Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Willy B

A Chimp Guide to Shelter in Place

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I am extremely lucky to have a job that requires me to come in to work everyday. During these difficult times, it helps to have something to focus on that’s a welcome distraction from the outside world. Fortunately, the chimps don’t really know what is going outside of CSNW. Life goes on as normal for them! Which is why they have put together a guide to help inspire ideas on how to make self isolation fun. Or at least take your mind off things for 3 minutes and twenty one seconds!

Also….

Honey B has so much confidence. It is truly inspiring. She is always rockin’ some new enrichment.

Neggie’s wonderful face.

Annie enjoying the warm weather on Saturday.

Jamie 🙂

Why Not Play!

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The blog originally was going to be about the chimps playing outside in the Green House, Chute, and Young’s Hill all day. Until, I walked into Phase 1 of the building and found Honey B and Mave playing like CRAZY! The all caps is important, because they were wild. Today’s enrichment theme was paper day. Which, if you asked me, I would put a lot of money on that being Honey B’s favorite day. Before I even walked through the door I could hear them playing. They were breathy panting, paper rustling, and I could hear them running. Not just running, but what sounded like they were running and throwing things around! What I wasn’t expecting was for them to be chasing each other on the enclosure caging and hanging on fire hose to get to each other. This was a play session to see!

This photo makes me smile. Willy B was admiring himself in the camera and Honey B popped up to be in the photo.

Bonus photo!

Jamie lounging in the warm Green House this afternoon:

 

Tangled up

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These three chimps are seriously funny! Honey B was climbing, swinging, biting on all the fire hose. It is amazing how she can balance on that fire hose! Mave and Honey B were tangled up in enrichment (not literally of course) or each other! As you will see in pictures below or the video, they are always up to something or finding new ways to use their enrichment. Mave found a red headband. She was flipping upside down on fire hose and putting it on to wear. And Willy B just wanted to join them in all their shenanigans!

Honey B:

Mave and her red headband:

Willy B:

Project Days

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We are so fortunate to have so many amazing volunteers. They are always willing to jump in no matter how big or small the task is. Today, we tackled a big project and all of our awesome volunteers came to our aid! We were trading out the old wood chips in the Green House for some fresh new wood chips. This is no small task, though it is a satisfying one! We do this at least once a year depending on how long the chips last. However, we do change out the heavily soiled areas more often. But, it takes quite a few helping hands!

Here they are hard at work:

Here is the what the Green House looked like after!

Meanwhile, Jamie took a break from supervising to make a nest and relax a bit.

Jamie was actually really in the mood to have her photo taken.

Foxie came to say hello.

And left her doll for Jamie.

After, the Green House transformation everyone went out onto Young’s Hill for a perimeter check.

Even Neggie came out to soak up the sun.

Mave also found a comfy place to nest.

Willy B just wanted to play chase all day. Sorry it’s a little blurry, we were in mid-chase!

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Willy B!

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This special day of sanctuary was sponsored by Willy B’s pals, Mrs. Souers’ third grade class!

“Mrs. Souers’ third grade class recently became pals with Willy B. The students noticed that March 1st is Willy B’s birthday so they wanted to help him celebrate!”

Willy B turns 30 today!! As we celebrate Willy B’s first birthday here at his new sanctuary home, we have so much to be grateful for. Not least of all his many wonderful friends. Heartfelt thanks, Mrs. Souers’ and your amazing third grade class, for loving Willy B and helping us celebrate how very special he is and how very grateful and honored we are to have him as part of our chimp family. We love this big, handsome guy and his quirky self more with each passing day. And thank you to each of you for being a part of Willy B’s family and for making a lasting difference in his life.

Happy Birthday, Willy B!!

Chimpy Business

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It felt like Spring today. The sun was out and there were virtually no clouds in the sky. Just like in Spring, Jamie and her group wanted onto Young’s Hill right away to finish their breakfast chow outside.

Jamie was really happy to enjoy her chow outside.

She really, really, really seemed to enjoy her chow outside.

But after her last bit of chow was finished, it was back to business. Jamie, Foxie, Annie, Missy, Jody, and Burrito patrolled their outdoor enclosure. On their way back, they were greeted by Negra, who was waiting for them on one of the platforms.

Though patrolling can be serious business, Missy and Annie chased each other all the way down.

As the others made their way back to the indoor enclosures, Foxie decided to get some alone time.

Burrito, on the other hand, was on a mission to find the last snow patch on Young’s Hill.

As they were heading inside, Missy tried to get a peek on her neighbors.

Unfortunately for Missy, her neighbors decided to be inside at the time. Honey B was grooming Willy B. It seemed like it was a sweet, tender moment between two friends. But as you know, these chimpanzees can rarely contain their shenanigans. This is demonstrated in this photo series:

Grooming

Thinking about tickling Willy B.

Commence tickling!

Personally, my favorite part of capturing this sequence of events is you can almost see the shift in Honey B’s thought process. This tickle session lasted for a couple minutes before it turned into a pretty epic game of chase.

From our family to yours, we hope you have a great day!

Chasing Happiness

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Snow one day. Warm(ish) weather the next. This has been the weather pattern this winter. When we drive up to the sanctuary on the mornings with a fresh layer of snow that accumulated over night, we usually walk in to the sounds of Burrito excitedly trying to get our attention. He usually wants the freshest of snow. On the days when the weather is warmer and the snow begins to melt (like today), there always seems to be more sense of urgency to get our attention to hurry us to bring him as much snow as he can hold.

Even when you think there is no possible way he could want any more snow, he let’s you know it is definitely not enough.

Later, when the group of seven went on Young’s Hill this morning, Missy and Jody began a game of chase.

When Jody was done playing, Annie tagged in and a pretty epic game of chase and foot grab.

On the other side of the Chimp House, Willy B was in a super playful mood. He wore out the staff and volunteers in long games of chase. I had to sneak these photos of Willy B during one of his breaks from his games.

Honey B, on the other hand, decided which enrichment she wanted to use.

In the end, she chose to bundle up in a sweater she was given this past Christmas.

Watching the chimps decide which enrichment they want to use is one of the best moments. As Honey B did today, she picked up several enrichment items, inspected them each carefully, and decided what she wanted.

But the best enrichment is a grooming session with your friend in your fort.