Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Terry

Jamieween 2021!

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Jamieween is finally here! Today we celebrated the one and only Jamie’s 44th Birthday, as well as Halloween! Today was full of scarecrows, pumpkins, pomegranates, shrunken apple heads, birthday gifts for Jamie, and much much more! The chimpanzees here had quite the celebration today. Enrichment Coordinator, Chad did such a good job planning all of this for them. A huge thank you to everyone who bought items for today off of our wish list! Everything really added to the celebration today. Also, thank you to all of the care staff who helped get these great videos and photos!

I hope that Jamie and the rest of the chimpanzees here enjoyed themselves today. I know we all enjoyed watching them. Back in the day my time as an intern here only breached the surface of who Jamie is and I’m getting to know her so much better. I’m still leaning some Jamie language, but its a fun ride and it is a privilege to be able to help care for her. She is definitely a special chimpanzee.

Jamie’s group had a 2 part celebration that began in their Greenhouse. Willy B enjoyed time in the Courtyard with his scarecrow while Mave and Honey B celebrated inside. The Lucky Six enjoyed their pumpkins and Halloween bags full of things like nuts and cabbage.

Shrunken apple heads!

Jamie enjoying her pumpkin bags next to her new book.

Jamie gathering as many as she can.

Missy taking over after Jamie moved on.

Annie investigating the scarecrow.

Missy enjoying her pomegranate next to the scarecrow.

Burrito with his corn on Young’s Hill.

Foxie with her pomegranate.

Foxie made sure her doll got to enjoy the forage.

Negra found lots of Brussels sprouts.

Jody trying to carry as much as she can to enjoy her food back in the Greenhouse.

Jamie found three pomegranates!

Terry enjoying the celebration.

Lucky found some goodies.

Cy taking a break from reading.

Dora with her forage finds.

Gordo and Dora.

Rayne took hers to the Greenhouse.

Mave and Willy B are excited about pumpkins!

Mave and her pumpkin.

Honey B enjoying her stash.

Willy B found some pumpkin bags before making his way to the scarecrow.

Willy B ready to dive into the pumpkin head!

 

And…….Burrito ended up being the Great Pumpkin Thief this year! As you can see in the video he brought it down from a platform on Young’s Hill, but it rolled away. It ended up rolling into the fence and we had to bring everyone inside so we could get it unstuck. After spot cleaning the seven’s playroom we put it back inside to see who would grab it. Jody really wanted it and tried several times, but Burrito was the winner this year.

 

 

The Holdouts and Foot Boxes

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On any given day you can bet that we are cleaning around Cy and Lucky. These two are known holdouts and when they decide to stay somewhere they settle in for the long haul. Pretty much if they decided to stay in the front rooms you have no luck in cleaning the front rooms. Though this may throw a wrench in our schedule, they are great company!

Cy reading his magazine in front room 6 while we clean front room 5 and the chute.

Lucky taking a little snooze next to Cy.

Today we also put a “Foot Box” in front room 5 just like on the other side of the building. The purpose of the foot box is so that the chimps can present a hand or foot and we can get a x-ray. Obviously the foot box is new and it has to go through a rigorous inspection process by the chimps. I would say it passes their inspection standards as you will see in the video above.

Rayne and Gordo looking in.

Terry taking a little peek!

Bonus!

Missy, Jody, and Burrito have a very nice grooming session.

Missy and Annie grooming themselves.

Another Lazy Sunday

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Sundays are for recharging energies and getting ready for the week, and over here it is no different. Enjoy some moments captured today on this lazy lazy Fall day.

Gordo resting in the front rooms, courtesy of Caregiver Katelyn.

Gordo resting in one of the platforms of the green house.

Jody enjoying some brussel sprouts during lunch time.

Which then led to laying down and munching on some potatoes.

Terry hanging out in the green house, catching some rays.

Honey B very much aware that Caregiver Anthony was doing cattle care.

Lucky in her favorite spot to nap, the platform of one of the front rooms.

 

[Read more…] about Another Lazy Sunday

Feels like Sanctuary

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Today really felt like sanctuary, I mean everyday does, of course! But everyday is different, each chimps mood varies, what they feel like doing, or not doing. Today was full of patrol walks, laughter, exploring, displaying, excited breathy pants, and of course a few non shifters ;). The beauty of sanctuary is choice and with that choice gives them a sort of freedom, not the freedom they should have and very much deserve, but the closest freedom they can have. Some days I will catch moments that just make your heart want to burst with joy, like Jamie chasing Foxie on Young’s Hill. Because those moments are what sanctuary is all about!

We just updated our wish list for Wildlife Toybox. They have some really fun durable enrichment, we especially need the mirror cover for our “Looky Lou”!

Rayne says goodnight!

Lunch with Cy

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The other day Cy decided he didn’t want to have his lunch in the playroom, he wanted to eat in the front rooms. I can’t blame him, the front rooms have the best people watching and Cy likes people! We put all his lunch in the food chute and he enjoyed it at his leisure. Part of lunch with Cy is just sitting with him and from time to time he will put a finger out to touch the back of your hand. After lunch, it was back to reading magazines!

We just started adding Jamieween enrichment onto the wish-list today! If we are out of Jamieween items by the time you get on the wish-list we have lots of other things we need.

As for intros today, here is a photo of Terry, Cy, Mave, and Willy B all grooming on one small bench. And yes they had larger benches and other rooms, but they all wanted to be on this tiny bench together :).

Boxes, BidWars and Blankets!

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Just like the title says this blog involves boxes, BidWars, and blankets! Gordo enjoyed his lunch while sitting in a box today. After lunch he found another box in the Greenhouse to soak up some sun.

The HOOT! online auction is still going strong! Bidding will end at 7:00pm Pacific tonight unless an item goes to BidWars. Even if you aren’t bidding, you might want to tune in to the auction site to see BidWars (explained on the FAQ page). If you missed the exciting live-streamed virtual event last night, you can still watch the recording on YouTube or Facebook.

Lastly, Jamie was spotted looking mighty comfy in a blanket nest today. The weather was a bit cooler, so big blanket nests seemed to be the theme of the day for a lot of the chimps. At one point Missy was so wrapped up in a blanket we couldn’t tell who it was until she poked her head out!

We can’t thank everyone enough who has participated in HOOT! this year. It’s so amazing to have so much support and help in expanding the home for these wonderful chimpanzees (and bovine!). You all are amazing!

Gordo looking fabulous in his box!
Honey B always watching.
Terry resting between a game of chase
Jamie in her blanket nest.
Burrito resting after a run around the hill with Chad. Katelyn and I were ahead of them racing Jamie in the gator!

Let’s Try This Again

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I had this blog written around 1 pm. It was intended to be all about Neggie, but then we did an intro with Honey B and Terry today. Honey B and Terry’s first introduction didn’t go as we had hoped. Since then we have had them meet at the mesh a few times. Yesterday they met again at the mesh and it went really well, they were playing and laughing. We were so close to opening the door, however we humans were not quite ready yet. So today we decided if it went as well as yesterday we would open the door. Today we opened the door after letting them hangout at the mesh for a while and they did SO well! As you will see in the video, they are laughing, wrestling, and grooming. These behaviors give us hope that they have potential to integrate into a group of 9. Now, I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. Dyadic meeting can go really well, but once you had more chimps, it changes the dynamic of the group. But for now this was a HUGE success!

Since I teased you with an almost Neggie blog I might as well share it! This morning, as Missy’s group went onto Young’s Hill, I saw the usual people go outside. Missy sprinting out first, of course. Foxie, Jody, Annie, and Bubba formed a line and all marched out together. Jamie sauntered out on her own, but when I turned around to look at Negra in her usual nesting spot, she wasn’t there. Instead she was sitting on the Hill soaking in the warm sunshine and eating some delicious grass.