Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

recall

Photo Roundup!

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Today has been a busy day. As I was starting to put together my blog, Jamie started alarm-calling, which most often means a snake has found its way through our snake fencing and is in the chimpanzees’ space. We quickly jumped into action to recall her group, asking them to come off of Young’s Hill and into the Greenhouse and their indoor spaces, and thankfully everyone except for Annie and Jamie was already inside. Annie made her way in quickly, and everyone was rewarded with strawberries while we waited for Jamie to be convinced that the humans could handle the snake problem and come back inside. Everyone is back inside now and enjoying their strawberries as a reward for participating in recall. Dessert before dinner, what a day!

Here are some photos from the day:

Missy enjoying her nest (reimagined from Negra’s earlier nest) in the Greenhouse this afternoon

Foxie with her doll

Mave taking some time for self-care, and grooming herself

Burrito with a block in his mouth, mid play-session!

Snake Season!

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It’s officially snake season at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest!

Last week, we had to recall Jamie’s group off of Young’s Hill 5 times by 10:30am!  Whoa!

Luckily, most of our snake encounters are with non-venomous snakes, like the one we caught in the greenhouse, which you’ll see in today’s video.

Caregiver Ellen identified this snake as a Western yellow-bellied racer, Coluber constrictor mormon!  That’s quite a mouthful!

According to Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, the Western racer (Coluber constrictor) is one of 11 subspecies of the North American racer.  Racers occur in warm, dry open or brushy country.  They are often observed streaking across roads.  The racer holds its head and neck above the ground when hunting, and it may climb into shrubs (we found it sitting in the middle of a bamboo bush!).  The diet of racers includes small mammals, reptiles, and insects.

We try our darndest to keep the chimps safe from venomous snakes.  Our 4 acre outdoor enclosures are surrounded by snake fencing that extends several inches into the ground.  Every day, before letting the chimps out onto Young’s Hill and the Bray, we do a perimeter check to ensure that the snake fencing is still in place.  But there are certain types of snakes that have the ability to get around the snake fencing because they’re so tiny, so it’s up to us to catch them and remove them from the property – luckily they are usually non-venomous.

For more stories about our snake encounters, check out the following blog posts:

The many ways to kill a snake

Snake!!!

Snake patrol