Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

young's hill

Today in Memory of Linda Vizzare

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Lisa Stuverud has sponsored this day of sanctuary in memory of Linda Vizzare. This is the touching message that Lisa shared:

Linda is my sister-in-law and my “birthday buddy” for the last 37 years. She passed away November 20th, so April 4th is going to be my first birthday without her to celebrate with. I know she knows I miss her very much and one of the things I miss the most is how much she loved Burrito especially when he did his “happy dance” :-). During her illness we often talked about the chimpanzees, the caregivers and the blog, but mostly we drew strength from all that they have overcome to then be able to do a “happy dance”…I know she was strong and didn’t stop fighting until the very end so I hope she is now doing her own “happy dance.”

The best example of Burrito’s “dance” where he stands bipedally, clutching his thighs with his hands and moving from foot to foot is in the Emmy award winning video put together by KOMO 4 of the chimpanzees’ first moments on Young’s Hill. You can see the video here – Burrito’s dance is at 3:30.

And here are a few photos of Mr. B.

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Thank you, Lisa, for being such a good friend to the chimpanzees, for sharing this day with them, and for sharing your touching memories of your time with Linda during her illness.

Spring is in the air

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Spring is here, which for this region means the weather is predictably unpredictable. Yesterday, we had a beautiful 70 degree slightly cloudy day—the chimpanzees and the humans were loving it! We had the windows open, we did some work outside, Jamie went on lots of walks, and it felt like summer was just around the corner.

Annie enjoying some of the nice spring weather lately:
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Today is, well, not as nice. We have had some very blustery winds with a slight drizzle, but that hasn’t stopped Jamie from making her daily patrols! Most of the other chimps have preferred to stay in the warm wind-protected greenhouse, soaking in the spring sunlight.

What will tomorrow bring? No matter what, I’m sure Jamie will still make her patrols and require her caregivers to come along as well. And maybe Burrito will join and do his new “hop.” Or who knows—maybe even Foxie will come along.

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Picking the Right Boots

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Sometimes it can be hard to figure out exactly what Jamie wants and other times she makes herself quite clear. Many of you who follow the blog know by now that Jamie loves her boots. She especially loves having her caregivers put them on and join her on a walk around Young’s Hill (humans on one side of the electric fences and Jamie on the other side).

But how exactly does she let us know that she wants to go for a walk? And how does she let us know which boot or boots to wear? Sometimes we pick the right boot on the first try. Other times it takes a while to pick the right one. That was the case today. It took a good ten minutes to pick what turned out to be the right combination of boots to wear around Young’s Hill.

I love that final look on her face when we finally figured it out!

Snacking on Bamboo

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Caregiver Katelyn walked around Young’s Hill with Jamie and Burrito this afternoon, when her and the chimpanzees stopped to look toward the loud cracking sound made further down the hill. Katelyn soon spotted Missy breaking off a branch of bamboo and running back toward the Greenhouse with it in her mouth. Once inside, she broke off a small piece, put it in her mouth and dropped the rest of the branch on the deck. Then she ran inside to the Front Room area. As she ran inside, her dear friend Annie quickly climbed down from the top platform and snatched the bamboo. She brought it back up to the top of the platform and quickly began munching on the leaves. Missy, in the meantime, came running out from the Front Room area without her bamboo. She was able to grab a few small pieces of the original branch that had fallen off and climbed to the top of the platform to join Annie in feasting on the treat.

The area of Young’s Hill where Missy harvested bamboo.
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Annie with the bamboo that Missy brought in from Young’s Hill.
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Missy with her pieces of bamboo after she ran back out to the Greenhouse from the Front Rooms.
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What is the best way to eat bamboo? With your best friend, of course!

Foxie on a troll stroll

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Foxie takes her dolls with her almost everywhere. She holds them during meal times, she plays with them (both on her own and with friends), and she rests with them. She even takes them on brief outings onto Young’s Hill. A lot of times she carries them on her back like a mother chimp would carry their infant around, but sometimes she is able to manage with them in her hand or mouth as she walks. In the last photo, you’ll see she’s rubbing the troll’s belly as they head back into the greenhouse.

Though it can seem endearing how Foxie loves her dolls, it’s also a sad reminder that Foxie was never able to keep a baby of her own.

Foxie was used as a breeder in the lab. When she was just 10 years old, she gave birth to twins, David and Steve. Steve is deceased, but David is currently living at Alamogordo Primate Facility (APF) in New Mexico. Foxie had two other babies, Angie (who now thankfully lives at Save the Chimps in Florida) and Kelsey (who lives at APF like David).

Though we can never make up for all that Foxie has lost, we are so glad that in sanctuary she has found a great deal of happiness and companionship in her dolls.

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Another Sunny Day and Time Spent on Young’s Hill

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Sometimes looks can be deceiving. The sun was shining bright this morning, but there was still frost on the ground and a chill in the air. I figured the chimpanzees would wait for the temperature to rise a little before they would spend a good chunk of time on Young’s Hill, but that wasn’t the case this morning.

Volunteer caregiver Patti served breakfast in the Greenhouse and had just finished serving chow bags as I opened the door between the Greenhouse and Young’s Hill. Jody was actually waiting right by the door and walked out onto the hill, positioned herself in the sun and ate the contents of her first chow bag. Her breath was visible as the temperature was still in the 20’s.

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Annie soon followed Jody outside and sat on the logs to eat her chow.
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Missy followed Annie outside and took a few moments to sit on the logs and check out the scene.

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After finishing her first bag of chow, Jody made her way further up Young’s Hill before returning to her previous spot. On the way back down the hill, Jody greeted Missy who was on her way up the hill.

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Next to venture out onto Young’s Hill was Foxie, accompanied by her dear troll friend. She chose to enjoy her chow bags from the top of the platform in the sunshine.
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Jamie chose to finish her chow bags inside the Greenhouse before venturing out onto the hill. She walked around, stopping to listen to the ducks who were making noise nearby.

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Negra chose to enjoy her morning chow bags in the sun as well, just inside of the Greenhouse where it was warmer.

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Burrito on the other hand, spent most of his morning on top of the platform in the Greenhouse (possibly enjoying the quiet as most of the ladies were on the Hill).

I’ll never get tired of seeing these chimpanzees on Young’s Hill, where they can actually feel the grass below them and the warmth of the sunshine on their faces.

The Day After

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All the excitement from yesterday’s big Valentine’s Day celebration has left the chimpanzees pretty quiet today. All of them spent time on Young’s Hill (some a little longer than others) in the sunshine. And this afternoon, most of them relaxed in the Greenhouse.

Jamie, as you may have guessed, took quite a few walks around Young’s Hill, before grooming her boots in the Greenhouse this afternoon. After our morning cleaning, I put on two black boots and went out to accompany her. I must have took too long because when I went outside, she and Missy were already at the top of the hill. Once she saw me, she walked back down to meet me (Missy took off running) and we continued back up the hill.

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Missy accompanied Jamie on a few of her perimeter patrols, half the time walking, half the time running. After that, she spent time chewing on an alfalfa cube in the Greenhouse.
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As you may have guessed already, Foxie spent her afternoon with her troll and dora dolls.
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Jody took a little time to stretch her arms from the tire swing. She also inspected the tree to see if there were any leftovers from yesterday’s party, although by the angle of the photo it seems she was deep in thought.
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Annie was all about kicking her feet up and relaxing in the Greenhouse.
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Burrito followed up his walk around Young’s Hill by sitting in the doorway leading from the Greenhouse to outside, looking out.
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And Negra. She went outside for a few moments, looked up to the sky before going back into the Greenhouse, where she could be sheltered from the cool breeze. Unfortunately, for photo purposes, she spent her time on top of the platform out of camera reach. But here’s one of her resting in one of her favorite spots in the Playroom.

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Thanks too all those who helped share the love for these beautiful chimpanzees!