Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

tree

“In my day, you had to walk 15 miles in the snow…”

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Unlike what Anthony reported yesterday, the sun was not out much today. But that didn’t stop Missy and crew from going out onto Young’s Hill!

When they were given access to their outdoor enclosure, they ventured to the same structures as yesterday.

Burrito on the other hand wanted more. He tried to convince me to run around the hill with him.

He thought better of it as the outer edges of the perimeter still have a good deal of snow (thankfully for me since the human side of the fence is covered in snow and mud). Instead, Burrito decided to explore Negra’s Cabin.

His desire to run around Young’s Hill seemed to have sparked the desire in everybody else though. Shortly after, Missy, Annie, Jody, and Jamie made their way to a set of logs that haven’t been seen since Fall.

Jody:

Missy running to greet Jamie as Annie watches:

Missy and Jamie greet each other:

Jody heading down to greet Burrito:

Though they already ventured further than they have been, it still wasn’t enough for some.

Jody on a further structure to gaze at the Yakima River:

Missy sitting amongst her beloved trees:

You might guess what is next…

Missy began her ascent up her tree:

There was a good two minute window where I thought Annie was going to follow Missy up! She would stand and grab the tree, but then let go and sit down. She repeated this a few times. In between each take, she would hype herself up to overcome her fear by rocking and tapping the tree and ground. But alas, today was not the day Annie would make her go at climb the trees.

She did, however, settle on climbing on to the top of the near by structure to be somewhat close to Missy.

After a while, Annie decided it was time to head back inside for lunch. She convinced Missy this is now the plan, and Missy obliged.

Look at that dismount!

After landing a perfect 10 dismount, it was time to head inside to enjoy some lunch!

Bonus Photos:

Jody a little piloerect from the cold air:

Burrito on top of Negra’s Cabin surveying Young’s Hill:

more tree-climbing adventures!

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What a day! The video above says it all, but below are a few still photos.

Chad, on his day off, happened to see Missy’s climb as he was accompanying a former chimp house volunteer on a walk around the hill. He and J.B. took some videos with their phones as I walked up with the camera and telephoto lens, which was not working right away, but I did get one good photo of Missy amidst the branches, foraging on pine needles:

and some photos on her way down:

Video: The Chimps are Back on the Hill

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As you may have seen in yesterday’s blog post, the Seven are back on the hill! Here’s the video, as promised.

In case it’s not clear, we had to take down the original fence so that we could expand the overall habitat area and split it into two enclosures. The Young’s Hill side, which belongs to the Cle Elum Seven, was pushed further up the hill and to the north and grew by an additional half acre to 2.4 acres. This was only possible because we purchased the surrounding lots and no longer have to worry about encroaching development (after closing on another parcel yesterday, the sanctuary now owns approximately 110 acres). More space means more room for climbing structures, irrigation, and plantings, and we still have a lot of work ahead of us in that department, but we wanted to get the Seven back out as soon as the fence was complete. Perhaps more important than the expansion in habitat size, Young’s Hill now includes a stand of pine and fir trees, which Missy has already conquered. Who will be next?

One thing to note: Negra is not in the video as she did not go outside on the first day. Too many people and too much excitement, perhaps. But she just went out for a lunch forage this afternoon, so the Queen is also back on the hill.

Now that they are back out, we can turn our attention to completing the Bray. The Sage Mechanical crew is welding the remaining gates and post assemblies now and it will be at least a few weeks before we can complete the fencing on that side. We were fortunate from a construction standpoint to have a prolonged summer but fall weather arrives this weekend and winter won’t be far behind. So the timing for Cy’s group to learn about electric fencing and explore their new enclosure is somewhat up in the air. Whatever happens, we’ll work as fast as we can to keep our options open.

Our thanks go out to all of the donors that made this project possible. I also want to thank Dustin and East Slope Earthworks, Katie, Sean, Dusty, Ben, Karen, Richard, Elizabeth, Tom, Gordy, Steve, Debbie, Donna, Laurie, Kurt, Kristin, Jeremy, Liz, Michael, Lisa, Jesse, Adam, Kyle, Grace, Ryan, Jacob, Nolan, Karen, Claus, Logan, Kyle, Jan, Chet, Sabrina, Brenda, and Chelsey for volunteering their time and energy to help build the habitats. My apologies to anyone I accidentally left off the list. And of course we are grateful to Gary, Aaron, and Jose of Sage Mechanical for all of their hard work on this project. There’s something about the fact that these habitats are built by a community of supporters that makes them even more special.

The Wonder of the Season

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For Burrito, the wonder of Christmas includes Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s traditional hanging (and therefore spinning) Christmas tree. Just see the earnest look on his face in the photo below:

Burrito chimpanzee gazing at tree

Not surprisingly, the reason he is so enamored with this tradition is because it involves food. Today we stuffed the tree with mini-bananas and coconut covered dates. Jamie monopolized the tree in the beginning.

Jamie spinning tree

Jamie spinning tree

Jamie spinning tree

Missy, being Missy, tried a more daring approach

Missy stand xmas tree hanging

Foxie looked on from above

Foxie looking down at xmas tree from catwalk

Once Burrito thought it was okay with Jamie to approach, he joined her in the tree worshiping

Burrito looking into tree

Burrito gazing at tree

and spinning

Burrito spinning tree

Burrito and Jamie look at tree

Jamie and Burrito spinning tree

Later, someone decided to pull the tree up onto the catwalk, which provided some browsing – the chimpanzees like to eat the pine needles too, making the whole tree a treat!

Negra sit by tree

and it served as a nesting companion for Negra too

Negra lay by tree

 

Sugarplums

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While today was more like spring than winter outside, inside the chimp house is looking pretty Christmasy. Volunteer Denice decorated the Christmas tree with lights, the boot ornaments that Karen Young gave us last year, holiday photo ornaments of each chimpanzee, monogrammed stockings from Jayne R. (one for each chimpanzee), and some toys. The troll doll elf tree-topper is not pictured, because it didn’t last long – as soon as Foxie spotted it, she wanted to hold it.

christmas tree 2013

Jamie was quite interested in the decorating process, and we’ve been removing and showing the ornaments to all of the chimps over the last few days. They gaze for a long time at the photo ornaments, and Jamie loves the little cowboy boots, of course.

Jamie watching Denice decorate the tree

Jamie looking on as Denice decorates the tree

Holiday songs and sayings have been making frequent appearances in my thoughts all week long (you too?), and today I was thinking about ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and sugar plums dancing through sleeping heads.

It reminded me that I have been wanting to explain one of my favorite times of day at the chimp house when I’m Lead Caregiver. It’s when the day is over.

All of the chimpanzees have contentedly-full bellies from their dinner and night bags, they’ve gathered up all of their blankets and made their cozy nests for the night, the caregivers have said goodnight, and, if we’re lucky, we’ve gotten a nest grunt in return. The rest of the staff and volunteers have left for the evening, and I’m alone in the quiet.

I feel satisfied after doing a day of physical work – cleaning and, quite literally, running around. I can glance around the kitchen and see what’s been accomplished during the day.

I think about the last several hours with the chimpanzees and reflect on the many endearing, amazing, surprising moments that have occurred. I think about the chimps on the other side of the kitchen door sleeping soundly, and I feel so gratified that we were able to provide them with yet another day of sanctuary where their needs are the main focus.

Even with a job you love, it’s easy to get lost in the minutiae of everyday tasks or looming deadlines. And, to be frank, it can be stressful to rely on donations – to be thinking about money and fundraising all the time (perhaps now would be a good time to mention the Holiday Pal Fundraising Contest). But being able to experience the profound peace at the end of the day in the chimp house and know that this exists because of the work and support of thousands of caring people is a giant gift – for the chimps and for my own motivation to continue to provide the best care we possibly can for them.

So, here’s to  sugar plums or whatever other treats or happy thoughts we want dancing through heads tonight and every night.

Negra sleeping

Best Christmas Ever

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It’s been a very merry Christmas here at CSNW.  The chimpanzees started the day with a special Christmas breakfast of peanut butter rice balls, bananas, and smoothie.  After the playroom was cleaned, the real party began – complete with whole pomegranates and tangerines, new toys and blankets from friends Robbi and Dick Brown, Leslie Sodaro, and Joanne Pierce, and a Christmas tree decorated with popcorn and peanut strings and troll dolls.

Aside from the pomegranates, the tree might have been the star of the day.  Diana had the idea to suspend it a couple of feet off the ground, so it spun festively whenever someone touched it.  Burrito, in particular, seemed quite taken with it, as you’ll see below.