Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Foxie

The Rayne Attraction

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Rayne seems to be very well-liked within her group, but also among the humans that care for her too. I don’t know if everyone is aware of how obsessed we are with Rayne, well, besides Rayne herself, she is probably aware of how awesome we think she is. There is something about her, it feels like Rayne can handle just about anything with grace. I think we are all drawn to her self-confidence. She can stroll out onto the Bray, something so unfamiliar and scary, and later leave with all the confidence in the world, like it was just another day. She is truly a friend you want to have around. Rayne is not afraid to stand up for her friends, she will encourage them to go out of their comfort zone even when it seems scary, and reassure her friends in times of need. Rayne really is a sweet and gentle soul, but when she does decides to display, oh man, is it epic! The other thing we love about Rayne is how socially savvy she is. Raynie can somehow allow Honey B scream and chase her during a conflict and miraculously redirect into play. She is always finding ways to bring out Willy B’s silly side, but also accept him for the socially awkward chimp he is. Personally, I think she is incredible because she seems to take people as they are: the good, the bad, and the in-between. Rayne also reminds me of my friend Tatu, who is her half-sister, and for some reason it brings me comfort.

Another thing we love about her is her sense of fashion sense. It is unreal!

Rayne standing bipedal on the Bray as a train goes by:

I don’t know how we got so lucky to know a chimp like Rayne:

Bonus photos!

Lucky on the Bray today:

Willy B in the grass <3:

Foxie with 5 dolls:

Annie watching her noisy neighbors:

Can you believe Negra is turning 50 this year? As many of you might know, our Trifecta Jubilee is coming up on June 13th! We will be celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Cle Elum Seven’s arrival, Terry’s birthday, and of course Negra’s 50th birthday! On Saturday, June 10th at 2pm, we would love for you to join us for a virtual Sit Down with the Co-Directors!

Birthday Girl Herself, Queen Negra:

Look at these photographs

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Today has been a busy, busy day in the chimp house! I managed to get some photos today and hope you enjoy them!

Cy:

Foxie was out on Young’s Hill this afternoon when it started raining. Her and her Blueberry doll hurried in.

I tried to be artistic here taking a photo of Honey B behind the leaves that frame the chute.

Lucky:

Mave (let’s ignore the troll mask in the background nearly ruining the photo):

 

 

Laying to Rest

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This weekend, we will lay Jody to rest at the sanctuary, her home for the last fifteen years. Now, she will forever be with her chimpanzee family (Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Missy, and Negra). It brings us humans great comfort to know she will be physically here with us, even though she is gone. If you missed J.B.’s blog post about Jody’s departure, I will link it here.

The memory of Jody is everywhere.

When I pass by Front Rooms 2 and 3, I am reminded of her naps in those rooms. Sometimes, she would graciously get up and gather her blankets, as she knew we were hoping to clean the front rooms next. When I serve cherry tomatoes to her group, I am reminded of how Jody popped each one with her front teeth and then ate it. Sometimes, the juice would squirt in various directions and it made me laugh every time. When I look at Young’s Hill, I am reminded of seeing her foraging with her group, collecting all types of foods. She would do this certain walk that only Jody could do, when she was exceptionally proud of herself. When I look at lilacs, I see Jody. Since Jody has been gone, I’ve noticed myself taking in my surroundings more, looking for the beauty in things around me. I know that may sound bizarre that it took Jody’s death to make me do this, but when I see something extra beautiful, like a beautiful tree in full bloom, I think to myself, “Jody would love that”.

Today, some beautiful edible flowers that Kelsi ordered arrived and we knew we had to spread them out for Jody’s family. Nobody loved flowers as much as Jody. We spread out the flowers in the Greenhouse, as well as filled the pools with diluted Gatorade and floating orchids.

Annie

Jamie

Negra (L) and Foxie (R)

Burrito

Annie

Burrito

Burrito and Jamie

Foxie (L), Burrito (center), and Missy (R)

Negra

Negra with one of Foxie’s dolls in her pelvic pocket

Burrito and volunteer Krissy playing

Foxie

We love and miss you, Jo!

New Beginnings

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I think it is time to celebrate something. This morning started off like any other. Jamie’s group went out onto Young’s Hill, including Negra! It was the perfect morning to forage for grass and feel the warm sunshine.

Negra:

However, later in the afternoon we closed off Young’s Hill because… Rayne’s group went out on the the Bray for the first time!!!!!! I don’t think any of us expected this group to explore so much the first time, it was amazing to watch.

Rayne walked out onto the Bray, not a hair was pilo, like she had always belonged there. It was really magical to watch her be so confident walking out into the unknown, she was truly at ease.

Terry explored so much!

Willy B surprised us! He never really explored much when he was in the the old courtyard, but today he explored everything, even the top of Esher.

There is so much more we want to share, but it will have to wait until tomorrow! All I want to say is that we are so proud of them, not everyone went out, it will still take some time for them to get comfortable, but today for all of us staff this felt sooo good!

We will be splitting Hill time between the two groups until Rayne’s group becomes more comfort and secure on the Bray, but we have started the process!

Bonus photos of Foxie:

Continuing on…

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Many have reached out to ask how the rest of Jody’s group members are doing following her passing. I am happy to report that they seem to be handling it well. Of course, it is evident that they feel the loss of Jody, as she was an important member of their group, but they are okay. They are continuing on with their daily routines, which I personally think is crucial in the grieving process. They are all doing the things they enjoy the most, such as reading books, playing, nesting, etc. Grieving and continuing on with life can occur simultaneously.

I know many blog readers enjoy reading our blog as a positive escape. While our blog content is typically positive or fun/silly in nature, I know with the loss of Jody, it has not been. I apologize if you feel the heaviness. We hope you understand as we inevitably continue to mention Jody in the coming days/weeks/months. I don’t think any of us want to stop talking about her yet.

 

Different Interests

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The beauty of sanctuary here at CSNW is that every chimpanzee gets to explore their interests. Jamie has her boots and books, Foxie has her dolls, Mave has her Dora, Dora has her Mave, Honey B always has mischievous plans, and Cy has his magazines. Recently, Cy has found something else that has peaked his interest, romance and romcom movies. Cy is the leader of his group, but to us staff he really is a big softy. So it really didn’t surprise us when he seemed to love movies like The Notebook, Love Actually, Must Love Dogs, and Hitched. What did surprise us is that Cy will now request a movie before bed, to which we say, of course!  It’s very sweet, his caregivers will set a sleep timer for his movie, usually The Notebook, then Cy will make a nest in front room 7 and eventually fall asleep to his movie.

We also believe that Cy is a BIG Ryan Gosling fan. If you have any romcom DVDs gathering dust please feel free to send them to Cy! I am curious now- what everyone’s favorite RomCom?

Bonus photos! Rayne and Honey B are half sisters, can you tell?

Mischief Managed

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When I describe my job to people, I usually say “There is never a dull day.” Well today that was very true! Jamie decided to have a laid back day, no projects, just play and nesting. I felt so lucky to capture this play session of Jamie and Foxie, even if every once in a while Jamie would remind me to get lost! Burrito may not have been invited either, but don’t worry Foxie made sure he wasn’t left out! However, Honey B seemed like she had plans from the get-go this morning, as you will see in the video. We have what we call “privacy panels” between the playrooms and greenhouses. They were installed for when the groups were separated so they could have, you know, privacy. Even after the group became nine we left them up just in case, we didn’t want to jinx anything! Honey B decided this morning the greenhouse panels needed to go and so they did, at the hands of Honey B :). As a disclaimer- no chimps were hurt and we quickly closed off the greenhouse so that JB and his new handy man Adam could safely remove the rest of them.

Please enjoy this series of photos of Burrito in the sandbox: