Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

young's hill

Spring has Sprung

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Since spring has sprung, so has Jamie! Jamie has been taking full advantage of these beautiful spring days and even the not so nice ones. Yesterday, well today too, Jamie and I were walking machines! If we were not walking we were grooming. All day it felt like someone was watching me. If I went to get water or start on a project she would appear, better yet, if she couldn’t see me she would stare into the camera by the playroom and wait for me to come. Seriously, nothing gets past Jamie, which is why she is so amazing. Once she would get my attention, she would take off running onto the Hill! Even when it was time for everyone to go home and Young’s Hill was closed off she wasn’t ready. So, Jamie groomed, her still favorite, XTRATUF boots in the green house for a little bit longer. Because it is spring now, Jamie needs to be doing extra patrols. There are cattle in the pasture next to the Hill and she needed to make sure that Honey B, Willy B, and Mave are being closely monitored in the Chute. She is a busy person. To be honest, because our days in the chimp house are a bit busier now, it was nice to be able to spend some quality time with her, and know that she got to do everything she wanted to do that day! All in all, when you get that feeling of someone watching you, it’s probably Jamie. 😉

Here is a rare photo of Jamie laying down yesterday:

Jamie saw Chad wearing his cattle boots during our walk and demanded he join us! Missy, Burrito, Honey, Meredith, Nutmeg, and Betsy came too.

In Elaine’s memory

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As we celebrate Earth Day, how wonderful to begin the day with this day of sanctuary sponsored by Jackie Pordon, in memory of her mom, Elaine Pordoll, on her birthday:

“My mom loved all animals big & small. She would have been so interested in the Cle Elum seven and the new additions to the group. A big thank you to all who care for them.”

What a wonderful day to get to remember your mom and celebrate her kind spirit. Thank you, too, Jackie, for all you do for our sanctuary family as you carry on your mom’s legacy. We’re hoping today finds your heart comforted by your memories and love of your mom. Thanks for allowing us to celebrate her with you.

Jody:

Honey, Betsy, Meredith, and Nutmeg:

Jamie, Missy and Burrito:

Honey B and Mave:

Willy B:

Jamie, Missy, Jody, Annie and Burrito:

Foxie and Missy:

Burrito:

Foxie:

Alarming adventures

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I feel like today was easily the warmest of the year so far, unseasonably so at almost 70.

And as such, J.B. and Anthony decided it was a great day to usher our bovine family, Betsy and her son, Nutmeg, and Honey and her daughter, Meredith, back to their summer pasture alongside Young’s Hill. Much to the cattle’s delight. And well, with mixed reviews from the chimpanzees.

Meredith, Betsy and Anthony:

The bovines didn’t even have time to delight the humans as we all stood in hopes of seeing a lot of running and kicking and jumping about, they set straight to work chomping all the spring grass suddenly at their disposal.

Betsy, Meredith and Honey (Nutmeg was hanging out just to the left with J.B., but I missed a photo!

Of course, the chimps had to investigate this situation immediately and everyone but Negra marched straight up the hill to check things out. Jamie, naturally, led the way and promptly took a seat on Twister (see our Sponsor a Day today for the wonderful story behind this amazing structure!) to assess the situation. The funny thing about Jamie though is that she made virtually no acknowledgement of the cattle, though if her face was to tell any tale, she appeared rather vexed with their return. She asked for her caregivers to accompany her on several walks to the top of the hill throughout the afternoon, but each time we reached the top she promptly “ignored” the cattle and marched back to the chimp house.

Jody, Burrito and Foxie (and Dora) were close behind:

Foxie and Burrito:

Foxie and Burrito were moderately unimpressed by the return of their summer neighbors and headed back to the greenhouse (Missy and Jamie, background):

At some point, sweet Annie had made her way up the hill, but seemingly once she spotted those “demon” cattle she screamed at the top of her lungs and high-tailed it all the way back to the safety of the greenhouse where I found her surrounded by Burrito and Missy. So it appears cows are now on the list with snakes. It’s really curious as Annie has shown zero concern regarding the cattle in past seasons, not to mention she can see the neighbors’ cattle in the pastures below. I’m guessing she just wasn’t expecting the return of the summer neighbors.

Once Annie was safely ensconced in the greenhouse, we heard a huge ruckus erupt from the chute where we found Mave, Willy B and Honey B expressing their thoughts over the cattle. Honey B in particular seemed very alarmed by their presence (perhaps taking a cue from Annie) and climbed to the top of the chute where she repeatedly vocalized alarm calls and asked Chad and I for reassurance. Poor Honey B eventually calmed down and returned to Phase I just in time for Mave to come screaming inside and flee upstairs into Honey B’s arms where she sounded alarm calls for several minutes. Chad and I discovered it was due to a low flying helicopter.

Willy B and Mave:

So the chimpanzees and the cattle and the humans were enriched with adventures of all manner today. Just as we all hope our days to be (though, perhaps, a little less alarming to some of us). 😉

For Bill and Nicki

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This day of sanctuary was sponsored by our good friend, Nicki Walters, in honor of her late husband, Bill, on the date of their wedding anniversary.

“I am donating today in memory of our 18th wedding anniversary. We always did something special on this day so I thought this year I would share it with the Chimps. We always derived such joy from the Facebook posts and they helped us through many days of his Cancer treatments, now they help me get through days with out Bill, AKA Twister. I love seeing the chimps playing on his structure and I think of how happy he would be to witness it. It is a lovely tribute and I feel so fortunate that our friends and loved one made it be as a representation of this great man’s life and a gift to the Chimps. Thank you to all who care for these magnificent Apes and take the time to share such beautiful stories of them with us.”

Nicki, I can’t think of all the spring, summer and autumn evenings many of us have spent in the company of Jamie as she sits on the chimps’ “Twister” climbing structure that you all made possible, the last rays of the sun beaming across the sanctuary, across our faces. Jamie’s usually found some bit of missed forage to snack on while she looks out over the sanctuary and surrounding land, her home, with an occasional backward glance to make sure we are where she left us. I’m immensely grateful for these times when she seems particularly at peace, in awe. For me, but mostly for her. Thank you for giving her and her family such times. And thank you for honoring Bill and his legacy in such a beautiful way.

We’re all thinking of you and hoping today brings the same peace and awe of all you and Bill shared, and still share, together. And hoping the sun’s on your face today. Happy Anniversary to you both. <3<3

Jamie:

Jody:

Missy:

Jamie:

The Gator Tour of CSNW

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I had a bit of writer’s block today. It happens sometimes.

The weather was nice, though, and we finished the daily cleaning on time (sometime around 1pm when we regularly serve the chimpanzees their lunch). Some chimps were walking around the perimeter of Young’s Hill with Katelyn (on the outside of the fence, of course) and Chad had just returned from feeding the cattle and mucking their barn. With things settled and quiet around the Chimp House, I decided to drive around the property to capture some photographs of the scenic landscape. The pastures and woods that surround the facility have started to turn emerald green and are even speckled with the first yellow and purple wildflowers of the season.

One thing that is missing from the sanctuary right now is the extended team of people who would normally be enjoying the onset of spring along with us. We typically have fifty volunteers and interns who show up for rotating shifts, and many of them are like family to us. We are following a strict quarantine protocol and are operating with just the core staff, leaving us with just a fraction of the usual personnel. In terms of caregiving, we’re doing just fine– the meals and meds are always served, the enclosures are always cleaned and the chimps are always engaged in one activity or another- but the facility still feels somewhat empty without the all the familiar individuals who help us to care for the chimps and their sanctuary home.

We’ve been working on other ways to keep our community informed and active. Although we aren’t open to the public and we don’t exhibit the chimps (or even the cattle, for that matter), sharing our work is a huge part of this sanctuary’s culture. While that certainly includes communicating special updates and highlighting noteworthy milestones, it also means illustrating the most simple and mundane aspects of life at CSNW. I thought you all might enjoy seeing this little piece of my day: an afternoon cruise around the sanctuary on the John Deere Gator.

Noisy Neighbors and Sock Puppets

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It’s a beautiful day here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. The sun is out, there is a light breeze, and the chimpanzees are spending their time with each other both inside and outside.

When they were given access to Young’s Hill, Missy raced outside with Annie close on her metaphorical tail.

Jody was actually the first one out on Young’s Hill today, and also the first one back. What she really wanted was to spy on her neighbors. Once she realized her neighbors were not in the Chute at that moment, she headed back inside.

With Missy coming in right behind her.

Burrito, on the other hand, knows that he can just wait by the window for his neighbors to make an appearance without having to go outside to check.

And when their neighbors do make an appearance, be prepared for a lot of hooting and hollering.

Jody and Foxie caught a glimpse of Willy B as he made his way into the Chute and immediately began hooting.

Though Willy B, Mave, and Honey B spent a considerable amount of time in the Chute today, they also spent a lot of time keeping busy indoors, as well.

Mave decided she wanted to make a sock puppet.

She was actually pretty happy and satisfied with her sock puppet.

Willy B spent a lot of time napping and requesting his caregivers to play chase with him. When we wasn’t doing that, he made sure his neighbors knew of his presence by displaying in the Mezzanine.

It usually starts out with him dragging his yellow bucket around to make as much noise as possible as a buildup, before it crescendos into a scream and him boxing himself in the mirror.

When the mirror wasn’t used for Willy B’s shadowing boxing practice, Honey B used it to look at herself and her caregivers through the reflection.

Jojo Rabbit

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Jody has three nicknames that we frequently use when referring to her. “Jo” is the simplest and most common, but “JoJo” is the fun equivalent.

Every time I hear someone say the nickname Jojo, I think of two things. The first association is a song by Blind Pilot (a Portland-based folk band) that tells the story of a homeless man named Jojo. The song is called “The Story I Heard” and has a catchy melody that loops in my head whenever I see Jody’s kind, sweet face. It fits her perfectly.

The second thing that comes to mind, of course, is the Oscar-winning film Jojo Rabbit. (If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for?) Jody, with her gentle demeanor and love of all things that grow, would make a very fine rabbit. In fact, Jody’s appropriate third nickname is “Farmer Jo” because of how eagerly she harvests food from the chimps’ outdoor habitat. Chimps are not strictly vegetarian by any means, but Jody would be quite happy if all we ever gave her were heaps of green vegetables to munch on.

That brings us to today’s holiday celebration: a feast and forage to celebrate Easter Sunday and the arrival of spring.

The day (which was lovingly sponsored by two amazing and generous supporters) began with the usual breakfast chaos and subsequent socialization. As Diana mentioned in yesterday’s blog, Foxie and Jody were just reunited with the group after receiving some medical attention and are getting back to their normal routines. Meanwhile, Jamie is dealing with a draining abscess but is otherwise acting like her usual self. She seemed to feel a bit better after Missy (“Dr. Missy”) gave her backside some much-needed grooming. After her appointment with Jamie, Missy proceeded to engage Burrito in a playful session of wrestling. Jamie “payed it forward” by giving Jody some T.L.C.

Jamie allows Missy (not shown) to groom her backside
Missy (right) plays with Burrito (left)
Jamie (right) and Jody (left) groom each other

Meanwhile, CSNW co-directors J.B. and Diana spent some time planting this past holiday season’s evergreen trees. They were previously kept in pots after being featured in the Christmas Day celebration and are now taking root amid the bamboo on Young’s Hill. Maybe they’ll survive, and perhaps even grow, if Farmer Jo doesn’t prune off too many of their branches.

Back in the Greenhouse, the chimps could see us scattering food in their outdoor enclosure and got really excited.

Negra (below) excitedly greets Annie (above)

Once all of the caregivers, vehicles and tools were safely out of the enclosure, we were finally able to let the chimpanzees go out and forage for their Easter lunch. Negra led the charge out of the Greenhouse and up the hillside, followed by her six companions. The chimps were ecstatic to find caches of carrots, beets, watermelon slices, chow biscuits, and brand new troll dolls.

Missy (front left), Jamie (right) and Negra (rear left) search for food on the hill
Burrito eats watermelon in the cabin as Jamie approaches
Annie surveys the landscape for more food
Missy tries to out-compete the others (and successfully evades the camera’s auto-focus) by using the firehose vines to get around
Annie climbs to the top of “The Escher” to find the cache of food on top

Chimpanzees have a strong sense of fairness and, without interfering with their social hierarchy, we make sure there is enough food to go around at each meal. Even so, each celebratory forage usually has one chimp who “wins” by collecting the largest amount of the most prized item. As you all may have guessed by now, Jojo Rabbit won today’s Easter forage.

Jody carries her prized carrots as Burrito trails behind

Farmer Jo decided immediately that carrots were the most valuable of all the foods. She sprinted past her companions and began filling her arms with the enormous orange carrots as if she was scooping up rolls of toilet paper at Fred Meyer. Before the others could even figure out what was hidden out there, Jody was making her way back to the Greenhouse with an armful of crunchy loot. The other chimps each found a carrot or two, but Jody had a whole bushel.

Jojo munches on a carrot and gazes out at the other chimps

It’s hard to believe that Jody was the star of the show today after she just had a toe amputated last week. If my description doesn’t quite do it for you and you would prefer to watch today’s Easter forage for yourself, J.B. spontaneously streamed it live on our Facebook page so that all of our supporters could share the experience with us and the chimps. I highly recommend checking it out!

You may also be wondering how things went on the other side of the building. Mave, Willy B and Honey B had an exciting morning. For a short period of time, we opened the chute to their section of Young’s Hill so that they could have the opportunity to go outside. Per usual, they cautiously inspected their outdoor enclosure from the relative safety of the chute, although Honey B did roll a tire down the ramp and out onto the grass. She has developed a weird habit of noisily throwing large enrichment items through doorways, but that’s a story for another day…

Once the chute was closed back up, the three chimps enjoyed a hearty lunch and delicious dinner coupled with quick sessions of positive reinforcement training that allowed caregiver Chad to record their temperatures. It also marked the first time that they appeared interested in eating hard-boiled eggs (collected from locally-raised chickens, of course). Honey B and Willy B are now Easter eggs fanatics, although Mave doesn’t buy into the hype just yet.

Mave presents her forehead so Chad can take her temperature
Honey B devours a hard-boiled Easter egg

Jody may have won the day, but Jamie won the evening. It’s currently after 8pm and Jamie just finished scouring Young’s Hill for the remaining produce. Just a half hour ago, she found a whole beet that was still hidden in the foliage. She finally allowed us to close the door and is settling in for a good night’s sleep, so I’m closing up the Chimp House and heading home.

Jamie searches for food on the hill

Whether you celebrated today’s holiday or not, we hope that you had a great day. Stay healthy, everyone!