Sanctuary

A wrench in the plans

December 30, 2021 by Anna

No day at the sanctuary is off to a good start when you have to call JB to do some emergency maintenance. His plate is full enough as it is and to top it off, we’re in the middle of a cold snap/snow globe situation in Central Washington which requires additional plowing work.

This morning I begrudgingly called for his help over the radio. “Anna to JB. Door G won’t close all the way. There is a 2 inch gap at the bottom and it refuses to go any lower.” The remote controlled door simply ground to a halt with nothing visibly blocking its progress.

Any door issues we have, we take very seriously and get them fixed as soon as possible. JB would need to take a panel off the door to examine the inner workings of the hydraulics and if he couldn’t fix the door himself, we would need to call in an expert (in the middle of a blizzard, don’t forget).

JB agreed to come do some trouble shooting of the chimp door later in the morning after we finished cleaning the playrooms. Luckily, we had an alternate plan for shifting Honey B, Willy B and Mave and we didn’t need that particular door to be closed to protect staff and start our work.

About a half hour into our cleaning process, Kelsi came to find me. The broken door mystery had been solved.

A small toy nail sitting in the groove of the door, neatly tucked just out of sight of the door operator.

Now only one question remains. Was this an accidental coincidence? Did this toy casually roll into the door’s track, creating an unforeseen holdup in the morning cleaning routine? Possibly… We will never really know for sure…

But my bet is this was no act of serendipity. And there is just one suspect I have on my list that is equal parts mischievous and stubborn enough to pull off such a prank.

Suspect #1: Honey B the obstinate. Seen here casually putting her arm in a doorway to prevent room 7 from being closed off.

The Bees Knees

December 29, 2021 by Kelsi

The thing about Honey B is that she really is the bees knees. I admire Honey B’s spontaneous nature, her silly demeanor, and when she sets her mind on something she won’t let anything get in the way. Honey B decided that yesterday front room 7 did not need to be cleaned. She was kind of right as it really just had toys and a lot of paper, just the way she likes it. However, today I really wanted to clean it for not just Honey B, but for Mave and Willy B too. It didn’t look promising at first, but eventually she shifted over for us.

Honey B in front room 7, just the way she likes it:

After all the front rooms were cleaned we handed Honey B and Mave extra rolls of wrapping paper from their Christmas party!

Mave was very pleased about this!

I will leave you with one last Honey Bees photos.

Cold Snap

December 28, 2021 by Chad de Bree

The Pacific Northwest is experiencing a cold snap this week. Today the high is 18ºF with a low of 5ºF tonight. With temperatures such as these, the chimpanzees have sought refuge in the upstairs areas of their respective playrooms where it is nice and warm. They are all napping as I write this.

With days like today, it can be difficult to get photos of the chimpanzees. The upstairs areas are notoriously difficult (read pretty much impossible) to take photos of. I was able to get a few opportunistically throughout the afternoon, mostly during lunch when they all came down.

Willy B working up his display toward Cy’s group during lunch service.

Dora waiting for her turn to be served her lunch.

Rayne eating her primate chow on the highest leaf platform on the tree in her playroom.

Micro/Macro: The Sequel

December 27, 2021 by Anthony

Today’s post is a sequel to a blog entry I penned back in October: Micro/Macro.

In case you’re short for time or simply don’t want to delve back into the archives, I’ll briefly summarize the first post with this TL;DR (“too long; didn’t read”):

Macro photography is the practice of photographing objects so they are magnified at a ratio larger than 1:1. It’s good for taking pictures of small subjects or zooming in on select portions of larger things. I personally rented a versatile macro lens for my Nikon camera (they call theirs a “micro” lens) and used it to take close-ups of the chimps. Some of these images turned out nice.

Well, it probably won’t surprise you to know that I eventually purchased the micro lens for myself (partially because I’m committed to improving my skills and partially because I’m a helpless sucker for Cyber Monday deals on new tech gear).

The lens arrived on Christmas Eve and I immediately brought it to the sanctuary the next day. Some of the chimps were once again patient enough to model for me as I reacquainted myself with the new glass. Half-sisters Honey B and Lucky were extremely interested in the lens and kindly tolerated my company as they relaxed in their indoor areas, resulting in the following photos:

Honey B foraging and unwrapping gifts on Christmas Day

‘Twas the day after Christmas

December 26, 2021 by Sam Jones

‘Twas the day after Christmas when all through the chimp house, not a chimp was stirring, not even a Lucky.

The stockings were picked through and dismantled from the trees without care. In hopes that the party cleanup crew would soon be there.

The chimpanzees were nestled all snug in their nests, while visions of more presents danced in their heads. Cy with his magazines and blankets had just settled down to watch the movie Shrek.

Out in the yard there was such a loud clatter. Jamie sprang from her nest to see what was the matter. It was just me, making too much chatter.

The chimpanzees all had such a great Christmas! So many new presents! Today was very laid back and a lot of resting after the huge celebration yesterday.

Dora, Rayne, and Terry having a little grooming party this morning. Lucky joined too after I took this photo.

The Night Before Christmas

December 24, 2021 by J.B.

We try to have fun with holidays here at the sanctuary. To state the obvious, the chimps have no idea what we’re celebrating on Christmas or New Year’s or solstice. They do, however, enjoy a good party, and holidays are a great excuse for the staff and volunteers to treat the chimps to some creative food and enrichment.

I often wonder if by now some of the chimps – particularly the Cle Elum Seven, who have spent the last 13 Christmases with us – feel any sense of anticipation when the days grow short, the trees and decorations go up, and the snow begins to fall. When Jamie sees us move the potted Christmas tree from the hallway into her greenhouse on Christmas morning, does she know that she’ll soon find a new pair of boots underneath?

The chimps made the most of this particularly snowy Christmas Eve Day by scooping up snow and plucking the tomatoey eyes from Diana’s diminutive snowman.

We had a tradition in my house when I was a kid. On Christmas Eve, we’d get to open one gift, which would always contain new pajamas and a magazine. In hindsight, I realize that this may have been a way of working us kids down from our candy- and toy-fueled delirium and into bed. Nevertheless, at 44 years old I (and now Diana) still receive pajamas and a magazine from my wonderful mom. I know that Cy has no use for pajamas but I think he’ll like the other half of this tradition.

For our chimpanzee family, there’s no Santa Claus, no elves, no reindeer, and no magical snowman. But maybe, as they watch us assembling toys in the foyer and wrapping last minute gifts, they’ll go to bed knowing that tomorrow will be a special day filled with many of the things they love most.

Merry Christmas.

The Eve of the Eve

December 23, 2021 by Sofia Castro-Loza

Holiday preparations continue as caregiver elves now take on the challenge of wrapping at record pace all the toys that were so nicely donated by our amazing supporters. For the chimps today is just a normal day. Willy B, Honey B and Mave got some hanging puzzles as enrichment this morning to encourage foraging behaviors. Willy B was all about it!

Here’s two sequences of Willy B getting going nuts about nuts!

Sequence #1