Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

reading

Friday Fun at CSNW

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Despite the gloomy day with the occasional rain showers, the chimps have been playing, reading, grooming, and relaxing. The perfect day at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

If you haven’t watched the video yet, can you guess what activity we caught Burrito engaging in today?! It’s an activity that many of our other chimps enjoy, but something Burrito does not participate in unless we add peanut butter to it… any guesses? Check out the video above for the answer!

Gordo and Cy (window). Their group is currently doing a reintro so these two boys aren’t together, yet!

Dora:

Gordo:

We also wanted to thank everyone who participated in our Comfort and Joy auction! Thank you for supporting us, year after year! We couldn’t do this without you! ❤️

Story Time with Rayne and Cy

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This morning, caregiver Kelsi and I took turns reading a dinosaur story to Rayne and Cy. Cy enjoyed listening to us butcher their scientific names, while Rayne seemed to enjoy the pop-up pictures. Afterwards, we let Rayne have the book (Cy didn’t seem that interested anyways) and she enjoyed flipping through it at her own pace. She really loves these types of books! Anytime we put them in the enclosures, she always ends up with it. They don’t last very long without getting ripped up, but it’s fun while it lasts.

Exciting news!

We’re excited to announce that we want you to help us choose the cover photo for our 2025 CSNW Calendar! You can vote once every 24-hours through the end of October, with the poll closing at 11:59pm PT on Jamie-ween!

Look at these photographs

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Today has been a busy, busy day in the chimp house! I managed to get some photos today and hope you enjoy them!

Cy:

Foxie was out on Young’s Hill this afternoon when it started raining. Her and her Blueberry doll hurried in.

I tried to be artistic here taking a photo of Honey B behind the leaves that frame the chute.

Lucky:

Mave (let’s ignore the troll mask in the background nearly ruining the photo):

 

 

Back to Work

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I’m happy to report that our team of contractors have picked up where things left off last fall with regard to construction on the Bray. We don’t have a firm completion date yet but it should be fairly soon! While they complete their fence work, we’re taking the opportunity to build upon Ryan’s Lookout, the structure that will allow Cy’s group to supervise all the comings and goings at the sanctuary.

So far we’ve added three crow’s nests with fire hose vines strung between them and the main tower. Our poor bamboo took a hit during the arctic blast last Christmas. The existing culms may not grow new leaves this year but we’ll have to wait and see. The good thing is that it should be ready to send up new shoots in June.

The weather has been typically spring-like lately, meaning it is winter one day and summer the next. Last Thursday it snowed on us while working outside in the afternoon; by the end of the week it should hit 80 degrees. This means that some days the greenhouse panels are necessary, while on other days we have to run the fan to cool things off. The last few days have been perfect and the chimps are happy to bask in the warmth from their perch on the tree structures.

As always, Cy has been busy keeping up with the latest celebrity news when not managing his sometimes unruly family.

This photo didn’t turn out very well, but I thought I’d share anyway…I was just barely able to catch Lucky giving her friend Dora a hug to celebrate the arrival of the lunch cart.

On a final note, the sanctuary recently purchased a new (to us) farm vehicle. Surprisingly, Jamie is a bit intimated by it and still prefers to race the Gator. But Benny, who is licensed and required by law (so he says) to inspect all farm machinery, has given it his full approval. Benny lives at the sanctuary with me and Diana and our two other rescue dogs, and because of old injuries he can’t walk as fast or as far as his pack mates. Now he can leave them in the dust. He said the staff can use it too.

Unexpected Story Time

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Last week, Cy was sitting in the front rooms with an orangutan book. While he absolutely loves to read, he was not even touching this one. However, to my surprise, when I sat down to spend time with him, he slid the book my way. Cy does not usually hand over his reading material, so this was unexpected. I even said to him, “You gave it back?!”. Instead of leaving to swap out his book with a different one, I decided to read it to him. Cy loves having quiet moments with caregivers so I assumed he would not mind. As I started reading, I had no idea that I would soon have a front room full of chimpanzees listening to facts about orangutans.

Dora and Honey B came first.

Then Mave.

Then Rayne.

Terry.

Gordo.

Lucky.

I somehow had eight chimps gathered around to listen. I made sure to hold the book up after every page so everyone could see all of the pictures.

I will admit, since you cannot see their faces well on the camera footage, some enjoyed it more than others. Honey B appeared captivated and enjoyed looking at the pictures. I could tell Terry just wanted to groom my shoes. Gordo did not even face my direction. However, with the exception of Willy B, they all chose to gather and that felt pretty special to me.

After a few minutes had passed, the audience started to leave. First went Gordo, followed by Mave, and Lucky. Then, Cy started blowing raspberries demanding his book to be returned to him. I slid the book under the caging and he immediately grabbed it and left to the Mezzanine. He had had enough.

Please enjoy the video up above showing these events!

Out of the Fog

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When I set out on my perimeter walk this morning, the sanctuary was blanketed in a dense fog.

Climbing the 80 or so feet in elevation to the top of Young’s Hill was all it took to escape into the first rays of morning sunlight.

This morning’s walk was particularly enjoyable because I got to imagine myself walking through the expanded outdoor habitats, which are just now beginning to take shape. The first of the massive steel corner posts were set this week by our friends at Sage Mechanical.

When we started building Young’s Hill back in 2010, we were working under a number of constraints, the most significant of which being that we didn’t own any of the vacant land beyond the pasture above the chimp house. In order to avoid any problems with future neighbors, we kept the fence line far away from the property boundaries. Since then, however, we’ve bought up all of the adjoining land and that has allowed us to push the fence line out as far as topography and underground utility easements will permit.

While most of the area we’re expanding into is also pasture, we were able to cut a little slice into the woods so that the chimps can enjoy the shade of a few tall pines, in addition to the less mature trees that we will be planting.

Those trees that had to be cleared for the fence line will become part of the numerous climbing structures we plan to build next spring.

Plans are also moving ahead for the large, fully-enclosed outdoor area on the west side of the building, which should get underway as soon as weather allows early next year. Meanwhile, the chimps continue to enjoy the greenhouses. Honey B actually let me close off the mezzanine for cleaning so that she could spend time out there (after only a short protest).

Mave was keen on getting Willy B to groom with her. Her invitation? Looking his way and shaking a large bamboo plant vigorously.

He finally obliged.

Rayne was keeping an eye on things from across the hall.

When you hear someone blowing raspberries in her group, it’s usually Terry. But this morning it was Cy, telling me to put the stupid camera down and play chase.

Throughout the morning, we have to shift the chimps around their various enclosures so that we can clean, and each time we do so we have to perform a series of safety checks that involves finding each of the chimpanzees. This morning, Cy was making that difficult. When this happens, we check the security cameras. He was just above us and out of view, engaged in his favorite activity – reading magazines.

Each time the chimps shifted to a new area, Cy would bring his reading material and find a new place to camp out.

By mid-morning, the fog had lifted completely and Jamie and Burrito set out to survey the upcoming changes to their sanctuary home.

I keep trying to tell Jamie that those trees will be hers. So far, she seems far more interested in the equipment. Which reminds of the time she wanted me to chase her with a chainsaw. Not safe, Jamie. Not safe.