Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Jody

Queen of the hill

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Just before dinner, I looked up on the hill and saw Negra and Jody eating dandelion leaves on top of what we call “Missy’s Mound” (a small hill with a tunnel running through it). They were a good 150 feet or so from the building, which I think is the farthest that Negra has ever traveled up the hill. Negra has always been one of the most sedentary chimps that I’ve ever known; now it looks like Young’s Hill has finally given her a reason to get out of bed.

 

Celebrating Jody and all moms

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Today’s joint Mother’s Day/Jody’s birthday celebration has been one big loungefest (just like Jody likes it). The weather is gorgeous today (high 70s/low 80s) and the chimpanzees have spent the majority of the morning and afternoon in the warm greenhouse foraging, grooming, and going through gift bags – with breaks for leisurely excursions onto Young’s Hill, of course.

We normally limit the number of blankets we put out in the chimps’ enclosures each day to the maximum number that we can wash in a day. Today, though, in honor of the birthday gal’s love of relaxation, we threw caution to the wind and put out all the blankets we could find. Jody couldn’t be happier (see photos at the bottom of this post of her nesting with a few of them).

Annie found a new necklace in a gift bag:

Foxie kicked back with a new troll near the raceway to Young’s Hill:

Negra pondered a while before committing to going out…

…but she eventually took the plunge.

Missy, Jody, and Annie (l-r) checked out the hill from the raceway while Foxie took it easy:

The birthday girl spent much of the afternoon sifting through gift bags and inspecting new toys from her favorite reclining position. Eventually all this activity took its toll. Here she is mid-yawn:

Thanks so much to Robbi and Dick Brown and Rita Stevenson for the party goods, to everyone who has donated today (if you haven’t had a chance, there’s still time!), and of course to all the moms, who make the world go ’round.

Mother’s Day

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It is a beautiful May day in Cle Elum as we celebrate Mother’s Day like so many of you.  I hope you enjoy your day with your mother and your loved ones.

Unfortunately, Jody and our other mother chimps do not get to spend this day with their children.  Or any other day for that matter.  We know that Jody had at least nine babies born to her and taken away from her during her years as a biomedical test subject. I could not imagine the anguish that a mother must feel when a baby is taken away from her and for the years of memories that will never happen.

In honor of our chimpanzees who are mothers, I hope you will consider making a donation to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest today.  We are hoping to raise $1,000 to support Jody and our other mother chimpanzees as we reflect on what this day means.  They deserve to have a day in their honor and in the memory of the children they had who are still in biomedical research labs.  Thank you for supporting our chimpanzee family.

Green grass

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One of the many benefits of Young’s Hill is that it has given the chimps a bit more autonomy. The chimps love to eat grass, especially the tender and vibrant green grass of spring. But we were never able to get grass to grow in their old outdoor enclosure, so the chimps had to ask us to get it for them. Annie was especially persistent – in the spring, our staff and volunteers would become full-time grass fetchers (Negra would even demand that we fetch her grass by clapping impatiently – her servants are never fast enough for her).

The chimps’ love of grass is one of the main factors in helping them acclimate to their new, 2-acre enclosure. Last fall, after rushing out onto the hill on the very first day, a few of the chimps decided that once was enough. They would sit in the doorway and stare out at the wide open field, but their fear of the open space kept them from going any further. Then they noticed little clumps of green grass growing just a couple feet beyond the end of the tunnel. They mustered the courage to venture out that far, and then quickly picked a handful of grass and raced back to the safety of the old enclosure. Once that clump was picked clean, they went a little farther, and on and on it went like this until one day, they must have realized that they were 20 feet out into the enclosure and everything was OK.

Negra is going through that phase now, as we explained in a recent blog post, and she continues to spend more and more time outside each day. For the others that have already overcome their fears, spring is a time to relax and enjoy the benefits of having your very own 2-acre salad bowl right outside your back door.