Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Please Excuse the Interruption

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To our supportive blog followers and lovers of the sanctuary:

We are always ever so grateful for all the love and support you have given us throughout the years and want to thank you for following along and interacting with us through the blog. As you all know, we have been in the process of integrating Cy’s group and Willy B’s group over the past several months. Our friend and colleague, Jen Feuerstein, will return tomorrow to help us with progressing even further into the integration process this week. During this time, we are going to be extremely busy monitoring the process as the chimpanzees come together and work on their relationships with one another. We will still be posting the daily blog, but please forgive us if at times this week it seems it is abbreviated or posted a little later in the day. We hope you understand. We will be back on a regular schedule soon!

As we prepare for the week ahead, please enjoy these photos from today!

Willy B:

Honey B:

Mave:

Cy:

Lucky:

Gordo:

Dora:

Rayne:

Terry:

Appreciation during still uncertain times

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This week is National Volunteer Appreciation week and I’m finding that there are not enough words to express how much our volunteers mean to us.

As the pandemic hit in March of 2020, we made the extremely tough decision to limit the numbers of humans that we had coming to the sanctuary in order to help protect the chimpanzees. This meant we had to lay off the bulk of our extremely valuable volunteer and intern workforce. While only a few volunteers were able to adapt to our strict protocols and qualifications, others found different ways to help at a distance. They filled bags of primate chow from home,collected enrichment and helped plan fundraising events. Their creativity and resourcefulness has been astounding!

Now, 2 years later, we are still working with a limited (although slightly larger) group of volunteers. Our COVID protocols have adjusted over time, but our resources (high quality masks and rapid tests) remain limited, so we currently have an active group of only 6 volunteer caregivers. While there are still many of our loving volunteers on hiatus through no fault of their own, we wanted to specifically recognize the very hard work and dedication of our current “Level 3” caregivers.

Please join me in thanking Patti, Lisa, Elizabeth, Keri, Lizz and Krissy for all their hard work during this ongoing pandemic. We seriously couldn’t have done it without you and we can’t wait for the day when we can welcome more volunteers back to the sanctuary!

Besides hard working, our volunteers can also be elusive to photograph, so we have a mixture of old and new photos of them.

Patti cleaning the front rooms:

Lisa and Foxie:

A 2015 throwback photo of Keri and Jamie:

Elizabeth and Honey B:

Krissy disinfecting the front rooms:

Lizz grooming Jamie:

 

 

 

Big Yawns

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As I walked around the chimp house today I felt really tired. I kept thinking, how could I feel so sleepy? Then I figured it out! I was looking at these cozy lumps all day ;).

Dreamy Cy:

The handsome Terry:

The ever so wonderful Lucky:

And of course the beautiful Jo in the portrait studio:

Much to Celebrate Today

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After a week of snowy conditions, there was the break in the weather where it was sunny and warm enough to celebrate today.

When Missy’s group were first given access to Young’s Hill this morning, everybody went out and explored the Hill. In fact, Negra was the first one out, if you can believe it or not! As the chimpanzees scattered across their outdoor enclosure, I saw Missy at the very top on the furthest structure surveying her domain.

Later on in the day, the weather still held out for a forage outside. Today was filled with paper eggs containing nuts, carrots, sweet potatoes, mini bell peppers, and hard boiled eggs for all!

Here is one of the paper eggs as seen in Willy B’s enclosure for reference (of course they celebrated too!):

Initially we caregivers thought Jamie’s group would run out onto the hill, grab what they could, and head back to their greenhouse since a slight, chilly breeze began to pick up. We were wrong! Every single one of them stayed out for quite some time, enjoying their forage.

Jamie:

Jody:

Burrito:

Foxie:

Annie:

Missy:

Negra:

On the other side of the Chimp House, both Willy B’s group and Cy’s group also enjoyed their set up.

Cy:

Terry:

Rayne:

Willy B:

Mave:

Honey B:

For those who celebrate, we wish you a:

Happy Easter!

Chag Pesach sameach!

Ramadan Mubarak!

Hello, Everyone!

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Well, hello, everyone! My name is Grace and I am the newest staff member at CSNW. I recently moved back to Washington from my home state of Ohio and words can’t describe how excited I am to be here.

My first day at CSNW was in 2017 as an intern with the Central Washington University Primate Behavior program, and it didn’t take long for my intern days to become the highlight of my week. I came to CWU after completing a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology at The Ohio State University (go Bucks!), where it took me a while to find my niche. While I couldn’t decide on a major, I began work as a seasonal keeper at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. This job presented me the opportunity to work with captive animals and help me discover my passion for great apes. This experience, along with a field school program with Field Projects International in the Peruvian Amazon, had me hooked. During my time at CWU, I studied the effect of sound on the chimpanzees at the Fauna Foundation in Montreal, Canada. As an intern, I lived on site for four months and I still miss hearing the chimpanzees pant-hoot late into the evening.

After graduating from CWU, I decided to continue my graduate education and I moved to York University to pursue a M.A. in Philosophy, as my interests focused on the intersection of captive welfare and ethics. While there, I had the opportunity to spend some time volunteering for Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary north of the city. This was my first time supporting the care of monkeys in sanctuary and I loved it! It gave me the reassurance I needed to know that I was ready to step out of academia and into the world of hands-on caregiving.

I graduated from York right as the pandemic hit and I’m sure my mom would love to tell you about the time I had her drive with me to Toronto and back in eight hours, so I could move my stuff out of my school apartment as the borders were being closed. We made it, though, and I began the search for a career. In the next year and a half I worked a few office jobs, met some amazing people, and got married. When I was offered the opportunity to come back to CSNW, there was no question.

During one of my first days back in Ellensburg, Kelsi told me “Welcome home!“. As someone who struggles to find the right words, this summed up my feelings perfectly. CSNW has always felt like home and I am so thankful to be back.

Honey enjoying the sunshine before the recent surge of winter storms.

 

Goodbyes and Hellos

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Last week, staff member and longtime friend to all at the sanctuary, Sam wrote her last blog post.  Sadly, that means she is moving away from Washington for her next adventure. I will miss Sam for her easy going yet mischievous personality, welcoming nature and huge heart.  Everyone who knows Sam naturally loves her and she becomes a perfect fit for every team she joins. For the staff and the chimpanzees/cattle at CSNW, this isn’t really goodbye, it’s see you later!

Sam and Cy:

Sam racing Jamie:

Sam, pictured with her scarecrow doppelgänger and her cat Gracie’s doppelgänger (expertly played by my daughter Luna):

This blog post isn’t all bittersweet goodbyes though. As we wish Sam well, we also got to welcome our newest staff member Grace last month! Grace is a former graduate student intern that returns to us with her own wealth of knowledge and experience (more on that when she introduces herself on her first blog). Grace has been very busy getting acquainted and re-acquainted with the sanctuary residents, all while learning the ropes or our daily routine.

Cy and his welcoming stare:

Jamie gives Grace and her new boots a proper inspection:

Welcome Grace and best wishes to Sam!