Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

young's hill

After the party

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The day after a party means different things for different people. For the chimpanzees, it means continuing to enjoy any leftover treats, especially anything that may have been missed during a Young’s Hill forage, and general lolling about to rest and recover.

Even Negra went out first thing to look for leftovers from the Easter bunny:

Annie and Foxie:

Missy:

For the humans, the day after a party means party clean-up! Also for the chimpanzees, it means the humans not bothering them with cleaning details. So you may see the dilemma. For the humans, not the chimps. 😉  Case in point, we have been attempting to access and clean the party room, aka the greenhouse, all weekend. Multiple times a day we’ve offered the chimps all manner of exciting opportunities to vacate the greenhouse and enjoy a forage, a treat, a piece of gum in the playroom. Every single time there has been a lot of running back and forth, in and out, and then just as you think everyone has agreed to come inside for a few minutes, there is one person holding steadfast in their choice to decline the humans’ invitation.

Which lately has been this tiny lady:

Along with the support of her good friend, Jody:

I’m not going to lie. We pulled out all the stops. Despite an exciting forage going on in the playroom, here Foxie sat with her dolls in the toasty hot, after-party mess of a greenhouse. I offered, “Chow (a Foxie favorite!!)?” “No, thank you.”….”Half a banana?” “No thank you.” It was then that I got it. If she was turning down some of her favorites, she was truly content exactly where she was. And it no longer became important to try and get in to clean at that time. There’s always after dinner…maybe.

In the end, I fully appreciate that the chimpanzees get this agency over their lives, to choose when and where they want to move to and what they want to participate in. The joy they receive from enrichment such as parties and the pleasure that lingers afterward, or just the contentment that comes with relaxing in a warm greenhouse on a sunny spring day makes any effort on our parts more than worth the effort. And who knows, maybe they are just doing a little “caregiver enrichment” in making us think a little more creatively, outside the box. 😉

And a bonus photo! One of our fabulous volunteers took the unbelievable time and care to make the amazing Easter baskets the chimps had yesterday. Burrito found them to be useful for all manner of shenanigans:

And oh! A bonus bonus photo! We DID make it to the greenhouse to clean while the chimps enjoyed an extra exciting dinner forage and grab bags for enrichment. Jamie was late to dinner when I noticed her searching for some reading material. A food magazine. Which she carried through dinner. The chimps are all curled into their night nests as I write this and I just glanced through the window, surprised to see busy boss lady, Jamie, who is usually still up when we leave for the night, already at rest for the evening. And then I noticed her reading material. She is a surprise and a delight every.single.day.

Easter Morning

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I don’t know about you guys, but Easter morning in my house was the best! Scouring the inside and outside of the house for Easter eggs before your brother or sister got to them, looking through an Easter basket, and eating those eggs you worked so hard dyeing! So, this morning the first thing the chimps got to do was have an Easter egg hunt! A lot of work goes into our parties for the chimps. We at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest are lucky enough to have so many amazing volunteers. They are SO awesome that, as some of you might have seen on Facebook, one of our volunteers made the chimps’ Easter baskets by hand!

Our volunteers are a major reason why parties go so smoothly. They help prep days before and the day of, and help us clean the day after.

Volunteer Miranda hiding Easter eggs out on Young’s Hill:

Volunteer Alan planting carrots in the ground for the Easter forage:


Before the festivities could start we needed to give out some routine things like vitamins, smoothie, and meds. Volunteer Lizz also got to serve a tasty surprise for the chimps. The chimps got to have hard boiled eggs! The eggs came from staff caregiver Anna’s happy pet chickens . They don’t get them that often, but when they do, they love them!


It was really hard to decide what photos to choose for the blog today. There were so many good ones, I hope you all enjoy our Easter party!

Annie:

Burrito:


Foxie and her doll:


Missy:


Negra:

Jamie:


Searching for eggs:

But Jody really won this Easter egg hunt. She made out with a lot of loot and I never saw Jody without one of those baskets in her hands either!

  

 

 

Ahhh spring

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The arrival of spring means more time is spent exploring the 2 acre outdoor enclosure known as Young’s Hill.

Foxie keeps her treasured possessions close to her during her walks:

No vertical challenge is too much for Missy:

And breakfast is best when finished outside (in Jody’s humble opinion):

The change in color around here makes everyone glow just that much brighter!

Possibility

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The Cle Elum Seven seem to value Young’s Hill, their two-acre outdoor habitat, as much for the potential it offers as they do for the space it offers. They certainly make use of the space in a variety of ways:

But they also seem to enjoy pausing in the doorway leading out and considering the possibilities.

Today is for Lisa and Linda

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We began today with a double Sponsor-a-Day of sanctuary which turned into a triple Sponsor-a-Day! How amazing that these seven chimpanzees are held in the hearts of so many humans as they celebrate and honor the special times and loved ones in their lives.

Rich and Lisa Stuverud are long-time friends and supporters of the chimps and Rich sponsored today for Lisa in celebration of her birthday! He shared this touching message about his gift:

“Please accept this in honor of my beautiful wife Lisa on her birthday. She has overcome some severe medical situations this past year and has been inspired in no small way by the incredible personal saga of the furry little group on the hill. She could often be found watching CSNW videos on the YouTube channel during her recovery.”

And then without knowing about her gift to come, Lisa sponsored today in memory of her beloved sister-in-law, Linda Vizzare, in celebration of their shared birthday today. Lisa’s lovely message:

“Well, another year gone by missing my birthday buddy, Linda Vizzare…we shared this day for 36 years until her passing 4 years ago. We also shared the love and admiration for the Cle Elum Seven and all the things the sanctuary provides for them. To see Burrito do his happy dance was her favorite. Their joy with everything sanctuary provides for them continues to inspire…I only wish there was a way for her to see Jamie race the Gator down the backstretch with her joyous clap, stomp and hop take off…she would be so thrilled ! This is the best way to celebrate!”

Rich and Lisa, thank you so much for sharing this special day with the chimpanzees, for always holding them in your hearts, and for all you bring to their lives. Lisa, we hope you have a beautiful day filled with love, joy and the comfort of memories held dear. Happy Birthday, to you and Linda!

And as you said, what better way to celebrate than a replay of Jamie racing the Gator (which she did again this morning!):

Drag Raceeerrr!

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As J.B. showed in his blog post the other day, for Jamie, springtime at the sanctuary also brings drag racing season. And folks, though we know you just saw a fantastic video of Jamie racing the Gator around Young’s Hill, she continues to outdo herself.

Former staff, now volunteer caregiver, Keri, was with us yesterday and as we were headed back to the barn on the Gator after caring for the cattle, we looked up to see Jamie, hair standing on end in excitement (pilo), stomping her foot and clapping her hands. This is Jamie speak for, “Let’s race!!” So we were off! Be sure to watch for the downhill portion of the track. Pure gold.

An unusual day

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Today we messed with the chimpanzees’ routine. There is a tall structure in the greenhouse that needed some repair, so the chimpanzees weren’t able to get outside until J.B. and volunteer Chad finished their fix-it job.

All morning, Burrito alternated between his Tasmanian devil self and his adorable playful self.

Lest you think the change in routine or lack of outdoor access caused his Tasmanian devil self to appear, allow me to elaborate to explain that on pretty much any given day, Burrito alternates between these two extremes.

I only got a picture of the later, but you might be able to see a twinkle of mischief in those eyes.

Don’t let him fool you.

When the greenhouse (and the raceway that leads to the large outdoor habitat) was ready to be occupied by chimpanzees again, we decided to take advantage of the unusually warm weather and provide the chimps with a dinner forage outside. We spread and hid whole tomatoes, pieces of watermelon, and mini sweet peppers all over the enclosure.

Much to our delight, Queen Negra was as eager as everyone else to get outside.

Negra is not one to choose to exert much energy, but apparently the whole tomatoes were worth stretching to get:

Jamie utilized the coolest anatomical feature that separates chimpanzees from humans – opposable toes – to carry a tomato as she continued her foraging:

Jody demonstrated the large capacity of her lips by carrying three peppers stacked on top of one another other:

And now the chimpanzees are back inside, quiet as ever while making their blanket nests, to take a restful sleep and wake up tomorrow to another day of sanctuary life.