Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
On Monday, Katelyn posted about the cows’ return to the summer pastures. Here’s a video version of the same event.
If you haven’t been around cows much, think of them as 1,000-2,000 lb. dogs, with every bit as much personality. Spring has always been a wonderful time of year, but seeing it through a cow’s eyes gives it even more profound meaning. Already they are choosing to forego sleeping in their barn so they can camp at their spot above Young’s Hill overlooking acres of green pasture.
I had a bit of writer’s block today. It happens sometimes.
The weather was nice, though, and we finished the daily cleaning on time (sometime around 1pm when we regularly serve the chimpanzees their lunch). Some chimps were walking around the perimeter of Young’s Hill with Katelyn (on the outside of the fence, of course) and Chad had just returned from feeding the cattle and mucking their barn. With things settled and quiet around the Chimp House, I decided to drive around the property to capture some photographs of the scenic landscape. The pastures and woods that surround the facility have started to turn emerald green and are even speckled with the first yellow and purple wildflowers of the season.
One thing that is missing from the sanctuary right now is the extended team of people who would normally be enjoying the onset of spring along with us. We typically have fifty volunteers and interns who show up for rotating shifts, and many of them are like family to us. We are following a strict quarantine protocol and are operating with just the core staff, leaving us with just a fraction of the usual personnel. In terms of caregiving, we’re doing just fine– the meals and meds are always served, the enclosures are always cleaned and the chimps are always engaged in one activity or another- but the facility still feels somewhat empty without the all the familiar individuals who help us to care for the chimps and their sanctuary home.
We’ve been working on other ways to keep our community informed and active. Although we aren’t open to the public and we don’t exhibit the chimps (or even the cattle, for that matter), sharing our work is a huge part of this sanctuary’s culture. While that certainly includes communicating special updates and highlighting noteworthy milestones, it also means illustrating the most simple and mundane aspects of life at CSNW. I thought you all might enjoy seeing this little piece of my day: an afternoon cruise around the sanctuary on the John Deere Gator.
These are scary times. But the ten chimpanzees and four bovines at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest count on us each and every day to clean, prepare meals, create enrichment, and provide medical care, regardless of what is happening in the world outside. And we in turn count on you to help make that possible.
If you are fortunate enough to be able to continue giving to your favorite charities at this time, please consider participating in GiveBIG, Washington’s annual day of giving, and support the sanctuary by donating or creating your own fundraising page.
We are so fortunate to be able to greet the animals in our care each day and work for something we believe in with all our hearts. On behalf of the staff, the chimpanzees, and the bovines at CSNW, please know that your generosity during this time is more meaningful and more appreciated than ever.
Jody has three nicknames that we frequently use when referring to her. “Jo” is the simplest and most common, but “JoJo” is the fun equivalent.
Every time I hear someone say the nickname Jojo, I think of two things. The first association is a song by Blind Pilot (a Portland-based folk band) that tells the story of a homeless man named Jojo. The song is called “The Story I Heard” and has a catchy melody that loops in my head whenever I see Jody’s kind, sweet face. It fits her perfectly.
The second thing that comes to mind, of course, is the Oscar-winning film Jojo Rabbit. (If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for?) Jody, with her gentle demeanor and love of all things that grow, would make a very fine rabbit. In fact, Jody’s appropriate third nickname is “Farmer Jo” because of how eagerly she harvests food from the chimps’ outdoor habitat. Chimps are not strictly vegetarian by any means, but Jody would be quite happy if all we ever gave her were heaps of green vegetables to munch on.
That brings us to today’s holiday celebration: a feast and forage to celebrate Easter Sunday and the arrival of spring.
The day (which was lovingly sponsored by two amazing and generous supporters) began with the usual breakfast chaos and subsequent socialization. As Diana mentioned in yesterday’s blog, Foxie and Jody were just reunited with the group after receiving some medical attention and are getting back to their normal routines. Meanwhile, Jamie is dealing with a draining abscess but is otherwise acting like her usual self. She seemed to feel a bit better after Missy (“Dr. Missy”) gave her backside some much-needed grooming. After her appointment with Jamie, Missy proceeded to engage Burrito in a playful session of wrestling. Jamie “payed it forward” by giving Jody some T.L.C.
Meanwhile, CSNW co-directors J.B. and Diana spent some time planting this past holiday season’s evergreen trees. They were previously kept in pots after being featured in the Christmas Day celebration and are now taking root amid the bamboo on Young’s Hill. Maybe they’ll survive, and perhaps even grow, if Farmer Jo doesn’t prune off too many of their branches.
Back in the Greenhouse, the chimps could see us scattering food in their outdoor enclosure and got really excited.
Once all of the caregivers, vehicles and tools were safely out of the enclosure, we were finally able to let the chimpanzees go out and forage for their Easter lunch. Negra led the charge out of the Greenhouse and up the hillside, followed by her six companions. The chimps were ecstatic to find caches of carrots, beets, watermelon slices, chow biscuits, and brand new troll dolls.
Chimpanzees have a strong sense of fairness and, without interfering with their social hierarchy, we make sure there is enough food to go around at each meal. Even so, each celebratory forage usually has one chimp who “wins” by collecting the largest amount of the most prized item. As you all may have guessed by now, Jojo Rabbit won today’s Easter forage.
Farmer Jo decided immediately that carrots were the most valuable of all the foods. She sprinted past her companions and began filling her arms with the enormous orange carrots as if she was scooping up rolls of toilet paper at Fred Meyer. Before the others could even figure out what was hidden out there, Jody was making her way back to the Greenhouse with an armful of crunchy loot. The other chimps each found a carrot or two, but Jody had a whole bushel.
It’s hard to believe that Jody was the star of the show today after she just had a toe amputated last week. If my description doesn’t quite do it for you and you would prefer to watch today’s Easter forage for yourself, J.B. spontaneously streamed it live on our Facebook page so that all of our supporters could share the experience with us and the chimps. I highly recommend checking it out!
You may also be wondering how things went on the other side of the building. Mave, Willy B and Honey B had an exciting morning. For a short period of time, we opened the chute to their section of Young’s Hill so that they could have the opportunity to go outside. Per usual, they cautiously inspected their outdoor enclosure from the relative safety of the chute, although Honey B did roll a tire down the ramp and out onto the grass. She has developed a weird habit of noisily throwing large enrichment items through doorways, but that’s a story for another day…
Once the chute was closed back up, the three chimps enjoyed a hearty lunch and delicious dinner coupled with quick sessions of positive reinforcement training that allowed caregiver Chad to record their temperatures. It also marked the first time that they appeared interested in eating hard-boiled eggs (collected from locally-raised chickens, of course). Honey B and Willy B are now Easter eggs fanatics, although Mave doesn’t buy into the hype just yet.
Jody may have won the day, but Jamie won the evening. It’s currently after 8pm and Jamie just finished scouring Young’s Hill for the remaining produce. Just a half hour ago, she found a whole beet that was still hidden in the foliage. She finally allowed us to close the door and is settling in for a good night’s sleep, so I’m closing up the Chimp House and heading home.
Whether you celebrated today’s holiday or not, we hope that you had a great day. Stay healthy, everyone!
Honey B shows Mave how to escape when your hands are tied behind your back.
This morning, Mave was showing off some luxurious locks and a yearbook photo worthy pose. She is the coolest.
Those are the only photos I managed to get this morning, so I guess today is my day to clear out some photos from the old phone. Here’s Missy chomping on some sweet potato in the Greenhouse.
As you may have seen on yesterday’s blog, Anna has returned from her maternity leave and Chad has agreed to stay on as a permanent staff member. Here we are celebrating – it’s a sign of the times when you need to use panoramic mode to get all five people at a party in the same shot (Katelyn was working remotely).
People often refer to hay as either “cow hay” or “horse hay”. While these names can mean different things to different people, it’s usually the case that cow hay is of a lesser quality. Perhaps it got rained on before being baled or sat around for far too long. Cattle, it seems, are less sensitive than horses to molds and other impurities, but don’t let that make you think they aren’t picky. These four have very refined palates and they will boycott any hay that is not up to their standards. Conversely, when you bring the good stuff they will eat it right out of the Gator with such enthusiasm that you can’t even get it to their feeder.
When we built the foot box we had a hunch it would work but we needed to be sure before relying on it to diagnose an injury. So we threw a troll in the box. For science.
Amazing sanctuary friend and supporter, Monica Best, is sponsoring a day of sanctuary in a new celebration honoring our dear bovine family, Honey and her daughter, Meredith, and Betsy and her son, Nutmeg, and well, moo moos everywhere!
Monica is hoping this first annual Love a Moo Moo Day will allow everyone to get to know the lovely hoofed animals that share the sanctuary.
You can learn all about the four cattle by clicking on their individual pages from the cattle page on the website. They have a very interesting past, and we feel so very fortunate that we are able to care for them here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest while they happily keep the grass trimmed. This summer, we’ll be giving them access to even more of the sanctuary property!
Nutmeg is now a big steer, it’s difficult for us to imagine him this size when he was born at Farm Sanctuary’s California shelter:
Nutmeg is much bigger than mom Betsy now, but he’s still a mama’s boy in the best way:
For her part, Betsy is a mom at heart and spends a lot of her time grooming her herd mates. The humans will do in a pinch:
Honey, on the other hand, would prefer that the humans keep the appropriate social distance from her, unless they have some particularly valuable food, in which case she will lower herself to come closer.
Her daughter Meredith likes the occasional scratch, but has an independent streak. When we are watching the bovine family from the office, Meredith is often off doing her own thing.
Just like their primate sanctuary counterparts, each of these four hoofed friends have individual personalities and charm!
Thank you to Monica for setting up a day to love them!
