Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

Archives for January 2014

Happy Lunar New Year!

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The CSNW party planners were at it again today, helping the chimps celebrate the first day of the Year of the Horse. Volunteers Patti and Stephanie brought decorations and food, as well as a special new toy for Burrito, and interns Larkin, Julie, and Whitney helped prepare for the party.

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The festivities began in the playroom after cleaning. Jamie went right to work opening the “firecracker” gifts, and Missy inspected the decorations.

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At lunchtime, the party moved to the greenhouse. Annie gathered snap peas from the party boxes.

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Negra filled her mouth with eggplant, then added a crayon for good measure.

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Thankfully, she saved a little for Foxie.

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Jody seemed to enjoy the lemongrass. We weren’t sure if the chimps had ever had it before.

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And Burrito was in his element. There is no purer form of happiness on this earth than Burrito with a mouthful of food. He started with the party boxes.

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Then he foraged for chow in the straw.

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He ended up with more food than he could hold on to. This made him even happier.

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For Burrito and the rest of the Seven, it doesn’t matter what holiday they are celebrating. Any day is an excuse for new toys, good food, and the company of friends. And lucky for them, our volunteers provided all three!

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Oh, Happy Day

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Today was a happy, happy day at the sanctuary. There was snow on the ground, the sun was shining, and we all celebrated the life and memory of Dr. Mel Richardson. (Thanks again to Lynn, Connie, and Sue and Dawn and Jo for sponsoring today in celebration of what would have been Dr. Mel’s 64th birthday.)

The chimpanzees celebrated in style. The hit of the party was definitely the snow in plastic shot glasses. The chimps have been waiting all winter for snow to eat, and the last couple of days finally delivered.

Jamie:

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Burrito:

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Annie:

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Missy:

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Foxie with snow in mouth and troll in hand:

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After the party everyone found a sunny spot to rest. BFFs Annie and Missy groomed each other in the playroom:

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Negra headed to her favorite spot on the catwalk:

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The day was extra special for Jamie. Bill Jackson, who has done some work for us at the sanctuary in the past, stopped by with a pair of boots. Last time he was here, he noticed that Jamie admired the boots he was wearing, so he came back today to hand them over. The chimps really do attract the best people.

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As we wrap up the day here in the chimp house, we’re thinking of Dr. Mel, and all the good people of the world, and smiling.

For Mel, and for caregivers

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This special day was also sponsored by Dawn Garcia and Jo Arroyo in memory and celebration of Mel’s life, as well as for the caregivers in his life. Dawn and Jo shared these thoughtful sentiments:

“We would like to honor the caregivers – those of CSNW who give their time to enrich the lives of the Cle Elum 7 and those at the Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, GA.  Mel spent the remainder of his days engaging in a fun and friendly relationship with one of his nurses Ben.  In ICU RED, nurse Telly and physician’s assistant Tatum, kept Mel comfortable and were also warm and caring to me and Jo. I know there were more caregivers involved and we thank them for their loving hearts. Mel would smile at this honor – having a celebration with the chimps on the day he was born- January 30th. Cheers to caregivers everywhere!”

Thank you so much, Dawn and Jo! All of the primates here at CSNW are truly honored to be included in such a special day.

Negra enjoying her time in the sun:

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Happy Birthday, Dr. Mel!! We miss you. The world and so many lives won’t be the same without you, but are all so much better because of you.

In memory of Dr. Mel’s birthday

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Lynn Williamson, Connie Lamm, and Sue Rowlett, in memory of Dr. Mel Richardson. Today would have been Dr. Mel’s 64th birthday. His dear friend, Lynn, wanted to share these beautiful sentiments:

“Happy birthday to our dear friend Mel. I have gone to the phone and laptop a number of times to reach out to you, and then I remember. You are greatly missed. Some of the things I miss most are:  you had my back always, you had a lovely accent, you had a big beautiful smile, you had a wicked sense of humor, you were so smart and witty that I could listen to you talk on any topic – in particular of your adventures, your vast knowledge of, and love for,  animals and veterinary medicine.

Mel also had a resilient personality but a very tender heart. Mel introduced me to the sanctuary and to the chimps – because of that, I have these 7 amazing beings in my life. I also am honored to now be friends with the most amazing bunch of humans who share my values and ethics. So thank you, Mel, for this and more. See you again some day.”    

Jody, Jamie, Annie and Burrito on Young’s Hill:

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And these lovely thoughts from Sue:

“I had never met Mel but have worked with Lynn Williamson for many years and what he shared with, and taught her, was carried forward by her to me and to others. Like when a rock is dropped in the water and the ripples fan out. The difference being Mel’s ripple effect doesn’t stop.”

Thank you so much, Lynn, Connie and Sue, for honoring Mel in such a generous way and for including the chimpanzees in this special day.

Jamie enjoying her view:

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If you have been following our blog recently, you probably realize by now that Dr. Mel was a very special person, loved by so many throughout the animal kingdom. We are truly touched and honored by all those who have wished to honor Dr. Mel’s memory through their support of the chimpanzees. More than one person wished to sponsor today in celebration of Mel’s life so please check back later for another sponsorship and the chimpanzees’ party in his memory.

Snowballs!

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The chimpanzees (and humans) woke up to several inches of snow this morning! We started the chimps’ morning by offering them icicles before breakfast, a favorite treat! As I prepared to open the door to Young’s Hill, the chimpanzees all crowded around, food grunting in anticipation of being able to eat some snow. Once the door was open, no one wanted to venture all the way out, but they all sat in the doorway reaching out (and over) one another to grab handfuls of snow. And much to our surprise, Jamie even through a few “snowballs” at caregiver, Debbie, before heading into the greenhouse to enjoy her snack.

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Burrito chose a quiet spot by the door to Young’s Hill where he could eat to his heart’s content:

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Then for the first time in days, the sun came out! Even Negra left her cozy nest to spend some time in the warmth of the greenhouse and enjoy some snow snacks. Between the excitement of the snow and a bright, sunny morning, the chimpanzees’ moods seemed to all be lifted today. The chimp house was full of laughter, games, and food grunts all morning. After we cleaned the playroom we filled the chimpanzees’ wading pool and some buckets with snow and sprinkled it with some seeds and dried fruit for their morning forage.

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Annie enjoyed several mouthfuls of snow. I don’t know how she kept from getting “freeze brain.”

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While most of humans are not usually too happy to see snow, I am so glad it provided some great enrichment and an exciting day for my chimpanzee friends.

Shop AmazonSmile to help the chimps

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Amazon.com recently launched a program called AmazonSmile. You may have noticed there’s a link to signing up on the sidebar of the blog that looks like this:

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The simple explanation is that you follow that link and that leads you to a page to sign up for AmazonSmile and designate Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest as your charity to receive funds.

I signed up myself and wanted to explain a little bit more about how it works. The most important thing to know is that, in order for your purchases to help the chimps, you have to login in to smile.amazon.com (instead of just amazon.com) every time you shop.

So, you may as well take that link – smile.amazon.com and bookmark it. Once you’ve designated Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest as your chosen charity, when you sign in to shop it should look like this (yours won’t have the word “prime” if you don’t also use amazon prime):

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Then you just shop normally and 0.5% of eligible purchases will go to the chimps! I haven’t shopped around too much to determine what purchases are eligible, but this is from amazon’s FAQ about the program: “Tens of millions of products on AmazonSmile are eligible for donations. You will see eligible products marked “Eligible for AmazonSmile donation” on their product detail pages.”

The donations through AmazonSmile will be made to us 45 days after a calendar quarter ends, so it will be a little while before we know how much we’ll be receiving.

And in case you had the clever idea of buying a bunch of stuff and returning it – amazon is way ahead of you – they will not count returned items in their donations.

Thanks for taking advantage of all of the many ways that you can help the chimpanzees. There are a few more listed here: www.chimpsnw.org/you_can_help/single/help-us-fundraise

And here’s some chimpanzee smiles from your favorite chimp BFF’s Annie & Missy:

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Missy interrupts Annie making a nest

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Missy is Annie’s best friend, but she is more dominant on the chimp hierarchy. Today she took Annie’s place in a huge paper nest Annie built (called “displacement”), but Annie didn’t get upset—instead, she started to play.