Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Play

What does the fox say?

by

We received a giant stuffed fox during the Comfort and Joy auction, thanks to a special donor! Due to some enrichment restrictions, Cy’s group cannot have any stuffed animals (a few of them would eat it) but they still got to meet the fox and enjoyed it. Later in the morning, after cleaning the Playroom for Jamie’s group, we set up the stuffed fox on Burrito’s blue barrel. As you will see in today’s video, Burrito absolutely had the time of his life. What else is new?

Thank you Pamela N. for the fox!

Our new fox (shark was just a blanket on top):

Cy gives the fox a kiss:

Gordo grooms his toenails:

Gordo bites his lip while in his box nest:

Handsome Gordo:

Gordo looks at the fox while Kelsi holds it:

Gordo interacts with the fox:

More Gordo:

Lucky:

Rayne:

Terry sniffs the fox:

Honey B & Co.

by

It is so fun to watch a chimp like Honey B, who has always preferred human interactions, to seek her chimp friends out instead. Watching Honey B and Dora both flourish socially in their group has been one of the most rewarding parts of my job, as well as witnessing Mave find her soulmate, Dora. Please enjoy this video of Honey B, Dora, and of course, Mave!

Chimpmas is right around the corner! We have started to add enrichment and items that we need around the chimp house on our wish-list!

Mora:

The beautiful Rayne:

Thankful Every Day

by

It’s the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, which means… it’s Giving Tuesday! 🙂

If you haven’t heard of it before, Giving Tuesday is an internationally recognized day of giving as it aims to promote generosity as a part of every day life. Which, if you ask me, is just a sincerely lovely & comforting thought.

We rely on the generosity of you, our supporters, to do the work we do. All our residents deserve sanctuary and you are what makes that happen. We are grateful, every day, for each of you.

If you find yourself wanting to participate in Giving Tuesday, I would encourage you to donate by clicking the link here. There are so many ways to donate- from sponsoring a day of sanctuary, to donating directly to our produce fund, becoming a Chimp or Bovine Pal to one of our residents, or donating stocks– I can confidently tell you that every donation is felt and appreciated. Today, and every day, no donation is too small.

There are also the non-monetary ways to support the sanctuary, which I feel like sometimes get overlooked but are just as important! Sharing our posts, for example, to your social media or with your friends and family help us increase our reach. Which, in turn, helps us connect and share our residents stories with more people. That is so, so important to us. We owe it to our residents to share their names & stories as far & wide as we can. A simple share helps us do just that!

On that note, I hope you enjoy the short & sweet video today of best chimp friends Missy and Annie. 🙂

Annie, from the photo vault, during a sweet summer forage:

Also, in the honor of giving thanks, look at this amazing pile of donations from a week or so ago! Thank you so much to everyone who donates items from our wish lists or who sends us chimp-approved items. We are currently adding items that we need for our upcoming Christmas celebrations to our wish lists, so please check it out if you’re interested in helping us celebrate! 🙂

Human Time

by

Chimp house mornings are quite busy. We begin by prepping meds and breakfast and putting together the day’s food puzzles, and then spend the next 4-5 hours cleaning enclosures. The chimps spend most of that time eating, playing, grooming, and occasionally squabbling with one another. When lunch is finally served, there is a bit of a reprieve from the more hurried morning pace. It is then that we begin to clean dishes, wash produce, fold laundry, prepare enrichment, and work on the blog. The chimps know that they can’t ask for too much of our time in the morning, but in the afternoon we will usually drop whatever we are doing to cater to their wishes.

Each chimp has their own preference when it comes to socializing with caregivers. Some prefer to take walks or play chase, while others would rather sit quietly and groom. With Gordo, I’m lucky if I can get a brief bunny hop out of him, while with Burrito, I’m lucky if I can ever get back to work. Foxie wants to play with dolls, Terry wants to groom boots, Lucky wants to pick scabs off and maybe create a few new ones, and Cy wants to give a few tickles. Willy B wants to watch movies on our phones, though if he could figure out how to do this without the need for humans he probably would. That said, he does sometimes play chase with us, which involves him running away and then bouncing up and down while facing the wall. Go figure.

These moments are play time for us caregivers, too, but they are every bit as important as the other work we do.

Are you joining us for the Comfort & Joy Virtual Gathering tonight at 5pm PT/8pm ET? If you can’t make it, there’s still time to visit the online auction and bid on items for yourself or for the chimps—including helping us complete those new climbing structures. The bidding ends 11/18!

It’s Complicated

by

Mave and Gordo have a complicated relationship that usually involves Mave pressuring Gordo to give up his produce items during meal times. Gordo has figured out how to barter with Mave by giving her a piece of an item to appease her and she usually will go away for a time after receiving tribute. However, the more positive side of their relationship is harder to get a glimpse of and usually when we do see it it is very short lived. Well today was our lucky day and we were able to capture a fairly long play session between these two, with Dora supervising or course!

Unseen Bits

by

As caregivers, we collect photos and videos on our phones constantly throughout the week. However, not everything makes it to the blog. Often when we get to our designated blog day, the chimps do something that inspires an idea or specific theme so we end up saving the content for later, or if we are nice, we share it with a co-worker if they are in need. The only thing about saving it for later is that it can get lost on our camera roll. Luckily for all of you, I have found some of the best unseen clips from the vault (aka my phone) and made a video to share! It would be a tragedy if these videos did not get shared with all of you!

Photos from the vault!

Terry grooming Honey B. It was such a tender and sweet moment between the two of them:

Rayne intensely grooming Mave:

Rayne striking a pose on the firehose:

A bonus photo!

This morning as we all arrive to the sanctuary it was very chill, but the morning fog looked so beautiful:

Jamie seemed to enjoy the fog and crisp air because she was so excited to go for a walk this morning. She came sprinting out of the raceway!

Ladies Who Goof

by

I think we all can agree that most of the time Honey B can be a pretty big goofball, whether she is goofing by herself or with a friend! Honey B has no problem finding things to keep her occupied, but as someone who cares for Honey B the best way she occupies her time is when she is being silly with her chimp friends. Dora seems to agree! I hope this video brightens your day as much as it did mine :).

Here are some bonus photos of upside down Jamie hugging a charlie brown stuffed animal! Earlier today caregiver Sabrina and I caught Jamie in a goofy mood herself. As you can see Jamie is upside down holding Charlie Brown close to her.

Although Jamie was pretty content with Mr. Charlie Brown, she was gesturing for something. I found her I’m Lucy Book, which resulted in happy grunts as she took her book. She has never looked more satisfied than in this moment: