Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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TEAPSPA Day of Action

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In addition to being Annie’s birthday, we have something important for everyone to do for Take Action Tuesday.

We are one of several groups invited by Animal Defenders International (ADI) to support TEAPSPA (the Traveling Exotic Animal and Public Safety Protection Act) to ban traveling wild animal acts nationwide.

Read this post about chimpanzees in circuses and why we support the end of the use all wild and exotic animals in these acts.

This bill was introduced in the House as HR2863 and companion bill S2121 in the Senate.

Studies on the use of wild animals in traveling acts show that circuses cannot meet the physical or behavioral needs of wild animals. Animals are confined in small spaces, deprived of physical and social needs, and spend excessive time shut in trailers and train cars. These animals often demonstrate abnormal behaviors – rocking, swaying, and pacing – indicating they are in distress and not coping with their environment. Video evidence shows these animals are forced to perform tricks through physical violence, fear, and intimidation.

Use this link: bit.ly/SupportTEAPSPA to find your legislators, send them an email, Facebook post and tweet asking them to support TEAPSPA. Direct calls to your legislators are very effective and ADI has lots of talking points here. If you can schedule a meeting, you can let ADI know and they will send you a pack with even more information.

If you are on Facebook, let others know you’re supporting TEAPSPA by uploading a Facebook frame to your profile pic! Simply click this link and type “Animal Defenders International” into the search box, click on the “Support TEAPSPA” frame, then click “use as profile pic.”

Thanks for standing up for the animals!

A thunderous display

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It’s been a thunderous day, literally and figuratively. The chimpanzees have spent much of yesterday and today in a wild call and response of displays with one another. Hoots, hollers, kicks to the windows and “howdy” door and all manner of vocalizations, some of which we’ve never heard the likes of before, have been ringing throughout the chimp house.

Both groups were served lunch just about the time a thunderstorm rolled over the sanctuary which seemed to amplify their echoing expressions and emotions. Sweet Mave ran in from her nest in the new Phase I chute which leads outside and spent a long time sitting in the doorway alarm calling. She should be familiar with the occasional rainstorm at her former home, but who knows how she felt about them or why she found them alarming today exactly. Sometimes even familiar things sound different in new surroundings. After several minutes of continued calling, I wondered if Mave had perhaps seen a snake or something so I grabbed a blanket for cover and ran outside of the Phase I windows to check for “intruders,” but the coast appeared clear, to these human eyes at least. Honey B greeted me with her face pressed against the windows and breathy pants of reassurance and the three seemed to come to the conclusion that if I was okay running around out there, they must be okay running around inside.

And finally, exhausted from a stormy day of emotions and weather, and bellies full from lunch, the chimp house grew quiet and still. Everyone curled up, heavy eyes occasionally cast skyward at the sound of rain on the rooftops, they all fell asleep.

Beautiful Honey B:

Handsome Willy B, listening to the storm:

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

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It’s been a few weeks since Honey B, Willy B and Mave arrived from Wildlife Waystation, but it’s only been a few days since the Cle Elum Seven got their first glimpse of their chimpanzee neighbors.

The new arrivals get to access the outdoor tunnel (left) that will soon connect to the Young’s Hill enclosure.

As a staff, we’ve already noticed and discussed interesting patterns of behavior between the two groups. For example, Jody and Willy B have been spending considerable time staring at each other through the window. The three new arrivals have remained relatively composed and seem to be calmly sizing up their new acquaintances, while the seven original residents seem to be more excited. There was a huge mess by the windows in the Playroom this morning, indicating that the chimpanzees spent a lot of time looking outside at the adjacent tunnel.

The Playroom was trashed this morning.

Today was a bit unusual because we needed to briefly close off the outdoor tunnel and Young’s Hill for two separate maintenance projects. This meant that the groups were temporarily unable to see each other. Instead, Willy B. spent some time in front of the Howdy Door and made some noise to advertise his presence. On the Playroom side, Burrito and the others put on a concert of displays, screams and hoots.

Willy B. watches the Howdy Door, listening to the chimps on the other side.
Burrito’s hair stands on end, expressing his excitement.
Missy hoots.
Burrito hoots and displays in the Playroom.

For the seven original residents, checking in on the new cohort of chimps has taken up a lot of their time and effort, but has not completely derailed their usual activities. They enjoyed a lunch forage on Young’s Hill once the maintenance was complete, and Missy dominated the field by gathering up all the celery and bringing it into the Greenhouse.

Missy finds celery.
Missy carries celery.
Missy consumes celery.
Missy thinks about celery.

Also, naps happened.

Foxie naps with a doll.
Neggie naps with breakfast and blankets.

Now that the initial shock of seeing unfamiliar chimps has passed, the Cle Elum Seven seem to be monitoring their neighbors just as they keep tabs on the surrounding pastures, the volunteers, the tomato garden, and the refrigerator. The caveat is that these three new additions to the environment are also chimps, which means they are fully capable of responding right back.

Burrito looks out of the Playroom window at the chimps in the tunnel.

Willy B + Jody

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First, the photos that go along with the story in today’s blog are not going to win any awards. But the story is good, so I hope you’ll forgive my quick cell phone pics.

Second, if you are new to the sanctuary and the photos make you wonder why the chimps are in cages, please read this blog post that answers that very question!

Speaking of questions, I know there are SO MANY questions about how we are going to go about doing the introductions between the seven and the three. We still have a lot of questions ourselves that we have been mulling over. It’s daunting and scary and incredibly exciting all at the same time.

We’ve talked to a few different people who each have experience with hundreds (hundreds!) of introductions of chimpanzees, and each of them has a different general system they use and a philosophy behind it. On Tuesday, one of these very knowledgeable people, Amy Fultz from Chimp Haven, came out in person to talk to us about introductions. It worked out perfectly that she was here when the groups got the first good look at each other.

We are taking in all of this information and combining it with the data that Jake Funkouser recorded and analyzed of the social networks of the seven chimpanzees, and combining that with what we are observing of the new three and their interactions with the seven at a distance.

We also will let the chimpanzees dictate the process once we start. All that is to explain that we cannot share with you the step by step details before they happen because it’s not that kind of process and we are not there yet. We do plan to share details with you after the fact, though!

So, that brings me to today’s story about a connection/attraction between Willy B and Jody that is continuing to develop. It actually started before the three arrived at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. When J.B. and I were at Wildlife Waystation, we showed some videos of Jody to Willy B on my cell phone, and he immediately moved in to get a closer look,  paying more attention to the Jody videos than videos of any of the other chimpanzees.

Now they get to see each other in person every day, and Willy B continues to show an interest in Jody. And now we can say that the interest is mutual.

This morning, Jody made a special foray onto the hill and stood up just to get a glimpse of Willy B who was at the end of the chute:

Willy B returned the glance:

When Jody was heading back into the greenhouse, Willy B climbed to the highest spot in the new chute to have the best view:

Jody noticed his new position, and climbed up high on the caging in the greenhouse and made a low moan vocalization. Jody is famous for her various low-moans, most of them associated with food, and all of them indicating that she is happy.

With Jody’s cute hand wave/reaching out that J.B. included in the video yesterday and today’s friendly overtures to Willy B, our predictions about Jody being inviting towards the newcomers seems spot-on, unlike our inaccurate predictions of how Burrito would react to the sight of unfamiliar chimpanzee people.

Burrito, by the way, continues to be obsessed with the new three and spends most his day hanging out by the windows just waiting for them to appear.

Can you imagine how strange and exciting it must be to see new chimpanzee strangers for the first time after over a dozen years?!

First sight

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On Wednesday, Mave, Honey B, and Willy B were able to access the chute for the first time. This is the overhead tunnel that will connect the Phase 1 enclosures to Young’s Hill once we finish extending the electric fencing. Prior to Wednesday, the three new chimps had only gotten glimpses of the Seven from a distance as they rounded the lower corner of Young’s Hill on their patrols. And the Seven had not been able to see the three at all. On Wednesday they got their first real look at one another.

This “pre-introduction” went about as well as we could have hoped. Yes, there was plenty of screaming. And yes, there was a lot of displaying. Not to mention threat barks, fear grimaces, and requests for reassurance. All to be expected. More importantly, by the end there were also pant-grunts, head nods, genital bounces, and even a little flirty hand-waving (this last one may not be found in the primatological literature but you will know it when you see it). These are all positive signs that the actual introduction process stands a decent chance of being successful. But we won’t know until we try. So stay tuned!

Distracted

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As Kelsi mentioned yesterday, the Cle Elum 7 got their first real look at their new neighbors on Tuesday afternoon, and Mave, Willy B, and Honey B got to explore their new outdoor chute. We don’t have the video of their first reactions ready for you just yet (sorry for all the suspense), but I think I can safely tell you that there has been no one more preoccupied with the sight of new chimpanzees than Burrito.

We were all pleasantly surprised with how interested (and almost calm) he seemed to take their first reveal. I might have been expecting his reaction to be something more like total panic and fear (or maybe even pretend that he cannot see them), but instead he seemed to take it all in stride and has now moved on to complete (high arousal) fascination. He has been spending his days moving from the Playroom windows to the Greenhouse, trying to get a peek at anyone sitting outside in their new space. Here was Mr. B on the lookout on Young’s Hill this morning (notice his erect hair and fixed gaze).

We’ve Got Ten!

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Today was a pretty busy day. We had an amazing group of volunteers from Suncadia come and help us with the new extension on the Hill which provided a lot of supervision opportunities for Jamie and the entire chimp house really! But guys… Honey B, Mave, and Willy B got to go out in their new tunnel yesterday afternoon!! The seven and the three got to see each other from afar, and to say they were excited would be an understatement. I mean, Burrito almost forgot to eat dinner! So there was a lot of hustle and bustle between the work on the new hill and getting a peak at the new guys! There will be a video soon, but I thought today I would show you a collection of photos of each one of the chimps!

And a big thank you to the volunteers who came out to help us!

Jamie supervising:


Foxie:

Jody:

Annie:

Missy:

Neggie:

Burrito:

Sweet Mave with beet lips:



Willy B:

Honey B cleaning the Mezzanine after we had cleaned, it was not up to her standards: