Jamie

Where the Wild Honey B’s Are

June 15, 2020 by Katelyn

We often jokingly refer to the chimpanzees as Pacific Northwest chimps due to their love of our often quintessential cloudy, on the cool side days. Though such weather is much less common here on the eastern side of Washington state, we relish our stormy springs. Well, most of us. Okay, maybe just me and the chimpanzees. 😉 Having been born and raised in the foggy coastal redwoods, I understand the chimps’ joy completely. And despite the rainy morning, the chimpanzees didn’t hesitate to rush out to Young’s Hill, hair standing on end with excitement, still clutching their breakfast, to head off on a walk or just enjoy their pineapple outdoors:

Burrito:

Missy and Jody conferring about their neighbors:

Missy wasted no time heading off to run around the perimeter in the rain, chow bag in mouth. She kept stopping to see who was joining her and finally took off at full zoom on her own:

Foxie and her apples:

Cuuuute!:

Burrito is not a fan of walking in the grass or walking in the rain. I mean, tall, wet grass?? Ugh. But he braved it all to come along on a walk with Jamie and Missy and I. Why on earth he took the route full of tall, wet grass vs. the cleared path, only he knows. But he’s just the most endearing guy, sneer face and all:

Burrito, Jamie and Missy:

Nutmeg, Betsy, Honey and Meredith chose to take cover under the Ponderosas in the rain and seemed to think the chimps were kooky for being out in it:

Burrito as it began raining in earnest:

Meanwhile, there’s Honey B. As an enrichment item for the big celebration on Saturday for Queen Negra’s birthday and the chimps’ twelve year anniversary in sanctuary, a knit crown was tossed in the mix of party stuff. The Queen didn’t take an interest in it, but who do you think we found sporting it around her neck today?! Of course! Honey B! Creative person that she is. It’s a little hard to make out as she had been ripping and running and zooming, but it really reminds me of the crown Max in “Where the Wild Things Are” wears.

Here she is enjoying a snack while sitting on her new birthday skateboard:

Happy Birthday to our Queen Negra!

June 13, 2020 by Kelsi

To know Negra is a true honor. She is unapologetically herself. To know who you are is a very important life skill. To have the ability to express yourself is also very important. Negra’s life has not been easy. However, Negra is a chimp who knows how she likes things and what she wants. Negra knows she loves pine-coco juice, lettuce, and chow. Negra as many of us know is the queen of comfort, she loves to make people dance for her, and when she wants to play she is not afraid to initiate it. When she feels like it, she gives the best kisses. Negra also gets to make those choices. She gets to choose where and how to make her nest, if she wants to go out on Young’s Hill, and she gets to express herself how she chooses. If Negra feels annoyed with her caregivers she can show her feelings, and trust us Negra is not afraid of holding back :).

June 13th, 2008 changed many lives. Most importantly everyday for 12 years seven chimps’ lives have gotten better each and everyday. And seven chimps became ten chimps. While our family may be growing, our visions and goals as a sanctuary have not. As Leslie Knope once asked in a TV show called Parks and Rec, “Are you better off now than you were a year ago?”. The answer is ABSOLUTELY and Negra is the perfect example of that. Happy Birthday to our Queen Negra. You are so very special to us.

If you missed the The Queen’s Brunch today you can still donate on our auction page. There are still a few second chance items left. Don’t miss out!

The Queen laying on her throne.

We had a huge forage out on Young’s Hill for lunch. Jody had arms full of cattails and a mouth full of roses. She also scored a big chunk of coconut. However, Jody got a little distracted near Negra. Negra looked over and to her dismay there was an abandoned coconut! Negra looked to be the happiest person in the world!

Negra with the coconut.

Missy zipped around the whole forage. I literally never saw her walking.

Jamie with arms and a foot full of lettuce.

Bubba enjoying his peppers.

Negra loving her lettuce too.

We hope you all had as much fun with the virtual auction and brunch as we did! I will leave you with these two images of Negra.

An Xtratuf Book

June 3, 2020 by Kelsi

Jamie loves books. She enjoys flipping through anything from larger bodied apes, to architecture, to a national geographic about mummies, a classic cowboy boot book, and her new favorite Xtratuf boot book. It has all of her favorite boots in one book! The book idea came about when Jamie’s love for Xtratuf boots happened. As many of you know, the chimps can’t have our cleaning boots because they are made of rubber, which they will sometimes eat. At night we always offer Jamie a pair, or two, or three of her favorite boots or a book before we lock up and leave for the night. Every night instead she would need to groom her favorite Xtratuf boots before bed. These grooming sessions could last anywhere from 25-40 minutes or forever in Jamie’s mind :). Some nights grooming was never enough. As a caregiver, you never want to leave until all the chimps are content. It can be very distressing to see someone like Jamie knowing she wants something she can’t have and then having to say sorry but know she is unhappy when you leave, even if you leave her with another favorite pair of boots she can have. I decided maybe if we made a book off something like, Shutterfly with everyone wearing their Xtratuf boots, maybe that would help her at night!

Well, what I didn’t know was how much she would love it. I knew she would like it, but if you read Katelyn’s blog on Monday, it was very apparent she approved of the book. And that the book evolved into her being able to communicate which boots she wanted right in that moment! On Saturday when I gave Jamie the book, I barely got to page two before she was pilo and running over gesturing for the book! Jamie took the book into the Playroom with a low groan of approval and quietly started flipped through the book. It felt like Jamie was saying, finally!

I only purchased one book because I had no idea how she would respond to it. Sometimes we humans get so excited to give the chimps something. We think “oh Jamie is going to love this” or “Jody is definitely going to use this” and then it’s a flop. Chimps are funny that way. While Anna and I were cleaning the other day we were thinking of different ideas like making a blanket with the boot pictures, or a pillow, or a new book with current and old volunteers shoes that she loved! Now, of course these could all be flops too, but you have to try to find out! If anyone would like to find out, I have put a Shutterfly gift card on the wish list so we can get another 2 or 4 copies of this book for Jamie. Or so we can make a new book for her!

Jamie nesting with the book.

Today I found her book with some pages bookmarked. This could be by chance. But, if we know Jamie she was probably folding those piece over to come back too.

This photo was taken pre-Xtratuf boot book! The other night Diana and I could not figure out what boots Jamie wanted to look at. So we brought her collection out. It turned out later she wanted completely different boots, but she had fun looking.

This book is now always an arms reach away from her.

Jamie up close grooming.

Don’t forget about The Queen’s Brunch. The online auction is going on now! I have been bidding on the Negra painting and keep getting out bid and I am currently in a bidding war for a beautiful Jody colored pencil drawing. Look out for me 😉 Please join us live on Facebook, June 13th for the brunch, it’s going to be so much fun. We hope to see you there!

Thank you, Thyra and David!

May 20, 2020 by Katelyn

Today was sponsored by two long-time friends of the chimpanzees, Thyra and David Rutter, in celebration of the five year anniversary of Arte for Elephants!

Thyra and David are the founders of this wonderful organization which was created out of their desire to do whatever they can to help elephants who are suffering in captivity. Five years ago they sold most of their belongings and set out in an RV, traveling to raise awareness of the issues captive and wild elephants face, selling artwork, donating funds and inspiring other artists to take action. Since that time they’ve donated over $45,000 dollars to support sanctuaries around the world that are rescuing and appropriately caring for captive elephants. They also work with those communities to create programs which promote humane and ethical travel and tourism opportunities, as well as an educational scholarship program. In 2019, Arte for Elephants was able to award their first two Big Elephant Magic Scholarships which are paying for a full year of education for two young girls in northern Thailand and subsequently, have expanded to include three young girls in Kenya.

If there were ever a time when reading something inspiring, hopeful, and community-centered was much appreciated, it’s certainly now. Thanks so much, Thyra and David, for the impassioned work you do and for including the chimpanzees in that good magic.

If anyone can attest to the intrinsic value of living a life of dignity, respect and love for exactly who they are, particularly after decades of use in the entertainment and biomedical research industries, it’s Jamie:

Jamie leading Missy, Jody and Foxie on a perimeter check around Young’s Hill:

A throwback to Jamie and her elephant friend napping by the old barn doors of the playroom (pre-expansion) in the springtime breeze:

Racing at Sunset

May 15, 2020 by J.B.

The other night, Jamie was walking around Young’s Hill with Diana (and Meredith) after all of the other chimps had gone to bed. As I went to put the Gator back into the barn, she signaled that she wanted to race. So we did. And we were lucky enough to do it with one of the most beautiful sunsets as our backdrop. Strange job, indeed.

As a bonus, here are some photos our our man Willy B from this morning. He dined in on the first level of the platform with the lettuce he’d picked up along the way, but he took the orange on the second level to go. Mave reached out to grab some lettuce from the boardwalk but she has yet to come all the way out. And Honey B is content for now to watch from above in the chute. All in good time.

Happy

May 13, 2020 by Kelsi

Last Wednesday Jamie wanted to stay out. She waited for me finish the blog. Really, she had been waiting all day. It had been pouring down rain almost all day. Or so windy it could blow you over. By the time the staff meeting was finished and the blog was done, I found her out in the Green House. The rain had subsided for the moment. She glanced over and burst into a full sprint onto the Hill. We sprinted clockwise, counter clockwise, up, down, and all around. In our sprints I would look over at Jamie, she looked happy. It started to rain again, but a little rain or mist has never stopped Jamie before. 😉

It is what felt like a true moment of happiness, cheesy, I know. In that moment it also felt like a true expression of freedom. She chose to stay out late, she got to let her guard down, and she seemed very content.

Jamie running in the rain:

Me trying to capture the moment, the look of happiness and content on her face. However, I missed it by a second because it was time to run again! *Jamie is the only person I will take a selfie with.*

The stormy view:

And the not so stormy view. It changes in the blink of an eye in Washington.

Grooming in between:

Look at that focus:

Jamie’s view today:

Bonus photos of Nutmeg!

What Entails a Walk?

May 6, 2020 by Kelsi

Before I get to the blog. I just have to say WOW! Thank you to everyone who has donated to Giving Tuesday and Give Big. Our original goal was $25,000 and you all have helped us exceed our goal!! We have raised over $36,720 so far as I write this. Give Big is still going until the end of today, if anyone is looking to help just click on Give Big! This has been a scary time and a lot of unknown for us and we just want to give you the biggest thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

This blog may seem to have no theme today. With a video about walking and wonderfully random chimp photos. But, there are a lot of fun and different interactions that happened today. The chimps have a different enrichment theme everyday, today’s theme was soapy buckets. You all can already assume Honey B partook, and you would be right! However, Foxie had a bucket to herself and Jody and Burrito shared a bucket together. Honey B was wearing a great 70s style sweatband. Negra and Burrito had a huge play session. Missy put her foot in a sweater while Jody playfully tugged on it. Annie had the sweater in her mouth and Missy played tug-of-war. Though the weather wasn’t great and there were 20 mile an hour winds, Willy B still managed to run out onto the boardwalk a few times! And the list goes on and on!

Sadly, I did not get photos or videos of all of those things! But, I hope you enjoy these photos.

Foxie: