Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Honey B

Honey B’s 35th Birthday!

by

Today is Honey B’s 35th birthday! We celebrated by having a “contraband” themed birthday party (all things that they normally wouldn’t get) because one of Honey B’s greatest pleasures in life is when the humans mess up and leave something in the enclosures, such as a scrub brush. If you’re new to the blog, Honey B is the queen of obtaining contraband (check this hose heist video for a reminder). Therefore for her birthday, we intentionally left cleaning items inside (nothing dangerous, obviously) for her to “find”. The chimps also enjoyed a popcorn forage and a delicious lunch forage which included pasta, two of Honey B’s favorite foods.

Honey B is a spunky, intelligent, often unpredictable chimpanzee and while that keeps us caregivers on our toes, it makes things that much more fun around here as well.

Happy Birthday, Honey B!

Krissy and Honey B:

Bonus photo of Honey B’s half sister, Rayne:

Don’t forget! Our online auction started this week! There are so amazing items to bid on. One of my favorites is a painting of Rayne by caregiver Ellen. I will be bidding on it myself because it’s just that amazing. She did such a wonderful job. Check it out and bid on the painting here!

Class Clowns

by

I think it’s fairly well known that Burrito is the jokester among his group. He is constantly making people laugh with his silly antics. He is so funny he can get anyone to usually join in, even Jamie for a little bit! However, if no one is in the mood to play, no biggie- Burrito always has a good time entertaining himself! I think the same could be said for Honey B. Honey B is so funny and always playing pranks on her caregivers, but when she is in the mood to play she is the goofiest of her group member’s.

Bonus Neggie 🙂

Mr. Caterpillar

by

Over the past few days, I have been gathering photos and thinking about a theme for today’s blog. At first, it was going to be about Rayne holding her new broccoli enrichment toy. However, this morning, Dora allowed me to take some amazing portraits of her. So then I ran with the idea of writing about the “Small, but Mighty Dora”. But then… Burrito started playing with Mr. Caterpillar! After that, Lucky and Willy let me take some awesome portraits too. So today I thought, why not have it all, a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I hope you enjoy the video of Burrito playing as he is always making our day brighter. And of course, all the bonus photos!

Mr. Burrito Caterpillar:

When the weather gets nicer, we often find Cy like this 🙂

Yesterday was a beautiful day. So beautiful that Honey B decided to hold out in the Chute 🙂

Lucky portrait:

And a Lucky smooch:

Mave grooming herself in the chute next to Dora:

Rayne relaxing in a nest:

Rayne holding her broccoli toy and enjoying the warm greenhouse:

Rayne’s typical breakfast spot, however, yesterday she brought this brush with her and never let it go:

She has amazing balance:

Willy B checking himself out:

And the little mighty Dora enjoying the warm sunshine in the chute this morning:

Stay a While

by

The chimp house can be a bit chaotic in the morning into the early afternoon, but in a good way, of course. The building is humming with energy in preparation of the day, as the humans prepare meals, enrichment, food puzzles, work on laundry, clean the building, and do more laundry. Meanwhile, the chimps are either laughing and playing or displaying and causing a ruckus. Most days are a combination of all these activities. However, by the afternoon, the chimp house seems to be calmer, at least for the humans. After lunch, is often when you will see the chimps in the position I like to call, come over and stay a while. This is when the caregivers can sit and spend some time with their friends. The chimps often sit in a comfortable position and when they see you, they may get up and invite you to groom or sit with them for a while. Sometimes though, as we walk by to grab laundry or clean toys, we just admire how cozy and laid back they look.

Willy B grooming himself, foot up on the mesh to show he is very relaxed:

Obviously, Willy B have to try to look at his teeth through the camera:

Honey B can somehow look relaxed in a nest while simultaneous looking up to no good 🙂

And Rayne, the laid back queen herself:

Bonus photo of Annie! We put out a lunch forage today with some whole oranges and a few whole veggies. Annie went all the way to the top before everyone and scored big time!

 

 

All Shapes and Sizes

by

First thing is first! If you have been following the news, you may have heard about a zebra that has been on the loose near the cascades for about a week. It has sparked a meme trend across social media of a zebra found in different places and scenarios. This lead to a discussion of where the zebra could be found. In this definitely not doctored photo, I believe we have had a glimpse of the elusive zebra!

(Note: This is in fact a doctored photo)

If you wanted to know the real update about the zebra, it was finally located and captured last Friday.

Enrichment comes in many shapes and forms. From food puzzles to toys to caregivers and to interacting with other chimpanzees, enrichment is a crucial part in caring for chimpanzees. While monitoring physical health, cleaning enclosures, and preparing meals is a big part of it, enrichment holds and equally important piece to the puzzle of caregiving. Enrichment helps to keep their minds stimulated and engaged. In a very loose way to look at it, it’s sort of like the mental health aspect of caring. In the video, those are just some of the was the chimpanzees are enriched.

We also wanted to let you all know today is the first official day of Give Big! This two day campaign is a way for non-profits to encourage donations to come in. We are currently at approximately $20,000 of our $50,000 goal. These donations are a crucial part in being able to care for all the residents at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. It is what allows caregivers to provide top notch medical care, health and fresh meals, new toys, and fun parties. Every little bit helps. Even the tiniest donation. We are not able to do any of this without all the years of support and donations. Thank you so much for choosing to follow us, falling in love with the chimpanzees and cattle, putting smiles on caregivers faces, and making all of this possible! I hope to see some of your names on the donor list! There is currently a matching donation going on, where every dollar becomes two dollars!

Here are some bonus photos from today!

Rayne

with a yellow brush!

Cy

I imagine this is Cy’s happy place. Surrounded by magazines and boomer balls!
He found a whole celery stalk place on The Bray during today’s lunch forage!

Willy B

I make the same face too when I see food.
Eyeing everyone to see what they got.

Burrito and Jamie

Fishing for raisins in their Greenhouse.

Honey B

Enjoying her time foraging in the Oakwood Greenhouse.

Terry

Enjoying the goods he collected during the forage.

A Special Game of Tug

by

One of the most special parts of my job as a caregiver is being able to build relationships with the chimpanzees. This can be a slow process, with most of the first steps being them testing you and seeing how you react to things they do. Sometimes these things are not so pleasant for you, like poking at items you are serving, spitting at you, jumping at the caging to try to startle you, or even throwing poop. But all of that is so worth it for the friendships to come. It is incredibly rewarding when they start to let their walls down with you, and you start to get to see the chimpanzee person behind the tough exterior they first put up.

When I was first starting as a caregiver here, I admittedly struggled with “being the new guy” with the chimps more than I had expected. I had worked with many chimps as a caregiver at Chimp Haven, and had helped to welcome in many new residents to the sanctuary over my years there so working through those initial steps of relationship building was not new to me, and the hazing by the chimps was to be expected. But a big difference, which I quickly noticed, was that I was greatly missing my reliable, constant friendships that I had built over years of working with specific chimpanzee friends. I could always count on having a grooming session with Keeli, Maxi’s excitement when I showed up to train with her, and a good game of chase with Hamlet, but now I was working to build new friendships without those old ones to lean on, and remind me of all that is to come.

But thankfully, the weeks and now months have passed by quickly, and while I do still miss my old friends, I remain very excited for all of the new relationships I have and continue to build with my friends here. There is something extra special (as I mentioned in a previous blog post), about being able to have safe ways to touch and be touched by the chimpanzees that has allowed for an even greater level of trust and friendship that I have not been able to experience before.

I don’t want to spoil anything in the video for you, so you’ll have to go there to see who I got to share a few extra special moments with recently! I’m so grateful to be here, and to be able to build friendships with these very special chimpanzee people.

Bonus photos from the day:

Honey B resting in Riverview

Jamie flipping through an extra large magazine sent by a donor – it was a HUGE hit!!

Negra napping in her nest after a busy morning