Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
The weather is getting warmer in Cle Elum and the chimps are starting to spend more and more time out on the hill. Over the winter, the chimps spent most of their time outside running around, playing, and exploring. But with the warmer weather, they are starting to relax a bit more.
Jamie sitting on the end of a climbing structure beam:
Missy:
Missy can only sit still for so long, however. Jackie took this photo of Missy playfully grabbing Annie’s foot:
Foxie likes to not only rub her trolls on her own belly (and other dolls like Dora or a stuffed animal with JB’s face on it), but she also likes to gently rub their bellies with her thumb. This is just a picture so you can’t really see the action, but even with the troll upside down she’s still rubbing its belly.
We are gearing up for Saturday’s Sippin’ and Biddin’ for the Seven event! If you haven’t yet, check out the art that is available to view on the Biddin’ auction site. Here’s a few selections from the art listing, and some personal favorites of mine—Jamie’s art pieces are up for auction! As many of you know, Jamie is our artist in residence. The first two art pieces are “letters” she’s written with pen. It’s fascinating to see how much enjoyment she receives when given a pen and a piece of paper. And when given paint she can get super creative (the last two pieces were created with some beautiful pink and purple finger paints). A big shout-out to University Frame Shop in Seattle for all of the wonderful framing.
Here’s Jamie’s letter to you:
Jamie’s second letter to you:
Some of Jamie’s mixed media art (it includes some shells that she purposefully attached to the painting):
These will all be up for auction starting Saturday at 5PM Pacific time. Go here to register for the online auction now. Be ready, I have a feeling these are going to get bid on quickly! They are each completely unique art pieces, and would make a lovely addition to your wall, not to mention they will lead to interesting conversation about Jamie and the Cle Elum Seven!
And, if you’ve got something that needs framing, give University Frame Shop a call at (206) 526-1449.
Negra loves to cover herself in blankets, so as we were wrapping up cleaning today, in thinking of her I was inspired to build more forts in the playroom. We have several bullet-proof glass windows in the playroom but for ventilation purposes, we have left the caging over a few of them. Negra often builds her daytime nest in front of one of the window cages, so I decided to tie blankets up to the caging and let them drape off of the railing, making it a cabana-style fort. I think Negra was pretty pleased.
Though this isn’t a great shot, I love that it shows Negra peaking around the blanket to see what is going on outside of her fort
Burrito liked it a lot too. Here he is enjoying his peanuts in his fort
We brought springtime inside this morning to celebrate the equinox in memory of our friend Katie Gieser. The chimps had a lovely forage with lots of lettuce (always a special treat!). Plus paper flowers and decorations galore! Here are a few highlights:
Missy (tho I wouldn’t have known it was her unless Jackie told me!) feasting away:
Mister B amidst the spiderweb of yellow ribbon:
Jamie with her collection from the forage:
And Jamie again, posing perfectly for the camera in her springtime nest (note the boot in her hip pocket):
Today we celebrate and remember a very special friend of the Cle Elum Seven, Katie Gieser. Katie was a very devoted blog reader, and so passionate about primates that she followed her passion all the way to Africa to visit sanctuaries on seven separate trips. Katie passed away on March 14, 2012 after a long battle with cancer. I am touched and humbled to say that her sponsorship of today’s party was on her mind in her last days and she wanted to make sure that the chimps were able to celebrate spring in style. She also wanted us to use her love of the chimps to inspire others to support the sanctuary. If you’d like to make donation in her memory, I know her family would be honored. Please join me in celebrating this first day of spring in honor of Katie.
For as long as we’ve known her, Jody has loved to lounge. While the other chimps frolic around her, she takes it easy in an enormous nest of soft blankets. Young’s Hill, though, is bringing out Jody’s long-latent inner athlete. She’s been playing with the other chimps more and more, and she’s even running for the first time ever.
Today when we opened the door to the hill, Jody shot out like a cork. After a brief run to stretch her legs, she joined Jamie and Foxie for a lengthy game of slow chase. After she had depleted her energy reserves, she found some ice in a tire swing and took it into the greenhouse to enjoy. (Photos courtesy of Jackie)
