Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for August 2014

Happy Birthday, Becca!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Lars Foster-Jorgensen in honor of his fiancee, Becca Hine’s, birthday! Becca makes weekly trips across the pass from Seattle to dedicate her time and care for the chimpanzees and is currently in training as a volunteer caregiver. She is even choosing to spend her birthday here caring for the chimpanzees! (While this may sound like all fun and games, though it is in part, it’s also a lot of cleaning and very hard work).

Lars shared the following message for Becca:

“Happy Birthday to Level 3 volunteer, Becca Hines! Her dedication to primate care and conservation is inspiring. and we wish her a happy day with the CSNW Seven!”

Lars, thanks so much for including the chimpanzees in Becca’s special day! And Becca, from all of the primates here at CSNW, we hope you have an amazingly happy day! Thank you so much for all you do for us and we’re so happy to have you as part of the team. May all your wishes come true.

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Foxie in the photo booth

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One of the chimpanzees’ rooms has THE perfect light for photos. If we are fortunate enough to not only catch one of the chimps sitting by the window in this room, but also willing to have their photograph taken, we are almost guaranteed some great images. Of course, these good looking chimpanzee people also make it pretty easy.

This series of Foxie reminds me of a photo booth strip:

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The train

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There is a train that goes along the river that is in the valley below the sanctuary. Negra often likes to watch the train go by at her window spot from the playroom—the train can be seen on the south side of the building and Young’s Hill. Jody however, was on the north end of the hill this morning when the train started to go by. We don’t always hear the horn blowing (because there aren’t any large train crossings near us) but you can sometimes hear a slight screech of the wheels against the tracks.

When Jody heard that this morning, she got a little spooked, and approached Jamie for some reassurance by reaching out and hugging her back. Jamie grunted (sorry, the photos don’t show that!) to sort of affirm, “yes, I heard that, too, and it’s okay.”

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Still somewhat spooked, Jody retreated toward the safety of the greenhouse.

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But before she could reach the building, she saw the train passing by, and I think she was comforted in seeing that the strange noise was really coming from something quite normal in their lives.

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Let’s Get It Started

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Even though the chimpanzees enjoyed a fabulous day long celebration last Friday for Foxie’s birthday, they’re not done partying just yet. Life in the sanctuary today was sponsored in honor of supporter Erin Yuhas’ birthday. Erin also donated some fun enrichment items and decorations for today’s affair. Thank you, again, Erin for your generous gift! The chimpanzees seemed to thoroughly enjoy their breakfast forage in the greenhouse this morning.

Jamie was quite content to forage her breakfast:
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And to relax in the cool playroom after a successful party:
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Annie and Foxie took particular advantage of the chow forage included in breakfast. Here is Annie:
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And Foxie:
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Foxie also continues to enjoy the new troll dolls she has recently received:
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Burrito tried to carry as much food as he could all at once:
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Missy found one good spot and stuck pretty close to it:
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While Jody was a woman about town this morning. She enjoyed the forage from the top of the greenhouse to platforms below and afterwards relaxed with a good book.
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Negra, who has just recently started showing an interest in enrichment items, took a definite shine to the donated stuffed monkey in these pictures. She carried it around with her for most of the day, bringing it to meals and napping with it in between.
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Happy Birthday, Erin!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Erin Yuhas, who in her selfless generosity chose to celebrate her own birthday today by giving the chimpanzees a special day! She even sent a huge package of goodies for the chimpanzees (and humans!) to enjoy. Erin shared the following message:

“This is my birthday and for my present I would love to come visit, volunteer and just hang out with the chimps! Since I can’t be there in person I want to celebrate with the chimps from afar! I’m hoping for lots of good food, presents, and all day fun for these amazing and deserving animals.”

We have truly amazing supporters here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and are thrilled that the chimpanzees have so many friends invested in their care and well being.

Erin, this was an incredibly kind way to celebrate your own special day. Thank you so much!! We all wish you the happiest of birthdays!

Annie and Missy are always up for a day of joy and laughter:

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Hellos and Goodbyes

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One of the greatest talents of the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees is their ability to attract amazing people into their lives.

Unfortunately, they can’t all stay with us forever. In one week, we will be saying farewell to Lisa Schuster, who has served as a part-time caregiver for over a year and as a volunteer for many years before that. In all of her time at CSNW, Lisa has worked tirelessly on behalf of the chimpanzees, from cleaning enclosures to serving meals and everything in between. But most importantly, she has been a true friend and companion to Jamie, Foxie, Jody, Missy, Annie, Burrito, and Negra. So thank you, Lisa, for all you have done for the sanctuary and for chimpanzees everywhere. We know that Jody will be anxiously awaiting your visits.

Though we are sad to see Lisa go, we are also excited to welcome CSNW’s newest team member, Keri Heniff. Keri has been a volunteer at CSNW since 2012 and has been training for the last six weeks for her new role as a part-time staff caregiver. In addition to caring for the chimps, she will be sharing her experiences right here on the blog. You can learn more about Keri here, and you can reach her by emailing [email protected].

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Lisa and Keri

 

Tomatoes from the Garden

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Included among the vegetables currently ripening in the chimpanzees’ garden (thanks to volunteer Denice), are many cherry tomatoes:

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This has not escaped the notice of one Missy Chimpanzee. The chimpanzees have a great view of the garden from all of the windows of the playroom. While many of the windows are bullet-proof glass, we do have some that have window caging over them, which allows us to open the window on the other side of the window cage for air flow. It also allows the chimps to climb on the caging. Here is Missy clinging to the window caging, gazing at the tomato plants:

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Missy may be of the opinion that the windows open so that we can give her those tomatoes she has her eye on, and that’s fine with us – it’s fun and satisfying to be able to give the chimpanzees exactly what they are asking for. Today, volunteer caregiver Connie and staff member Debbie served Missy some tomatoes.

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Jamie joined in on the spontaneous treat:

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I can not emphasize enough how much Missy loves tomatoes:

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