Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Foxie

Lunchtime With the Cle Elum Seven

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Meals are always an exciting time of the day around here! The chimps get fresh fruits and vegetables for all three meals of the day, along with forages and food puzzles throughout the day and evening. Everyone has their favorites, of course, and today Caregiver Katelyn prepared tomatoes, mini sweet peppers, and avocados for lunch!

Join us for lunchtime with the Cle Elum Seven on this beautiful October day. 🙂

Terry, inspecting his own hand:

Terry, noticing me taking photos:

Negra during a meal last week:

Missy, watching Foxie play with Caregiver Katelyn:

Lucky hanging out with me earlier this morning:

A thread of Burrito photos, because he’s handsome and I couldn’t pick just one:

Burrito’s Busy Play Day

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Burrito had a pretty busy day! It seemed like everyone wanted to play with him, which for Burrito is the perfect kind of day! It was fun to see that even Annie wanted to join in! Burrito and Annie do play and interact with one another. However, they tend to have some miscommunications with each other as well, so to catch a small moment of them having a good time is always a treasure.

It’s hard to decide whether or not to film these fun moments the chimps are having with one another. Pulling out our phones or camera can often distract or stop them from engaging in the interaction with each other, and there are times when it feels like they should just have the time to play and interact without us disrupting them. There are other times when we decide that maybe they are in the moment enough to not notice and we go for it. We never want to interrupt, but we also want to be able to share it! Today was a day I was able to capture these moments without bothering the chimps!

Bonus! Today was a warm one, so what better way to cool down than with a Popsicle!

Foxie approved!

So I don’t forget

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As the newest staff member, I have spent the last four months building my relationships with the chimpanzees. I was fortunate enough to be a student intern here in 2019-2020 (up until the pandemic), which means I had previously met Jamie’s group, as well as Willy B, Honey B, and Mave when they were just a group of three. However, I was not trained to interact with the chimps as an intern, so all my relationships truly started when I joined as a staff member.

I do believe that knowing the dynamics of Jamie’s group previously, as well as having glimpses into the personalities of Willy B, Honey B, and Mave, has helped me transition into my role. Throughout my training and up until now, I have tried to be intentional with my time with the chimps. I want them to know I care and that they are my priority. I want them to know I am happy to be here. While some days cleaning takes up a lot of our time, every day matters to them. Even if I don’t spend quality time with each chimp every single day, showing up every day matters to them. Greeting them every morning and every time you see them matters. Every little thing I have done has helped and will continue to help build my relationship with each of the chimps.

I have had a few moments recently that meant a lot to me, so I captured a photo during/after with my phone.

For example, Missy is very particular with the humans she chooses to interact with. She would much rather spend time with her chimpanzee friends. The other day, I went out to the Greenhouse to play chase with Burrito and Missy was out there as well. She was looking out to Young’s Hill, appearing deep in thought. Out of nowhere, she flung her back around and pushed it up against the caging, which is a signal that she would like to be groomed. To say I was shocked was an understatement! This was the first time Missy had initiated an interaction with me. I took full advantage of the opportunity and groomed her back for several minutes. Burrito gave me a look like he knew it was unusual for Missy to interact with me and patiently waited until I was done before he started playing chase again.

I captured this photo with my phone after so I would never forget this moment.

Burrito and Missy:

On Tuesday, it was a rainy day and everyone was absolutely stoked about it. The cooler temperatures, even for just one day, are so appreciated this time of year. During the afternoon, I went on a walk around Young’s Hill with Burrito. When we reached the top, Burrito sat down and was taking in the view. Or maybe he was letting me catch my breath after the steep incline, we may never know. Either way, it was a beautiful moment I knew I wanted to capture, so I would never forget.

A few days ago, Foxie dropped her dolls down to me. These are two of her absolute favorite dolls out of her collection. As you can see, they’re her brand new birthday dolls! You can tell they’re new if they still have clothes on (her preference). Something inside of me feels extra special when Foxie gives me the things she loves the most. I quickly snapped this photo while Foxie was waiting for me to toss them back to her, while sitting up in the “Loft” of their Playroom. I didn’t want to forget this.

To be honest, there are so many moments working this job that are so special. I’m sure if we asked all caregivers out there, they would all have photos like these ones so that they don’t forget the special moments. And mine are just from the past week!

*Bonus photo of Rayne – Here is proof that Cy is not the only fan of magazines!*

Mask Madness

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What I love about my job the most is that every day is never the same. You really never know what will be sitting in the foyer for the chimps when you come back from your weekend or what new interest they have. Through sanctuary the chimps get the opportunity to evolve and change, while also being able to have consistent steady things in their lives. For example, Foxie loves troll dolls! Because of our kind donors, she will always have troll dolls in her life, but she has also gotten the opportunity to expand that interest into other types of dolls. While her enrichment and opportunities have grown and evolved into new things, her dolls will always be there to comfort her and that will never change!
Recently, someone donated a troll doll mask! Foxie liked having her caregivers wear it for her, but to our surprise Gordo thought the mask was the funniest thing! The moment he saw it, he erupted into a game of chase! He would make us run all around the chimp house with it on (safely of course!). In between chasing he would playfully spit and bounce up and down while laughing! Donations like this are so wonderful, because even though it was terrifying for the humans to look at ;), it was an enriching opportunity for Gordo. Honey B really loved it too! She was playing chase and following me around while I wore it, she even gave out a sweet little kiss!

Chimpanzees in the mist(er)

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The temperature is hovering around 100 degrees right now in Cle Elum and we all feel it! Luckily, we have many ways to protect the chimpanzees and staff from the extreme elements. In fact, as I type, I can hear the chimps slurping on homemade popsicles that Chad just handed out. Just before lunch we played around with some mister hose attachments to see if anyone was interested. Honey B and Rayne were happy to try it out. I love watching their wild expressions as they try to catch as much water as possible.

Speaking of beating the heat… If I had one wish for the chimps this July, it would be for the amazingly generous donation of that certain portable evaporative cooler that has been hanging out at the top of our Amazon wish list.

Here’s Foxie expending as little energy as possible today:

 

I spy…

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Today, caregiver Anthony took off additional panels to the Greenhouse for Jamie’s group. In addition to more air-flow through the Greenhouse (which is why Anthony did this), this allows Jamie’s group a new angle to sneak a peak at Cy’s group (which is always very exciting).

As you can see, chimpanzees don’t spy very discretely.

Burrito:

Can you spot Foxie?

The seven typically like to spy on their neighbors through the Playroom 1 windows. The Playroom 1 windows give them a decent view of the Oakwood Greenhouse as well as one of the Playrooms for Cy’s group. Can you spot Burrito? He likes to set up a barrel for himself so he has seating.

I think his arm propped up on the window sill is a nice touch.

Don’t worry, Cy’s group was pretty unbothered by their nosy neighbors.

Rayne relaxing in the cool front rooms:

In our recent call out for questions or ideas for the blog, some wondered if the chimps still pay attention to the “howdy door”.

All the time!

For those unfamiliar with the “howdy door”, you can watch a video about the door here. It is a door that separates the two sides of our building and our two chimpanzee groups. Any time there is drama on one side of the building, it is nearly a guarantee that at least one chimp will try to see if they can get a peak of the action through small cracks in the “howdy door”. It is also not uncommon for the chimps to target the “howdy door” during their displays.

Willy B and “Howdy Door”:

 

These Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Weeks of Summer

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A big ole’ heat wave is coming to Cle Elum this week and although today wasn’t the hottest of the hot upcoming days, it is still a *very* warm 92 degrees Fahrenheit. On days like this, afternoons tend to be a little quieter as the chimps find cool spots to relax throughout the chimp house. A wonderful thing about the Pacific Northwest, though, is that nights and mornings tend to be a good deal cooler than the afternoons. This means that, in the morning, Jamie’s group still gets to enjoy Young’s Hill and Cy’s group is frequently inviting caregivers to play chase throughout the greenhouses!

In the afternoons, we work to provide the chimps enrichment to keep them cool – and today we made snow-cone-boats for everyone! Check out the photos below to see how they enjoyed it.

This morning, Annie and Missy enjoyed a bit of morning climbing on Carlene’s Tower.

Annie inspecting some tall grass out on Young’s Hill in the morning glow of sunshine.

While everyone went out to explore the hill, Negra opted to hang back and watch (ahem, nap).

Negra and Foxie enjoying a post-breakfast relaxation session in the greenhouse.

Foxie was all about a slow motion game of pass-the-troll-through-the-caging, before she took them back for a cuddle.

Cut to the afternoon – cleaning is complete, lunch has been had, and it’s time for some cooling enrichment! We took shaved ice and added in a drizzle of Grape Juice and a few freshly harvested raspberries and currants, courtesy of our abundant garden outside of the kitchen.

Everyone was super excited! It’s tough to snag photos of the chimps with the snow cone boats, since they eat them so quickly, but I took a few mediocre ones with my phone to share. 🙂

Annie:

Cy:

Dora:

Foxie:

Jamie:

Terry:

I also wanted to make a quick shout out- we can’t express how amazing our volunteers and supporters are, no words could ever do it justice. And today I wanted to send a thank you to volunteer Patti for her surprise delivery of vegan ice cream sandwiches for the staff and a box fan for the chimps! Thank you!!