Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Sanctuary

Side Profiles

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Throughout the day, as I was taking photos, almost every photo I took seemed like a missed opportunity. The day was the perfect day for photos with the sun not too bright and slight overcast at points. But every time I released the shutter, everybody would turn their heads. It was something I initially didn’t wanted in photos, however, after reviewing what I had taken I realized I had a plethora of side profiles.

Jody on Young’s Hill during breakfast. She is wadging the peel of her breakfast banana.
Missy (right) and Annie (left) looking out onto Young’s Hill in the morning.
Cy in his greenhouse in the afternoon. I almost got a good portrait of the big fella, up until he decided he wanted to play chase conveniently right as I took the picture.
Honey B in her greenhouse soaking up the sun. She took full advantage of what sun she could get after a few days of rain and more in the forecast this week.

Luckily enough, Honey B did allow me to take a photo of her without looking away.

Rayne was the only other person who allowed me to take a capture her beautiful face without looking away.

Wait… Burrito Didn’t Laugh?! + Chimpanzees Who Need Your Voice

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Recently, I came across an old video that I narrated that mentioned how rare it was to hear Burrito laughing, and I was surprised.

Wait… Burrito didn’t laugh?!

I searched the blog and found more references to this phenomenon, like this one from as late as 2010, two years after he arrived at the sanctuary with his six groupmates.

Burrito’s laughter reverberates his side of the building frequently now. It’s really hard to believe that wasn’t always the case.

I even quizzed J.B. and he didn’t remember a time when Burrito didn’t laugh.

I talked to former staff member and current volunteer Elizabeth, who took the above video today during a volunteer shift, and she also couldn’t remember a silently-playful Burrito. We did both vaguely remember speculating that Burrito would put his hand or objects in his mouth to muffle the sound of his laughter.

We’re glad Burrito found his (laughing) voice.

Here’s a bonus photo from today of Gordo, Rayne, and Dora. It made me laugh.

All sixteen of the chimpanzees now at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest began their lives or spent decades in biomedical research.

If you are subscribed to our e-newsletter, you should have received an email yesterday (https://chimpsnw.salsalabs.org/novemberupdates) with some sad news for chimpanzees who are just as deserving of a sanctuary life away from laboratories.

While there was promising progress for a number of years getting chimpanzees out of research laboratories and into sanctuaries, there have been some very disturbing decisions by the NIH in the last few years that have left over 90 chimpanzees still in labs.

As the newsletter suggested, one action you can take right now is to reach out to your representatives. Animal Protection of New Mexico makes this easy. Senator Kennedy in Louisiana is speaking out publicly about these decisions and more members of congress should join him.

We’ll be sharing more information about this in the coming weeks.

Two Ways to Spend a Rainy Day

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See how Cy and Dora spent a rainy Friday morning.

Speaking of Cy…this morning there was a large blanket under a door that I needed to close at breakfast time. Hydraulic doors can be closed securely with blankets in the way but then the blankets tend to get wet when we clean the floors. So we usually ask the chimps to help move the blankets out of the way, with mixed results. My first request was to Gordo, which I should have known would get me nowhere. Nothing but a blank stare from that guy. Then I asked Terry and Dora, but they were preoccupied at that moment, if you know what I mean. I could have gone to Lucky or Rayne next but at that point I knew who I had to call. Even though he was at the far end of the room, with a word Cy calmly walked the length of the front rooms and pulled the blankets out of the doorway for me. What a guy.

All About the Girls and Cardboard

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Sometimes the best enrichment is the most simple enrichment. For example, all the chimps love boxes whether it’s to help build a nest, use as a tool to display with, or just play with. As you will see in the photos below and video above playing seemed to be the theme today!

As we continue on with our intro week we decided to try an all girl group again. Honey B, Mave, Rayne, and Lucky all volunteered to be a part of it today. We had tried this group before and their behaviors weren’t positive enough to open the door. But it has been a while and they all have done other introductions with each other so we thought we would give it another go! They did amazing, so good that they stayed with each other all afternoon. Rayne was just a jokester the whole time. At one point she was wrestling all three ladies! Honey B hasn’t had a person in her group to match her energy in a long time, Honey B and Rayne are a perfect match! Watching these four chimpanzees grow and develop friendships has been a true honor.

Now for box photos!

Gordo in a box:

Gordo having pomegranates in his box:

Lucky on a bench in a box:

A bonus photo of the handsome Cy:

And of course we could never forget that today is Honey Cow’s 14th birthday! She enjoyed the warm sunshine on a brisk day, fresh hay with her friends, and some tasty cob that Betsy swore was for her ;).

Getting to know Honey over the past few years has been a privilege. She is a fierce and loyal friend, self-assured, she can be sweet, and she is not afraid to tell you to go away! Cheers to the amazing Honey.

Moving Fourward

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Today was busy busy. While the usual daily tasks were in process, we continued introductions that featured a Honey B, Willy B, Cy, and Terry quad. During the beginning they spent a lot of time divided by the mesh while Cy and Willy B sorted things out with plenty of displays. When they calmed down we opened the mesh and they were together interacting for around 50min. A lot of grooming and playing went down today.

Willy B and Cy grooming – Willy B’s lip smacking was epic.

Honey B and Terry engaged in some intense playing. Terry’s mouth says it all.

So Fresh, So Clean

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Today has been another busy day at the sanctuary, so I’m going to forego my usual style in favor of something simple and brief.

I took some photographs with my phone today in order to show you all what it takes to keep everything clean, organized, and functioning around here. Our care staff has to complete many tasks each day, in addition to special projects and weekly chores, and these images show some of those.

One ongoing project has been the weatherization of the new greenhouses. J.B. has been working around the clock (with some help from special project volunteer Adam) to get the panels secured to the outside of these massive outdoor enclosures. The results are already remarkable! The panels will keep the area warm by radiating sunlight inward and shielding the chimps from the winds of winter, so we’re getting them done just in time.

Meanwhile, inside the building, the rest of the team was busy preparing meals, enrichment and meds; shifting and performing safety checks; cleaning all the enclosures; washing heaps of dirty blankets, dishes and chimp toys; and processing a produce delivery that arrived this morning.

It may look like a chaotic mess throughout the day, but things are looking ship-shape right now as I’m closing up the building for the evening.

We occasionally remind people that caregiving for chimps isn’t all fun and games, but sometimes it takes a chimp-less blog post to sell that concept.

Have a great week, everyone!