Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
In the last few days some much needed rain has rolled in to soak Central Washington. This change in weather seems to have brought “Peak Fall” to Kittitas County. The colorful Autumn foliage is perhaps in its brightest and most plentiful phase. Soon, strong wind gusts will surely move in to whip the leaves away. Young’s Hill is one of my favorite views this time of year.
Happy leaf peeping everyone!
Eleven more sleeps until Jamieween. Though this blog isn’t really about Jamie, the Jamieween countdown has begun! As many of you may know or even agree, Jamieween is known as a staff and volunteer favorite for chimp celebrations! Not only do we get to celebrate Jamie and all her amazing-ness, but there is always an amusing pumpkin heist too! Not to mention Halloween is some of the staff’s favorite holiday. The gifts for Jamieween have been rolling in and we could not be more grateful. This is just a handful of items for Jamie’s haunting celebration! Personally, I can’t wait for Jamie to get her anatomy apron.
I don’t have much content for today because it was rather uneventful and eerily quiet today. So quiet that I had to check and make sure there were chimps in the building! But I do have lots of photos of Cy and Rayne.
I mean come on! How handsome is he?
Rayne and Cy sharing a bench.
Rayne is the absolute best! She is the type of person that when you see her she instantly warms your heart.
Rayne enjoying some rose hips.
I have a few extra photos to share with you all, as well.
Same bench, same sitting position, can you tell these two are related?
Honey B enjoying a leek in the green house.
Fall is starting to set in real nicely here in the Pacific Northwest. Temperatures are nice and the days are sunny for the most part. We do have some rain in the forecast that is supposed to last some time. So to take advantage of this nice sunny mid-60º weather today, Jody’s group had one last forage on Young’s Hill before the rain comes in.
On today’s menu was corn, carrots, beets, and primate chow!
Annie:
Burrito:
Foxie:
Jamie:
Jody:
Missy:
Negra:
Cy’s group and Willy B’s group were also treated to a lunch of corn, carrots, and beets, along with their primate chow.
After lunch, every body spent most of the afternoon snoozing. Well, almost everybody.
Cy had to catch up on some afternoon ready:
And Mave spent her time soaking in as much sun as she could:
Please enjoy these photos of Queen Negra obtaining Brussels Sprouts on a gorgeous fall day.
She got in some calisthenics during the forage.
Bonus: Jamie and red peppers in the tall grass
The chimps were raring to go this morning. You could see it on Missy’s face.
They set off up the hill. Notably absent was the group’s leader, who was momentarily distracted.
No matter. Jody would lead the way.
Missy was close behind.
Annie, Burrito, and Foxie brought up the rear.
A few minutes into the walk, Jamie caught up to the group. The gang was all together now, with Negra selflessly staying behind as usual to keep the nests warm.
But one member of the group would not finish the patrol with the others. On morning walks, Foxie often slips away unnoticed to enjoy the quiet solitude of the towers at the top of the hill.
For while she enjoys the camaraderie of a patrol, she seems to relish those brief moments when she has the world all to herself.
So far in their short time at the sanctuary we haven’t seen Cy and Gordo spend a lot of quality time together. They both seem to gravitate towards other members of their group for socialization. This morning was a different story though. Just before breakfast, Kelsi captured them playing this odd but entertaining box game. Make sure to watch the video all the way to the end for a bonus clip of Gordo’s AMAZING play face!
As the temperatures begin to drop, Jamie’s group have been waiting a little while before going onto Young’s Hill in the morning, but not too long. Well… Almost everybody in her group…
One of the first things we do when we arrive at the Chimp House is to do a security check to give the chimpanzees access to Young’s Hill as soon as possible. This morning, as I opened the door to the Hill, most hung back a little bit for the sun to do it’s work and warm things up a little bit. But Burrito is a different story. We have been talking about how much we all could have the level of energy he has that early in the day. Once the door was open, *zoom* he was out the door and off to the races. I grabbed the camera and ran as fast as I could. I usually can keep up with him most of the day, however, the first run in the morning is the one where he undeniably beats me.
I grabbed what photos I could while running. As you might expect, they are just a blur.
Then once we made our way back to the starting point, we went around again. This time though, other members of his family decided to join.
Then it was off to the races again!
Keep in mind, Young’s Hill is indeed a hill and most of the run is up. I say this as an excuse for my huffing and puffing, trying to catch my breath throughout the day. How he has this amount of energy in the morning? It’s almost as if he eats a bowl of Cheerios (or Burrit-O’s that I assume are more energy-packed) before we arrive to ensure he is ready to go once we walk through the door.
Some bonus photos from today!
And a huge thank you who have supported us during Giving Day for Apes! There is still a few hours left you you wish and can support us to reach our goal! Because of you support, not just during Giving Day for Apes, but also on a regular basis, you help us try to provide the best life we can for the 20 individuals in our care. Thank you so much!
