Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

young's hill

A Christmas Preview

by

This week has been filled with sunshine and no-snow, which is somewhat unusual for December in Central Washington. These lovely weather conditions, combined with the fact that the chimps have received a surplus stock of Christmas gifts, made us decide to do a Christmas preview for the chimpanzees out on Young’s Hill. The last couple of years we have given the chimps potted Christmas trees in December and then planted them on Young’s Hill when the ground thaws in the spring. There are currently 3 Christmas trees planted in their 2 acre outdoor enclosure. This afternoon we decorated them all for a holiday forage.

Bell peppers and apple slices make pretty festive ornaments!

Missy:

Burrito and Missy:

Jody:

Jamie:

Foxie:

She quickly found all her new gifts!

Annie:

Negra went out briefly onto the hill, but decided to eat her lunch in the toasty playroom.

Even brisker mornings

by

We have a stunning week of sun ahead of us in the forecast and even though the temperatures are progressively colder, the bright sun is filling everyone with adventurous spirits and joyful days. As Kelsi shared in her blog yesterday, even the Queen has been braving the chill to enjoy time outside.

Despite that, when I opened the door to Young’s Hill first thing this morning I couldn’t have been more surprised to see everyone literally racing outside seemingly on a group mission. Foxie and her doll headed straight for the nearest platforms where she proceeded to play stomp and shiver her way around with a mischievous look on her face.

Here she is mid-stomp:

Jody, Annie and Burrito wasted no time heading straight for the tire swings and it didn’t take long to realize they were remembering that the cold weather brings ice treats to be found in the tire swings! I love that they remember favorite things from each season now.

Jody:

Burrito found some ice pieces Annie and Jody missed:

Annie and Jody heading back toward the greenhouse with their ice chunks (Missy foreground):

Annie headed to the greenhouse:

Jamie on her way back from the business of the morning:

Annie returned to the outdoors seemingly to just enjoy the view and the feel the elements:

After Jody came inside with her ice she immediately realized that Foxie was still outside in the cold and charged back up the hill to collect her. Foxie is an adventurous soul and declined Jody’s encouragement to return to the greenhouse (much to Jody’s dismay) and continued on her way checking things out, but she eventually made her way back:

It makes my heart sing to see how the chimps embrace their days and everything they discover within each one, how adventurous and brave they’ve become, and how, well, themselves they’ve become. Winter, spring, summer and fall, they show us a new season of themselves.

Brisk Mornings

by

Today was a beautiful brisk December morning, Jamie and I were on our usual perimeter walk. At the end of our walk I noticed Missy and Negra enjoying the warm sunshine beaming on Young’s Hill. Negra sat on a log watching Missy eat the little bit of snow left on the log, Negra then also took part in eating some snow! The Hill was pretty popular today even with the chill this morning, everyone made an appearance at one point. A little later, after I went back to the Playroom to help clean, I spotted Annie playing with the new mirror in the Greenhouse. Annie was being silly and flipping upside down and inspecting all the windows. Missy revealed herself from the cargo net near Annie, which made sense, Annie was trying to get Missy to play! It worked, they quietly played in the cargo net and I sneaked away so they could play in peace.

Negra:

Missy eating snow:

Negra on the log & Missy eating snow:

Negra:

Negra enjoying some snow:

Annie looking into the mirror:

Annie:

Annie checking the window frames:

Missy taking a turn playing with the mirror (can you see her toes?):

 

Busy mornings

by

The majority of the action at the sanctuary happens all before lunch! We use this time every day to clean each area thoroughly, asking the chimpanzees to shift from one section of the building to another. Once the chimpanzees have all vacated an area (usually convinced by the prospect of breakfast or snacks), the lead staff member of the day closes all the chimpanzee doors leading to an area using a remote controlled lever and lock system. We follow this by performing safety double checks to ensure that an area is chimp-free and doors are properly closed and locked. Only then can we enter an area for cleaning.

We started today by serving the chimpanzees some smoothie and peanuts so we could get the greenhouse area closed off for cleaning. Intern Kailie is training to be a level 3 caregiver (someone that serves meals and can interact safely with the chimpanzees). Staff member Elizabeth was training her this morning.

Once we knew we could safely enter the greenhouse, we unlocked the area and got to work!

We always switch out dirty blankets and enrichment for clean items.

And we do any necessary scrubbing!

Jamie usually acts as supervisor through one of the windows:

We put out 70 fresh blankets a day, so that means we do laundry all day long! Here’s intern Samantha keeping our washer going:

After the greenhouse cleaning comes the rest of breakfast. Today it was apples, pineapple, primate chow, and vitamins:

The lead staff member does a series of safety checks before the chimpanzees can get access to Young’s Hill in the morning. Here is Burrito entering the raceway to the outdoor enclosure first thing this morning:

Then on to cleaning the playroom! We always appreciate happy interns like Amanda!

After the playroom is scrubbed, rinsed, squeegeed, and locked, the lead staff member lets the chimpanzees have access back to their fresh clean area. This morning the chimps enjoyed a forage of nuts. Missy found the pineapple top we also put out.

Then comes more safety checks to enter the front rooms. Here Kailie checks to make sure a door lever is closed and locked:

It was about this time that Jamie decided she was ready for her first walk around Young’s Hill. She had me put on these ankle boots today:

Then we set out for a walk accompanied by Missy:

Meanwhile, our hardworking interns finished cleaning the front rooms. Locking and double checking all the doors is the last step in the process:

We are so lucky to have such amazing volunteers and interns! We couldn’t do it without them or our amazing supporters! Yesterday was Giving Tuesday and we exceeded both our goals for the day! There is just so much love and support that surrounds these seven chimpanzees!

Blowing off steam

by

Mornings in the chimp house have been, well, shall we say a little intense the past few days. With what seems to be an early winter, changing routines and closer quarters at mealtimes, we usually experience a little adjustment period with the changing seasons. Breakfast is often pre-empted with the normal raucous and rowdy displays and cage rattling from Burrito (with some extra flare this time of year) which leads to the usual arguments and scuffles with the girls flying after him screaming at the tops of their lungs. Then with tensions high and breakfast being served in the warmer (but smaller) front rooms, it’s been every caregiver for themselves during breakfast service which has frequently involved dodging (if you’re lucky) flying feces from the boss lady. Most of this is normal chimpanzee behavior and all of it is understandable. We all have to blow off steam sometimes.

The chimps also sometimes choose to exert some sense of control over their changing routine or avoid tension in the group by choosing to stay in areas when we are attempting to shift them to others so we can clean. This is Missy’s favorite time to stay back on her own in the playroom and hoot and holler from the loft to her hearts content. Jody also loves to bring her snack into the front rooms when she sees me attempting to close the doors. I leave the area at which point she leaves the front rooms, but the second she sees me looking that way she runs back in. But as we’ve said many times, part of the importance and beauty of sanctuary is the chimpanzees having the choice to call the shots and make their own choices as much as possible. And we’re only too happy to follow their lead.

So after the breakfast kerfuffle, When this morning dawned warmer and somewhat sunny, we couldn’t have been more thrilled for the chimps to have the chance to spend much of the day outside zooming about, racing and running with each other and their caregivers, and just getting some space from one another, taking in the sights and getting some fresh air.

And while Negra still chose to stay inside in her cozy nest, she was entertained by no less than four caregivers dancing like maniacs as she nodded along with approval. It’s been a good day.

Burrito, Annie and Foxie (below):

Burrito and Annie:

Annie checking out the comings and goings of the sanctuary:

Missy:

Jody started to head back to the greenhouse with a favorite pine tree treat, but stopped short of going inside to check on all her friends. Jody spotted Foxie hanging out by herself and decided she needed to go collect her:

Jamie was thrilled to be out and about and has Kelsi running (literally) around the hill all the live long day:

Don’t forget about the Database of Chimpanzee Enrichment!

by

Have you checked out our Database of Chimpanzee Enrichment? On this site we keep track of all the fun food puzzles and other items we give to the chimps. We are always looking for new enrichment ideas to try at the sanctuary and share with the chimpanzee caregiver community, so please feel free to share our site with anyone who might be able to benefit or contribute new ideas to our page!

Here’s Jamie using the treat rock food puzzle (filmed May of last year):

The First Snow

by

We woke up to our first snow today! There are some mixed feelings about this white dust.

1.) First and foremost we are excited to eat the snow!

2.) We like the beauty of it, but also it came too soon…

3.) It is making us a little reluctant to get outside…

SO… We like you snow, but please not yet!

Young’s Hill:

Jody eating some snow from the Hill entrance, but not going outside:

Burrito doing the same:

As enrichment we filled buckets with some snow and put them everywhere:

Jamie snuggling with a boot and keeping warm with blankets over her:

Save