Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Missy

Quiet Days

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It was a pretty laid back day around the chimp house today. Everyone must still be resting from Jamieween and Lucky’s birthday! The weather was cold and mostly cloudy today, so it was a good day to just lounge around. In the afternoon there was a window of some sun and the chimpanzees in Jamie’s group took this opportunity to explore Young’s Hill. They were out there for awhile, but then it was back to resting again.

Missy watching the others on Young’s Hill.

Burrito between sprints around the hill.

Foxie with her doll.

Jody took her golden beets from lunch onto the hill.

I couldn’t decide which photo of Annie I liked the best, so I added them all!

This is how I found Willy B lounging this morning when I was opening up the chimp house.

Katelyn took these great photos of Honey B interacting with the foot box today.

Just as I was adding the title of this blog “Quiet Days” Willy B started rolling this scooter back and forth. I think it’s dinner time!

 

Jamieween 2021!

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Jamieween is finally here! Today we celebrated the one and only Jamie’s 44th Birthday, as well as Halloween! Today was full of scarecrows, pumpkins, pomegranates, shrunken apple heads, birthday gifts for Jamie, and much much more! The chimpanzees here had quite the celebration today. Enrichment Coordinator, Chad did such a good job planning all of this for them. A huge thank you to everyone who bought items for today off of our wish list! Everything really added to the celebration today. Also, thank you to all of the care staff who helped get these great videos and photos!

I hope that Jamie and the rest of the chimpanzees here enjoyed themselves today. I know we all enjoyed watching them. Back in the day my time as an intern here only breached the surface of who Jamie is and I’m getting to know her so much better. I’m still leaning some Jamie language, but its a fun ride and it is a privilege to be able to help care for her. She is definitely a special chimpanzee.

Jamie’s group had a 2 part celebration that began in their Greenhouse. Willy B enjoyed time in the Courtyard with his scarecrow while Mave and Honey B celebrated inside. The Lucky Six enjoyed their pumpkins and Halloween bags full of things like nuts and cabbage.

Shrunken apple heads!

Jamie enjoying her pumpkin bags next to her new book.

Jamie gathering as many as she can.

Missy taking over after Jamie moved on.

Annie investigating the scarecrow.

Missy enjoying her pomegranate next to the scarecrow.

Burrito with his corn on Young’s Hill.

Foxie with her pomegranate.

Foxie made sure her doll got to enjoy the forage.

Negra found lots of Brussels sprouts.

Jody trying to carry as much as she can to enjoy her food back in the Greenhouse.

Jamie found three pomegranates!

Terry enjoying the celebration.

Lucky found some goodies.

Cy taking a break from reading.

Dora with her forage finds.

Gordo and Dora.

Rayne took hers to the Greenhouse.

Mave and Willy B are excited about pumpkins!

Mave and her pumpkin.

Honey B enjoying her stash.

Willy B found some pumpkin bags before making his way to the scarecrow.

Willy B ready to dive into the pumpkin head!

 

And…….Burrito ended up being the Great Pumpkin Thief this year! As you can see in the video he brought it down from a platform on Young’s Hill, but it rolled away. It ended up rolling into the fence and we had to bring everyone inside so we could get it unstuck. After spot cleaning the seven’s playroom we put it back inside to see who would grab it. Jody really wanted it and tried several times, but Burrito was the winner this year.

 

 

The Holdouts and Foot Boxes

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On any given day you can bet that we are cleaning around Cy and Lucky. These two are known holdouts and when they decide to stay somewhere they settle in for the long haul. Pretty much if they decided to stay in the front rooms you have no luck in cleaning the front rooms. Though this may throw a wrench in our schedule, they are great company!

Cy reading his magazine in front room 6 while we clean front room 5 and the chute.

Lucky taking a little snooze next to Cy.

Today we also put a “Foot Box” in front room 5 just like on the other side of the building. The purpose of the foot box is so that the chimps can present a hand or foot and we can get a x-ray. Obviously the foot box is new and it has to go through a rigorous inspection process by the chimps. I would say it passes their inspection standards as you will see in the video above.

Rayne and Gordo looking in.

Terry taking a little peek!

Bonus!

Missy, Jody, and Burrito have a very nice grooming session.

Missy and Annie grooming themselves.

I Spy: Movement Up the Mountain

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Last week one of our supporters very excitingly asked when expansion work was going to begin, and I’m happy to inform everyone that today was the day. During the morning, Gary’s Sage Mechanical crew came in to do some work on top of Young’s Hill. This meant that Jamie and her six friends could not go out on the hill during that time but that did not mean that they were unaware that some humans were in need of chimp supervision. After work concluded and it was safe to give them access to the hill, Jamie, Annie, Missy, Foxie, Burrito and Jody sprinted up the hill to assess the situation. Jody went back inside the safety of the green house shortly after, might have been too scary of a situation. On the way up Missy asked for reassurance from all her friends. First from Burrito, then Jamie, and finally from Foxie who gladly complied. Annie was the first one to arrive and climbed up the Twister to get a better view. Jamie, of course, was very excited to see new people but more excited about seeing new boots.

Foxie reassuring Missy on the way up to check out the expansion work.

Missy and Foxie looking at Jody as she turns around to go back into the safety of the green house.

Foxie and Jamie looking at J.B. and the members of Sage Mechanical…and their boots.

Gary’s nephew, who has a background in forestry, Gary, and J.B. smiling for the camera.

Annie supervising from the Twister platform.

After brief visual inspection, the construction boots pass the test and are worthy of a run around the hill.

On the other side of the chimp house:

Rayne eating green apples during breakfast this morning. Courtesy of caregiver Sam.

Dora resting in one of the front rooms.

Rayne in the green house taking advantage of the break from the rain that we got today.

Feels like Sanctuary

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Today really felt like sanctuary, I mean everyday does, of course! But everyday is different, each chimps mood varies, what they feel like doing, or not doing. Today was full of patrol walks, laughter, exploring, displaying, excited breathy pants, and of course a few non shifters ;). The beauty of sanctuary is choice and with that choice gives them a sort of freedom, not the freedom they should have and very much deserve, but the closest freedom they can have. Some days I will catch moments that just make your heart want to burst with joy, like Jamie chasing Foxie on Young’s Hill. Because those moments are what sanctuary is all about!

We just updated our wish list for Wildlife Toybox. They have some really fun durable enrichment, we especially need the mirror cover for our “Looky Lou”!

Rayne says goodnight!

Blankets and Nests Type of Day

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As part of today’s daytime enrichment we pre-made nests for the three groups of chimpanzees. They are clearly capable of making their own nests with the special modifications to meet each of their personal needs, therefore our pre-made nests might not be up to their standards. We won’t get offended if some rearranging and redecorating occurs, if anything it makes for good enrichment. For example, Jamie likes to incorporate boots and books to hers so tomorrow morning we might see some boot or book additions in them. In the wild their night nests are complex and are made by arranging tree branches and lining them with leaves, while their daytime nests are usually closer to the ground and less time consuming. Just in case, we made some in all areas of the enclosures to allow the chimps to pick and choose where they want to rest, after alterations are made. We mostly used blankets and different fabrics to design them today but other days we provide the chimps different materials to make their evening or daytime resting nests like paper, plant material, clothing, silk scarves, etc.

Last week was busy with introductions so as caregivers were making nests in the different enclosures, some had the same thought I had: let’s just lay down here for a bit.

Caregivers Kelsi and Sam testing out some nests in the front rooms.

What do you guys think about this pre-made nest?

This morning I saw Negra nesting while enjoying squash browse that Dr. Erin brought yesterday.

Jamie on one of the pre-made nests caregivers prepared today in the green house.

Annie nesting in the greenhouse. Note how she is holding her hand and foot.

Missy and Jody on the greenhouse platform, Jody arranging blankets for her nest.

Enjoy some extras:

Burrito sitting peacefully on the platform of the greenhouse. Don’t be fooled, this guy does not let us skip our daily cardio.

Foxie in the greenhouse looking straight at the camera.

Honey B chilling in the playroom.

Missy looking towards the hill on this chilly and cloudy day.

Dora about to eat the raisin she successfully retrieved from the raisin board using a chopstick.

Rayne carrying around a chopstick after going through most of the raisin board enrichment.

PS. Check out our Amazon wish-list for a list of books for this years Jamieween celebration!

Isn’t Sanctuary Life Grape?

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A million thanks to all Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest supporters that participated yesterday in our HOOT! For The Holidays virtual celebration to welcome the Lucky Six. We are all so grateful for the generous donations and bids because we surpassed our goal by plenty and more, assuring future plans to develop. Sanctuary life for these amazing 16 chimpanzees could not be possible without all of you amazing souls. We hope that learning more about the Lucky Six and their past brought everyone a bit closer to them.

To continue the celebration we harvested some grapes directly from our small vineyard and gave some to the chimps as an afternoon snack. Everyone was very excited about fresh grapes!

I walked to the green house and noticed this chimp lineup. Caregiver Katelyn had many sets of eyes looking at her while she harvested grapes from the vineyard.

Caregiver Katelyn serving Missy some grapes fresh from the vine.

Negra all cozy this morning in the green house. Thanks to everyone that has donated blankets, they certainly appreciate it!

Foxie coming in from Young’s Hill after enjoying a beautiful sunny day.

Gordo resting high up on the green house platform after a scrumptious lunch.

Mave looking into the camera while enjoying the breeze in the outdoor chute.

Rayne looking down from a platform in the green house with a wooden toy in her mouth.