Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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primate rescue

Misfits Together

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Jamie and Burrito are undeniably the most human-focused of the chimpanzees at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. They seek the attention of humans frequently, as evidenced by the many videos of humans walking around the hill “with” Jamie or playing tug of war with Burrito.

It’s probably no coincidence that both of them grew up in a human environment when they were very young. Burrito was a “pet” and Jamie was owned by a trainer. They may not have had the experience of having other chimpanzees around them until they got older.

All of the chimpanzees at CSNW, when compared to their wild counterparts, could be considered misfits. None of them grew up in a large family group in equatorial Africa, clinging to their mothers and playing with siblings. For Jamie and Burrito, though, they are even greater misfits because they identified with the humans.

And yet, they are still chimpanzees, and they now get to live with others of their species.

Burrito and Jamie don’t have the friendliest of relationships. Every once in a while, however, like today, I’ll find these two misfits just being chimpanzees and grooming each other – showing no interest in the humans in that moment, even when one appears with a camera in hand.

 

It’s a reminder that they are capable of knowing and understanding one another in ways that we humans will never be able to access.

And that is a beautiful thing.

An unusual day

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Today we messed with the chimpanzees’ routine. There is a tall structure in the greenhouse that needed some repair, so the chimpanzees weren’t able to get outside until J.B. and volunteer Chad finished their fix-it job.

All morning, Burrito alternated between his Tasmanian devil self and his adorable playful self.

Lest you think the change in routine or lack of outdoor access caused his Tasmanian devil self to appear, allow me to elaborate to explain that on pretty much any given day, Burrito alternates between these two extremes.

I only got a picture of the later, but you might be able to see a twinkle of mischief in those eyes.

Don’t let him fool you.

When the greenhouse (and the raceway that leads to the large outdoor habitat) was ready to be occupied by chimpanzees again, we decided to take advantage of the unusually warm weather and provide the chimps with a dinner forage outside. We spread and hid whole tomatoes, pieces of watermelon, and mini sweet peppers all over the enclosure.

Much to our delight, Queen Negra was as eager as everyone else to get outside.

Negra is not one to choose to exert much energy, but apparently the whole tomatoes were worth stretching to get:

Jamie utilized the coolest anatomical feature that separates chimpanzees from humans – opposable toes – to carry a tomato as she continued her foraging:

Jody demonstrated the large capacity of her lips by carrying three peppers stacked on top of one another other:

And now the chimpanzees are back inside, quiet as ever while making their blanket nests, to take a restful sleep and wake up tomorrow to another day of sanctuary life.

Jody’s Family

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It was just three weeks ago that we separated Jody from the group in order to stitch an injury to her eyelid. If you didn’t know it had happened, you probably wouldn’t notice that her left eye looks a little different. I suspect in another three weeks even we won’t be able to tell which eye it was.

(Incidentally, when I saw the photo above, I immediately thought of this photo of Jody’s daughter Andrea who lives at Save the Chimps in Florida. Like mother, like daughter!)

Dr. Erin did a great job of the procedure, no doubt. Plus chimpanzees have this uncanny ability to heal very quickly (thank goodness!).

I keep thinking back to the days after the procedure and how each step was an affirmation of why Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest exists and the role of the humans at the sanctuary.

When the injury happened, Jody was clearly irritated that her eyelid was kind of just hanging there (sorry for that graphic image), though she was not irritated enough that she ignored the rest of her lunch. On the contrary, she went right back to eating when the fighting had stopped.

The humans figured out pretty quickly that we needed to fix her eyelid because it serves such an important function of protecting the eye. After a little while, Jody seemed to agree with us, and she did not protest when we invited her to be separated from the other chimpanzees with the doors closing behind her.

I really believe that she knew she needed our help.

It took her the whole next day after the procedure to completely recover from the anesthesia, and she allowed me to sit with her (on the other side of the caging) and offer her sips of water in between her naps.

The day after that, however, she wanted to be back with the other chimpanzees.

We reunited them the next day, but then separated Jody again when Dr. Erin decided she needed some time away from Dr. Missy and any other overly zealous grooming partners.

Though it wasn’t an issue to separate Jody, she was definitely not as content to spend time by herself this time around. She was constantly watching what the group was doing, vocalizing along with them, and hopeful that she would be back with them each time we operated the doors. After a couple more days of healing, there was another reunion, and this time it lasted.

Here’s what I love about Jody’s reaction to all that happened: She accepted our help and let us pamper her a little, but the second she felt even halfway better, she wanted to be with her people. The humans are not her people. She has a family of chimpanzees – they are her people. She’s not related to any of them, but they are her family.

She wanted to be back with them even after sustaining a pretty intense injury during a fight with these same people.

And that explains the role of the humans at the sanctuary. We are protectors and sometimes fixers, up to a point. We make sure that the chimpanzees have food, medical care, and an interesting and comfortable environment.

But the truth is that they need each more than they need us. They have their own lives to lead.

That is one of the reasons why we are working hard on the Bring Them Home Expansion Campaign in order to bring more chimpanzees to the sanctuary. We don’t know how long these seven chimpanzees will be here, but we know that as long as they are alive, they will need a family of other chimpanzees.

For Giving Day for Apes this year, we are highlighting the expansion campaign. We hope you will join in the donating on September 25th to help expand the family at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and be a part of providing them with what the really need.

Jamie and the snowshoes

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Well folks, today has been one of those days where capturing photos of the chimps has just not been on their agenda. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t stories to tell.

The chimps have a bare path around snowy and slushy Young’s Hill, courtesy of J.B., and most everyone has been venturing out for walks in our “milder” weather (i.e., above freezing for the most part). But much to our surprise, it’s Jamie who hasn’t been interested in going all the way around the hill. (Missy on the other hand, has been ripping and running around and around!). The last couple of days Jamie seems to have incorporated the lower half of the hill into her games of chase with her caregivers, venturing half way up one side only to turn, run back down and then part way up the other side, back and forth like a pendulum.

Given how excited Jamie’s been over the winter footwear and seeing what the humans’ Yaktrax look like on her own boots, I decided to take it to the next level and see what she would think of seeing her boots in snowshoes, which we don’t think she’s seen before. Here is Jamie’s favorite new boot getting strapped in as she watches:

Suffice to say, Jamie was beside herself! Hair standing on end (polo-erect), eyes glued to her boots, hooting and low moaning and generally flailing about in excitement. Of course she immediately raced outside to play chase up and down the small slope seemingly mesmerized that HER boots were snowshoeing. Kelsi and I tried and tried to get photos of her, but I think she was so overwhelmed she didn’t have time to participate in a photo shoot. So outside of this photo of Jamie flailing (I recognize it’s hard to see, but she is waving her arms and hands about as she looks at her boot), you’ll have to take our word for it:

Jamie immediately ran outside making sure I was following and after about an hour of chase inside, outside, through the greenhouse, up the hill, down the hill (with frequent stops to check out her boot), she decided she was ready to have her snow covered boots (sans snowshoes, of course). As soon as she received them she hugged them to her for a moment, looked at them as if they (and perhaps by extension, she?) had just been on the most amazing adventure ever, and then hurried off to build a nest with them.

For years it was very uncommon to see Jamie actually sleep when she nested. Some part of her always remained on alert and if the rare occasion occurred where her eyes closed, it didn’t take much for them to spring back open. Only in the last year or two has she begun to fully relax enough to fall asleep. So to see her covered up with her blankets, surrounded by her beloved boots and favorite new boot book, sound asleep holds so much more meaning than just how cozy and adorable she looks like this. Even if brief (she’s a busy woman after all), she finally feels safe enough to fully let go and fall into a deep slumber. Perhaps dreaming of snowshoeing her way around Young’s Hill…

Happy Birthday, Burrito!!

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We’re celebrating our first chimpanzee birthday of the year with Burrito, who turns 34 today! This special day of sanctuary for our beloved Bubs was kindly sponsored by Trish Loesch (you may recall her husband, John, also sponsored a day earlier this week thanks to Trish’s love for the chimps!). Trish shares this message: “Happy Birthday Burrito!!!  I hope your special day will bring you lots of happiness, love and fun with your friends!!!”

If you’ve been following the blog for long, you may have gathered that we do a lot of partying around here. Parties are a wonderful source of enrichment, anticipation and excitement for the chimps. But they are also much more than that. These seven amazing chimpanzees, everything that makes them the unique individuals they are, and all the incredible humans – each of you – who make their lives in sanctuary possible, are to be celebrated. Each and every day. So really, we need to party even more!

And I’m sure as long as it involves food – lots, and lots of food – Burrito is on board. For every adorable and charming move he makes, every ruckus he raises, all the crazy food squeaks, the deadly accurate spitting upon humans, the brain-rattling cage rattling, and heart-melting play stomps, play bows, head-stands, kisses and smiles, we celebrate this amazing guy. Burrito is an important part of this family and we couldn’t love him more. We’re so happy to honor him today.

Thank you so much for your generous gift, Trish! The fridge is stocked and the celebration of Burrito (and food!) is getting underway. Be sure to tune in later today to see the festivities!

Happy Birthday, B!! We love you so much!!

Burrito lookout