Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Honey B

Wish List Wednesday!

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Today is Wish List Wednesday! We want to give a continuous thank you to everyone who donates to us. The wish list is a great way to directly donate to the chimps. It has everything from fun party items, like our upcoming Easter party, to our day to day cleaning items.

We noticed yesterday as we put books and magazines out for Cy’s birthday, that we are dangerously low on Lucy books! Lucy the bonobo seems to be a big hit for not only Jamie, but for Rayne and Lucky too!

Rayne holding two Lucy books in her pelvic pocket:

Jamie holding her favorite Lucy book in her pelvic pocket:

Bonus!

Honey B with one of her favorite enrichment items, paper!!

Join Honey B and Dora for a Play Date!

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Honey B has been back with her group for over a week now! She is so happy to be back with her friends and the humans are so happy to have a bit of a routine back. 🙂

Last week, I posted a video from Honey B and Lucky’s play date. Since Honey B had been out of the group for a while, we opted to do a slow re-introduction process to ensure she had some time with individuals instead of going back into the group all at once. It also allowed the humans a little bit more control over the situation, in that we would have a better chance of separating the two of them if her partner for the play date started grooming her eye too much.

Dora was another great play date that she had and I was lucky enough to catch some footage to share with all of you! Watching it back this afternoon made me chuckle just as much as I was when I was watching them, so I hope it brings some cheer to your day too.

Also- how many headstands can Honey B fit into one play session?! Check out the video to find out. 🙂

Bonus Photo:

Handsome Willy B, waiting for lunch today 🙂

 

A Tranquil Morning With Cy’s Group

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Cy’s group of nine is known for being a little turbulent at times and still unsettled since it takes a long time for chimpanzee’s to find their place in their new group and with each other after being introduced.  That said, today the group had peaceful morning together enjoying their meals and their enrichment with minimal conflict. Enjoy the morning with Cy’s group in today’s video.

 

Cy, enjoying the two whole apples we put on the Bray as part of the group’s lunch forage:

Gordo enjoying his lunch forage:

Rayne, saving her paper towel to wipe her mouth during breakfast:

Rayne, later in the morning she enjoyed some deep relaxation with her tomato sheet:

 

International Women’s Day

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Today is International Women’s Day, so it seems only appropriate to recognize and celebrate some of the influential women in our field, and in our lives. If you missed Tuesday’s post by Amanda focused on women in primatology, go check it out!

I think it is safe to say that Dr. Jane Goodall is an inspiration to all of us who love and care for chimpanzees. For most of us, our love of the species and individuals is shown in the daily care we provide to them, our friendships built with them, and heard about extensively by our families and friends. But Dr. Goodall has shared her love and passion far beyond the boundaries of her inner circle. She has made a tremendous impact by inspiring both current and future advocates, caregivers, veterinary technicians, and veterinarians of chimpanzees through sharing their stories and the importance of preserving their place on our planet. Beyond that, she is a symbol of success in science for young girls and women everywhere to look up to and aspire to. Her passion for chimpanzees and conservation work has spanned decades, and she continues to travel and advocate for chimpanzees and the importance of conservation to this day (she will be speaking in Seattle later this month!). I was fortunate enough to meet Dr. Goodall briefly when she visited Chimp Haven several years ago. We had the opportunity to listen to stories she shared about meeting chimpanzees living in laboratories and seeing the conditions they had experienced, and then getting to witness the lives they had in sanctuary after many years of work to get them there. It was a wonderful day getting to introduce our chimpanzee friends to Dr. Goodall, if only we could explain to them how cool of a person they were getting to see! All that to say, we admire and celebrate you, Dr. Goodall, and are so thankful for everything you have done and continue to do for chimpanzees and our planet.

Caregiver Ellen talking with Dr. Jane Goodall during a visit to Chimp Haven. My colorful shoes were painted by chimp friends!

Here at CSNW, we have many wonderful women to celebrate today…both chimpanzee and human! If you missed our Be Mine series in February, visit the links for each of our female chimp friends here: Mave, Dora, Rayne, Lucky, Honey B, Jamie, Foxie, Missy, Annie, and Negra, as well as our friend we have lost but whose memory we will always celebrate and remember, Jody.

Male chimps, at least in my experience, are usually easier to get to know and more willing to let you in. Take Terry, Cy, and Burrito for example. These lovely gentleman so readily accept you into their circle, and welcome you. My very first day getting to interact with the chimps, Chad took me to learn about appropriate interactions with Terry and he was so gentle and patient with someone who was (mostly) a stranger to him. He gently groomed the back of my hand, and let me rub him with my knuckle. The ladies, however, are often much more difficult to build friendships with. They have to test you first, making sure you are worthy of their time and friendship. This makes it all the more rewarding when they let you in though. One of the best moments I had recently was with Negra, who J.B. recently (and very accurately and lovingly) described as “a grumpy old lady.” I got to the sanctuary and was turning on lights and making my morning rounds of greeting the chimps. Neggie peeked up from her nest to look at me, and when I told her “Good morning, Neggie!” she quickly got up and made her way over to greet me. She offered me a kiss, and we sat and panted at each other for several seconds as she gave me a kiss on the back of my hand. Next she reached towards me, as if she wanted to groom the back of my hand. In my past experiences with Negra, this usually was not a well-intended gesture, so I was unsure if I should allow her to touch the back of my hand. I showed her my knuckle, politely asking if I could knuckle rub her arm, and she turned to press her arm against the mesh and sat with me for a few moments, letting me gently touch her arm with my knuckle while looking into my eyes. This moment was pure magic for me. Does this mean Negra will always be sweet to me from here on out? No. But it means she let me in, even if just for a few moments, and felt comfortable to allow me to spend that time with her. There’s just something special about those female friendships.

A kiss from Negra

Negra

Happy International Women’s Day to women everywhere! I’m including a shout out to my mom here, because I would not be the person I am today without her example of following her passions and the love, respect, and belief she has had in me at every step of my life. May you all be surrounded with such strong and influential women in your lives, and continue to change the world in ways big and small every single day! Together we can create a brighter future for generations of women to come, both human and chimpanzee.

 

Catching Up

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Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the Be Mine series. I loved getting to share more with you all about each individual in our care, but was also eager for the series to end as I have been saving up some special moments from around the sanctuary to share with you all!

If you read Grace’s blog yesterday, then you know that Honey B is back home with her group after a separation due to an injury she sustained near her eye. We are all so thrilled for her to be back! One of the biggest difficulties when chimps are separated from their group is keeping them entertained. Honey B, being herself, made this relatively easy (besides moments when we needed to distract her from picking at her healing injury) as she is constant entertainment! If you are new to the blog, be sure to check out some of our earlier posts for her high jinks (here and here). She is such a fun person who keeps us on our toes, and constantly impressed by her ingenuity and humor!

Here are some photos from around the sanctuary the past couple of weeks:

Annie looking regal sitting in the morning sunshine in the playroom

Negra enjoying a mouthful (and more!) of snow

Rayne relaxing in a nest of blankets

Honey (B), I’m Home!

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Over the last month and some change, we have been working to keep Honey B enriched as she recovered from an eye injury that she sustained during a fight in the group. It was an extended recovery process due to the location of the injury and the need to go back in for a revision, so she has spent quite a bit of time away from her group. Last week, we excitedly got to begin re-introducing her to her group!

We decided to begin with monitored ‘play-dates’, where we put Honey B and a friend into the front rooms together during the day. This was helpful for two reasons- one, her eye is still healing so we wanted to be able to separate them if they began grooming her eye too intensely. Second, it allowed for a slower re-introduction process, which was nice since she had been out of the group for a while. The play dates were a great success and on Tuesday she went fully back with her group! She was (and is) so happy to be back with her group mates and they were excited to see her too. And, so far, her eye is still healing well. So, wins all around! 🙂

It’s been so nice to see Honey B getting back into the swing of things and to see how happy she is to be back with her group. It’s been a serious source of compassion satisfaction, that’s for sure. I wanted to take a moment to extend another big THANK YOU to Dr. Erin and the team she put together to ensure Honey B received the best possible care that we could offer her (Leah Bezzo, CRNA; Christine Zielke, CRNA; Tyler Sugerman, DVM; Jerry Woodfield, DVM DACVIM (Cardiology); Karen Brantman-Crosetto, DVM DACVO). It’s truly amazing to see the community of professionals that Dr. Erin has been able to bring together for our residents and we are so grateful!

For today’s blog, I wanted to give you some videos I got while observing Honey B’s play date with Lucky last week. It’s sure to put a smile on your face! 🙂

Honey B My Valentine

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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).

A new to you photo of Honey B with a forage bowl accidentally left in the Riverview Green House by a caregiver

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.Â