, this photo is the epitome of sanctuary:

Also this photo of Jamie, she looks so happy:

Maybe one of the best highlights of the day is Missy being the first to climb the trees! We humans and probably Jo were all holding our breath, but also so excited to watch Missy agilely climb a tree for the first time EVER!!!

Jody watching Missy climb a tree:

Jody and Annie monitoring Missy closely from the ground:

“Here I sit beneath a tree. Heartbeat calm. Soul hums free.”

– Angie Weiland-Crosby

Language of Sanctuary

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Sanctuaries are unique places, built out of the necessity to provide nonhuman primates that have endured years in biomedical research a satisfactory place to retire & live out their life with as much autonomy as possible. While this grounds us in everything we do & every decision we make, it also lends to a unique work place and culture. One of the factors of this unique workplace is the language that gets used!

We’ve talked before on the blog about specific phrases that get used often, i.e. “The chimps are off the hill”, but there are also specific ways we talk about the chimps throughout our day. This is one of the most interesting aspects of sanctuary culture, at least to me, and although we’ve likely covered it in a blog before- I thought it was time to bring it back. 🙂

One of the phrases that is used, maybe most often, is that we are serving the chimps a meal. While a lot of us come to the sanctuary using the phrase “feed the chimps”, serving is a more inclusive term that encourages thinking about the chimps as equals. Just as we go to a restaurant and get served our meal, the chimps also choose to come to a meal to get served items from the menu!

Another commonplace term used around here is referring to the chimps as people! Chimps are not human, of course, but they are people with unique personalities. So, you will often hear caregivers say things like “there are a few people being really playful in playroom one!”.

When shifting the chimps or when we are about to serve them a meal, we use the term “inviting” when referring to a certain space. So, if I was about to give Jamie’s group access to the greenhouse and try to close the front rooms off for cleaning, I would say “I am going to invite Jamie’s group into the greenhouse and try to close off the front rooms”. The term invite is appropriate here, because we are giving them the choice- if they choose to leave the front rooms I would close them for cleaning. If not, and someone (likely Jody) has decided that I should not get the front rooms that day, then so be it! We will clean them tomorrow. 🙂

Along with these specific phrases, there are the little ones used so commonly throughout the day that they’re not coming to mind. Foxie or another chimp asking for someone or something, for example.

These terms and phrases may take a while to roll of the tongue, but once they do you realize how natural it is- and then you discover that you have a hard time explaining why they’re used! At the end of the day, our priority is giving our residents (ooh, there’s another one) as much autonomy and choice as possible. This includes giving them the respect they deserve, which lends itself to the language that we use. The language of sanctuary is truly special and it helps put everything into perspective when we think about how we are guests in their home, and should act accordingly.

Here’s some photos of some awesome people in their home! 🙂

Jamie, this morning with her DIY Bolo-Tie in the greenhouse:

Cy, resting his head in his hand:

Foxie, enjoying the morning in the greenhouse:

Gordo, during a lunch forage:

Jamie, resting with her favorite bonobo book:

Missy, trying to talk me into snagging her some tomatoes from the garden:

Lucky, being her sweet-self: