Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for December 2009

YOU did it!

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Yay!! Big thanks to Barb in Ohio for her generous pledge for the last $$ needed for the window fund. You’ve raised the money needed to replace one of the caged windows with clear chimp-proof glass!

Thank you to Anna K. for initiating this window fundraising and to Denice, Jill K., Julie H., Gayle B., Theresa, Jeani, Candy, Kathy B., Leslie S., Sue and Jack, Stephanie P., Steph and Kurt, Donna A. and now Barb in Ohio. What a wonderful x-mas gift for the chimpanzees! Thank you also to an anonymous donor and friend who is sending a cash gift for the sanctuary and offered to have that gift go towards the window, if needed. The Cle Elum Seven have the best supporters!

There was a big snowstorm overnight, so winter is here. We’ll keep you updated on the timeline for installing the window. In the meantime, be thinking of Negra’s new view and another window for Jody to lick 🙂

Giant Teddy Bear

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Before we gave the chimpanzees the giant teddy bear seen in this blog post, we introduced him to the chimps. Unfortunately, the camera just missed capturing Missy giving the bear a chimpanzee ‘head nod’, which is a greeting for chimps, but clearly, Foxie, Jody, Annie, and Burrito enjoyed him as well. Thanks, Dana Alan for donating him to the chimps!

More nesting

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The other day we caught Jamie making a pretty impressive mixed-media nest out of carefully selected materials from the playroom. Her favorite nesting location seems to be the corner right next to the big doors to the playroom, perhaps because she can easily keep an eye on the humans from that vantage point. For this nest, she collected a cardboard box, some blankets, a ball of yarn, a bag, a shoe, and a giant teddy bear. Shortly after she settled down in her masterpiece, Foxie came over to check things out.

As J.B. mentioned in his blog post the other day, Jamie often weaves blankets or other materials through the wire mesh of the caging as part of her nest. You’ll notice that she does that with some yarn in the beginning of this video.

A nest with a view

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The other day, someone made a beautiful nest by one of the upstairs windows with a mix of blankets and timothy hay. I am guessing this was Missy’s. She is a nesting perfectionist and often builds the walls so high that she disappears into them. Many chimps will lay directly on the floor and build the nest around them, but Missy makes sure hers has a nice cushioned bottom.

What always amazes me about chimp nests is that everything is so interwoven that you can almost pick them up whole. This, of course, comes from the instinct to weave branches together securely to keep from falling out of the trees at night. Jamie often builds her nests next to the caging, and she will take the ends of the blankets and weave them through the wire mesh. Her nests take a lot of time to deconstruct!

12-8-09 Nice nest_MG_4899

$900 to go for the cageless view

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We’re more than halfway to a new chimp-proof glass window. Anna Kircher kicked it off with the challenge pledge of $1000 and $600 more was pledged almost immediately. Thank you Anna for initiating this gift and to all who responded so quickly. Replacing one of the windows that currently has a safety cage over it with clear chimp-proof glass will make a significant difference in the lives of the chimps. And we only need $900 more! Please see Anna’s original post and the responses so far: https://chimpsnw.org/?p=3082

Thank you!!