Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Honey B

Security Video of Mall Walkers

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As mentioned on Saturday, I have been working on putting together security camera footage from a couple of weeks ago that captured Honey B and Rayne “mall walking” along with some other fun highlights of that morning. I was able to finally figure out the technical issue with exporting the video, and I wanted to share it with you asap.

I just love that the chimpanzees have their own busy lives completely separate from us humans, and seeing them have so much fun makes all of the anxiety of integrating the two groups well worth it!

Observant watchers will note that the time as shown on the camera footage jumps when the scene switches to the black and white / night vision of the mezzanine. That’s because that particular camera is on a different camera system and the times between the two are about six minutes off. This made it a bit challenging to piece together all of these separate clips.

It would have taken me a really long time to label all of the chimpanzees, so you’ll have to use your best id skills to figure out who is who.

I hope you enjoy this extra long video!

 

The Other Tomato Party

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Missy had such an amazing birthday party yesterday! Because we had so much to cover for her party we weren’t able to share what happen over on Dora’s side of the building! They also had a lunch forage to celebrate Missy. Please enjoy the video and photos from yesterday!

Willy B with an arm full and a mouth full of chow:

Rayne in all her pepper glory:

A very distinguished Mave:

Mave swooping in to grab tomatoes:

Gordo with a mouth full of what we think is chow:

Sweet Dora:

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:

 

Summer Fun

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The days have been getting hotter out here in Cle Elum and we have been working to provide the chimps with enrichment to help them stay cool. In Sofia’s Ask Us Anything blog last week, she talked about how we gave them pools of diluted Gatorade as temps were close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. We were able to snag some fun reaction videos from Cy’s group and I wanted to share them with you today! Enjoy, stay cool, and happy summer!

Rayne and Gordo:

Terry with one of the roses we put in the pools:

Navigating Socially

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Introductions of chimps takes a lot of trust, for chimps and humans! When we talk about the integration of the nine so many emotions flood through the staff’s head. We are excited, optimistic, terrified, elated, in awe, petrified, and most importantly so so proud! During the whole process everyone has exceeded whatever exceptions we had ever thought possible, especially the “wild cards”. It has been so fun to watch the navigate these social situation! Honey B in particular has made so many friends! For example, Honey B “mall walks” with Rayne, playing with Dora, and being really goofy with Terry. Through this whole process we have been so proud of Honey B, but just the past couple of weeks Honey B has spending more time with other chimps and less time alone and isn’t that what this all about!! I have so much more I want to write and I was starting to make a video of Honey and Terry playing, but unfortunately we had a staff meeting and the day got away from me! Grace promises to post it tomorrow!

Also, yesterday via our e-newsletter, Diana reminded everyone of the $50,000 matching opportunity from Jennifer Douglas that expires in just two days. We are now just $3,736 away from meeting the match! Learn more about it and how you can help us get all the way there: https://chimpsnw.salsalabs.org/daysleft.

Here are some photos to get you by until tomorrow!

Dora is the perfect pocket sized friend:

And a classic Jamie pose:

As a update Burrito is also doing great! He has lots of energy and a good appetite!