43. That number has been circling around my head today as I came into the Chimp House this morning. How could my friend be turning 43? I remember growing thinking of the time adults would tell me to “act my age.” That saying has been upmost rejected by Burrito. At what age did he protest acting his age? I have no idea, but I would guess it was sometime in his adolescence.
Burrito was born in a laboratory on this day in 1983 to his mom, Karen, and father, Mack. Off the top of my head I’m not sure what happened to his mother, but I do know his father was able to live out his remaining years at Save the Chimps in sunny Florida. When he was born, he was given the name “Raj” by his human caregivers. Unfortunately, at the age of 1 he was put into the hepatitis B testing. At one point he was he was transferred to the Buckshire Corporation where he was kept as a pet before being leased to a small attraction. A year later he was returned to Buckshire and his life as a test subject was renewed. It wasn’t until 2008 when he was rescued and came to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. His days being used in hepatitis trials was finally over.
Since then his days have been full of play, laughter, and yes, chaos. He still creates a ruckus within his group and has the girls screaming at him, though I personally don’t see how he gets the blame since it usually starts with someone *ahemAnnieahem* starts screaming at him as he’s minding his business. But behind all the chaos and ruckus is a sweet lovable guy, and more recently, protector of Foxie who has been unjustly targeted from time-to-time by Jamie and her battle buddy, Missy. Though he gets into these squabbles, he’s always fairly quick to make up with a nice bout of play and some grooming.
This past year, I was lucky enough to attend a conference with other caregivers from around the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance umbrella. This includes caregivers from Chimp Haven, Save the Chimps, Center for Great Apes, Project Chimps, Fauna Foundation, and others. It was always funny to introduce myself by saying I am a caregiver at CSNW and getting the reaction of who? Where? No fault to any of them. We are a pretty small sanctuary in comparison to the others. But when I would describe where we were located and our chimpanzee residents, it was almost without fail I would just utter the words “Burrito” and all of a sudden getting the reaction “Ooooh Burrito! You are the ones to take care of Burrito!”
Burrito is known and loved not just around this country, but around the world. Especially by his caregivers here. I love arriving at the sanctuary in the morning and trying to get my rounds of saying good morning to the chimps but not being able to get very far in the process. It’s almost immediately when I unlock the door leading to the chimpanzee areas that signature sound of Bronx cheers can start to be heard. I swear at this point I hear his Bronx cheers to the tune of the Jaws theme music now. First it’s subtle and in the distance. But then it grows louder, grows closer, and the frequency picks up as he hones in on his caregiver prey… err I mean play partner. And what luck for him, one of his good friends, caregiver Krissy, was the one who got the privilege to plan his birthday party. Boy did she knock this one out of the park. They day was filled with coconuts, pasta, and everything bouncy! He seemed to really love today, so major kudos to Krissy.
I’ll wrap this up and let you enjoy the video of him enjoying himself today with this message: Burrito is my friend. He is all of our friend! For me personally though I truly don’t know where I’d be without this guy in my life. I’m proud to call him my friend. Besides all the play and laughter, he inspires me in more ways than one. One of the most important lessons he has taught me is that tough times will come. But no matter how long or how tough those times may be, enjoy living in the now. Soak in the moment. Learn your lesson (if there is one). Move on. Get through it with play and laughter with your loved ones. It softens the hard times.
I love you my friend! We all do!
