Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for December 2015

New Friends

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The Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees don’t have a lot of guy friends. JB is the only male staff member and the majority of our chimp house volunteers are women. Since men are such a novelty around here, they’re usually given an enthusiastic welcome by the chimps.

Volunteer Zane has recently progressed in his training from Level I to Level II, which means that instead of working solely in the kitchen and away from the chimpanzees, he is now cleaning enclosures, offering the chimps a previously unprecedented level of (visual) access to him. They couldn’t be happier. Annie and Jody both gave him extended googly-eyed greetings this morning, and Burrito spent awhile sitting in the front rooms this afternoon craning his neck to try to get a good view of Zane processing produce in the kitchen. Here’s to new friends!

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Happy Birthday, Arva!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Arva Roland! She shared this message about today: “It’s my birthday and I have loved chimps since I was very little.”

Happy Birthday, Arva! Thank you so much for caring about the chimpanzees and making a difference in their lives! We are so touched that you chose to give this gift as a way to celebrate both their lives and your own. All of us here at CSNW wish you the happiest of days and hope it’s one filled with the love, joy, and comfort that you help provide for the chimps, as Annie brilliantly demonstrates:

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So much to be grateful for

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The past few weeks have been a wild rumpus of weather. Pouring rain, freezing rain, freezing fog, snow and ice. The chimpanzees have been troopers, and even boss lady Jamie has been handling the interruption in walks around Young’s Hill relatively well. But they relish every chance they get to stretch their bodies and minds in between the late autumn storms.

This week we’ve had a couple of beautifully bright, sunny mornings with warmer temperatures (meaning above freezing) and Jamie, Missy, Annie and Foxie, in particular, have been heading outside after breakfast to run, leap, climb and explore. J.B. and I both captured some of the happenings.

Missy (foreground) and Annie (background) both bipedal before they sprinted off through the bamboo in a game of chase.

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Annie (L) and Missy (R):

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I love Missy’s play face in this one:

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Foxie and France Dora pass by on their way to explore:

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Missy contemplates her next move:

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Foxie and her beloved new France Dora decide to take a climb and see what they can see:

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You can just see the river that runs below the sanctuary in the top left corner.

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Jamie has made sure we are making the most of every single walkable moment with the weather breaks. The forecast is predicting a snow storm beginning tonight and through tomorrow so maybe she knows there’s no time to waste.

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And with the holidays fast approaching, all is abuzz as we begin preparations for the chimps’ holiday celebration. Donations, gifts from our Wishlist for the chimps and humans alike, and holiday cards full of love and good wishes have been pouring in! And trolls! So many trolls for Foxie! We are constantly astounded by your generosity and are so full of gratitude to you all! And we would like to share a special thank you for long-time supporter, Diana Petri, for her amazingly generous gift of the new office computers Diana and I put on the Wishlist! Diana has been patching hers together for months and mine is an old PC that has been making crazy noises when it’s forced to wake up in the morning, so to say we are excited is an understatement.

But most importantly, each one of your gifts, whether for the chimpanzees, or to help the humans care for the chimpanzees, not only provides for their direct quality care, but allows us to focus more funds toward maintaining a secure future and beginning our exciting plans for expansion and growing our chimpanzee family. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to each and every one of you who have given your support, in whatever form that has come. Every single thought, dollar and gift makes an immense difference to the chimpanzees’ lives, both now and in the future.

And to get in the spirit of the season, I will leave you with this moment from today captured by Anna. Foxie, her new France Dora (out of sight, but who was being passed back and forth between us) and I sat down to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” this afternoon. The sweet Vince Guaraldi music is some of my favorite to listen to this time of year (not to mention seeing, and okay, yes, mimicking the Peanuts characters’ dancing scene) and as Foxie loves music and dancing I thought the show might be right up her alley. Sure enough, the second she heard the music she smiled and started head-bobbing along.

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Happiest of holiday seasons to all of you!

Missy’s mission

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Often times Missy will join Jamie on her perimeter walks around Young’s Hill (the chimps’ 2 acre outdoor enclosure), although I suspect her mission is a bit different than that of Jamie’s. Jamie is all business as she walks, checking to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary and that her home is safe from intruders (and that at least one cowboy-boot-wearing human is accompanying her on the other side of the fence).

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Missy on the other hand uses the opportunity to move every muscle in her body, while getting a cardio workout at the same time. It’s not that she doesn’t support the bosses’ mission (she is actually the first one to offer back up to any of the other chimps), it’s just that with so much to explore, there’s no time to waste. And you have to act fast to get snow and ice chunks before they melt.

Today, Missy walked behind Jamie about half way around Young’s Hill before venturing off.
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She paused briefly to eat a few small chunks of ice before continuing.

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She made sure to check all her favorite spots for the treats (you can see her arm reaching in the tire swing) while Annie sat on top of the structure.

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She found more treats on the ground below the fire hose.
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And then….Jackpot!!!
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Today is in memory of Carl Rude

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Zane and Ian Davies in memory of their grandfather, Carl Rude. Zane is a chimp house volunteer and puts so much thought, care and hard work into everything he does for the chimpanzees. We are so lucky to have him as part of our sanctuary family! He shared this message about today:

“In memory of my grandfather Carl Rude whose birthday is December 13th. Carl would have been absolutely fascinated by the work CSNW does for these chimpanzees. He was a very compassionate man who was always helping others who need it. Thank you CSNW staff. Please accept this donation from Ian and Zane Davies in Carl Rude’s memory on what would have been his 84th birthday.”

Zane and Ian, thank you so much for your generous gift for the chimpanzees as you carry on your grandfather’s legacy. We are honored that you would choose to celebrate his memory by making the chimps’ lives better. It sounds like he was a very special person. We will be holding all of you in our thoughts today and thank you for caring about the chimpanzees and all you do for them.

Jamie:

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