Archive for the ‘Construction’ Category

Two months & a big announcement

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

A few days ago we reached a milestone – the chimpanzees have been at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest for two months. Decades in research, and now two months in sanctuary. So much has happened in that short time. We’ve learned so much about each of the chimpanzees, and they seem to be changing every day. Jamie has stopped plucking her hair, Foxie now handles enrichment and has displayed rudimentary nesting behavior, Burrito has been working on some really great displays in his expanded space, Jody’s hair is growing back in and she’s developing some muscle, Missy is playing all of the time, Annie is coming into ‘her own’ and standing up for herself, and Negra is enamored with the views out of the windows.

And now the big announcement – the chimpanzees will be in their outdoor area on August 26th!! I can’t wait to share photos and experiences of the chimps touching ground for the first time. Thank you all for you support – you’ve helped make all of this possible!

Outdoor Area Platform

Sunday, August 10th, 2008

Keith and Jim got a good start on the outdoor area platform today. The logs, lumber,  and composite decking were all donated by our wonderful supporters. Tomorrow, a second level will be added – we can’t wait to see the chimps up there! 

Burrito’s instincts

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Stuffed animals aren’t just for snuggling, as Burrito demonstrates. After playfully hitting this teddy bear on the head and throwing it up in the air numerous times, Burrito groomed the teddy bear’s head.

Learning about Jamie

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

Jamie with bucketWe have been learning a lot about all of the chimpanzees over the last few days. Jamie is quite amazing. She figured out the lazy susan feeding doors in about 2 sec. She really enjoys the enrichment that we’ve been giving out - she’s spent many hours cleaning with the brushes and big buckets of soapy water that we have given her. The second day we left the bucket in room two. When the chimpanzees were let back into that room, Jamie immediately went for the bucket – ignoring all of the fruit that we had also left in the room, which is pretty remarkable because she loves fruit and can get angry if someone else gets an apple or orange that she wants. Instead, she protected the bucket and would not let any of the other chimpanzees near it until she had tired of cleaning – which took over an hour. She was very focused and thourough in her cleaning, concentrating on one concrete step for a long time, then washing a mug in her bucket as though it were a sink.Today, Sarah and J.B. report that Jamie tied a bow – she took a piece of string, put it around her neck, and tied it into a bow. These things indicate that Jamie was raised in a very human environment prior to being sold to Buckshire. We hope to find out more. Although it is a testament to their intelligence and ability to learn, it always saddens me a bit when chimpanzees do things which they only could have learned in a human environment. It makes me wonder how Jamie views herself and if she once saw herself as a human, or perhaps still does. We as humans have taken away ‘normal’ chimpanzee culture by raising chimpanzees in captivity, and often we replace that with aspects of our own culture, so the chimpanzee is left with no place to really fit in.On a positive note, we will be working hard to keep Jamie occupied and interested in her surroundings and we will provide her with her favorite things as we learn what they are.Diana

Visualizing Chimpanzees

Friday, May 16th, 2008

J.B. and I are now in Washington having finally moved from New York State. After five days of driving, we were both really anxious to see the chimp house as soon as we got here.  For the first time, I could really see the chimpanzees in the building. Before I could imagine it in a theoretical kind of way, but now that their house is getting closer to completion, I could actually see Negra in front of the window on the loft, and I could see Burrito swinging from a firehose attached to the wide bridge that now spans the playroom. And I could see Jody walking out of the building to the outdoor area for the first time.

Keith and the solid and incredible group of volunteers who have helped create this building from scratch have put so much thought into it and have labored so hard, and I could finally see the chimpanzees appreciating all of that work.  The Buckshire Seven arrive in 28 days. It’s hard to believe that in less than one month all of these images that I saw in my mind will be a reality! It will be so great to fill the website with photos and videos of the chimpanzees and be able to tell stories about them everyday. Stay tuned – it’s only a short wait now.

Diana

Chimp House Progress!

Friday, April 18th, 2008

Our Director of Operations, JB Mulcahy, traveled from New York to spend a week to work on both the Chimp House and his own housing.  (We can’t wait for him and Diana to be here permanently!)  While he was here, we were joined by a crew of very talented and hard working individuals and owe a big thank you to long-term friends and volunteers Jim Green and Curtis Strain, Keith’s cousin Chad Radel, Keith’s uncle Jim Radel, (both drove from Minnesota to help) and friend John Samaras for their hard work and excellent craftsmanship.We were able to install all the remaining caging, the decking for the chimpanzees’ platforms, new food delivery systems, the framework for a playroom bridge, as well as hang all the exterior siding and break ground on the outdoor play area.  The speed of construction was beyond all expectation.  Pictures are worth a thousand words so I have attached a few.  Click each picture for a bigger image as well as a written description of what you’ll be seeing.  Keith Installing Playroom BridgeChimpanzee’s Food ChutesSouth Side SidingInstalling Window Caging

Kitchen Addition

Friday, December 7th, 2007

Well after several days of hard work we almost beat the snow!  A big thank you to all our volunteers who helped get the slab poured, walls framed, and roof rafters installed on our kitchen, laundry and mechanical room addition.  Pant hoots to Susan, Dayna, Aaron, Jim, Nick, Josh, Bill, and Curtis for helping us get this far!

If you would like to help finish this project we will be working on it on Sunday December 9th.  Please contact our volunteer coordinator at volunteer@chimpsanctuarynw.org.

Someone Has Gas!

Friday, October 19th, 2007

Yes it is true, we have gas…well we have a gas tank.  You can see Tanner is making sure it was installed properly, he even left his “mark” as a sign of his approval. 

The 500 gallon propane tank was delivered and set this week.  The LP will fuel the heater for the building, hot water and boiler for the radient heat floor. 

The next step is to dig a 24″ deep trench to run the gas line from the tank to the building…so if you have a strong back (or an excavator) please call our volunteer coordinator!