Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Our amazing supporter Shelley Winfrey, sponsored this day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in memory of her dad, Bill Clark. Shelley, thank you so much for including the chimpanzees in this important day. We’re all wishing you and your family a day filled with comfort and loving remembrance.
Some of the chimps (particularly Honey B) spent the day after Christmas investigating their new presents:
Mave on the other hand, was more interested in the leftover Christmas packaging:
She also found an old standby. These rainbow toe socks seem to never get old!
As for me, this will be my last blog for a little while as I head into my maternity leave. Fingers crossed our baby girl comes soon (due date is tomorrow!). Many thanks go to all my extremely supportive coworkers for covering for me and Chad for joining the team this winter! I’ve been jealously watching Negra nap in the most luxurious fleece blanket nest today and am secretly longing for a bit of time off in my own nest. Talk to you all next year!
It was a crazy Christmas in the chimp house! We had two huge parties, one in the Mezzanine and one in the Playroom. Don’t worry, we had a party for Burrito too. Their parties were filled with cider, stuffed squash, green beans, and new toys. Honey B LOVED her new broom, Foxie was so excited for her new dolls, and Jamie could not wait to make a nest with her new boots and books! This was Honey B, Mave, and Willy B’s first Christmas at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. And I have to say I think they approved!
We have so many amazing donors and supporters. Thank you so much for helping make these 10 amazing chimpanzee’s Christmas feel so special. Happy Holidays everyone!
Jody:
Foxie:
Honey B:
Chris Haggard sponsored this day of sanctuary for Aimee and the chimpanzees!
“Happy Holidays to Ammie and all her favorite friends from the sanctuary!”
Thank you so much, Chris, for including the chimpanzees in your holiday celebration with Aimee! We truly appreciate all that you help make possible for them.
Aimee, we so appreciate you holding the chimps in your heart and wish you a beautiful day!
Annie:
Annie and Foxie:
Be sure to tune in later today to catch the chimps’ holiday celebration! 🙂
A few weeks ago, the staff received amazing personalized gift baskets from past and current volunteers as a gesture of support following the emotionally challenging times with the now-failed integration attempts of the two groups of chimpanzees. These surprise gifts were incredible and generous.
Along with the gift baskets was a jar filled with pieces of paper that had typed messages. Many were from interns and volunteers we haven’t seen in years. Some were particularly touching messages from blog readers that had been copied and included with the words from volunteers. Kelsi immediately dubbed it “The Feelings Jar.”
I was pretty overwhelmed by the gesture and could not keep my composure to read the messages that day, or the next day, or the day after that. My composure seemed to be rather elusive, truth be told.
This past weekend, after having the jar at home for over a week, I finally sat down by myself on my couch, tissues nearby, and read each message. My composure disappeared after reading the first words on the first piece of paper and didn’t return until I had finished all of them.
Chimpanzees are known for their resilience.
We see it every day at the sanctuary. It’s easy to forget what the ten chimpanzees at CSNW have been through in their pasts when watching them independently explore the outdoor habitat, wrestle with each other while sporting huge play-faces, or get out-of-their-minds excited about what would appear to be a run-of-the-mill meal. They have each been through a lot of negative experiences, but they carry on with the here-and-now with a determined focus on the good things they can get out of each day.
I can’t say that I always share this same quality with them. I am rather skilled at directing my attention either on all of my errors in the past or the doom that is sure to come in the future.
I’ve heard that one way to improve resilience is to have a support system. These last few months have been some of the most difficult, but I’ve also never felt so bolstered by others. Thank you.
I haven’t been very focused on my main job, fundraising, these last few months, and seeing year-end donations come in the mail and online also provides me with the knowledge that you believe in what the sanctuary is doing and you want to be a part of it’s future.
You know that there is much work to be done to help more chimpanzees. For them, I thank you for helping us humans feel like we can move forward while also focusing on the positives of today.
Which brings me to today!
It’s a bright, sunny day in Cle Elum, and we decided it was perfect timing for Burrito, who was with Jamie and Jody, to get outside on Young’s Hill for the first time since his surgery.
As though this were not enough of a positive to focus on, I found Mave inside this morning being very playful:
Happy Christmas Eve, Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Tuesday. Whether you are celebrating or not, I hope you too found some positive things in your day today. Maybe it was this blog post!
June Jones sponsored this special day of sanctuary in honor of her beloved family member, Ruger. She shared this sweet message about today:
“We are sponsoring this day in honor of our beloved Ruger who crossed the Rainbow Bridge last week. Every night when he would dig and dig at his blankets to make his nest for the night, I thought how much he resembled the beautiful chimp people you take such loving care of. Bless you for all you do for those wonderful beings.”
June, we are so sorry for the loss of your beloved family member, Ruger. Our hearts go out to you and we are all sending wishes for comfort and peace. Thank you so much for allowing us to share in Ruger’s memory with the chimpanzees. We so appreciate your kind and generous heart.
Missy:
Sweet Mave:
Jody:
Beautiful Ms. Foxie, working the camera. I have to say, Foxie is pulling off the one-eared look quite well, somehow looking more adorable than ever. But then she is Foxie. She can’t help it, she was just born that way.
As I write this, Burrito is having his first double play date with Foxie and Jamie and not only that, but they are in the greenhouse in the midst of a slow motion game of chase, Burrito laughing and breathy panting his heart out! We are trying to capture photos with the beautiful new camera lens we received (thank you!!!).
The human-side of the chimp house is also a hub of exciting activity right now as we act as the chimps’ elves unpacking all of the amazing gifts that keep arriving for Christmas, thanks to you. It’s a flurry of opening boxes, rifling through paper and the hammering together by Chad of one tiny, pink car that we can just picture Honey B zooming around in.
**As a side note, if you’ve sent gifts via our Amazon Wishlist (or otherwise) you’ll be receiving acknowledgment of your wonderful gifts as soon as this particular staff catches up on that end of things. We don’t always receive supporter information with Amazon gifts so feel free to reach out if you’re wondering and thank you in advance for your kindness (and patience!).
And for all the folks holding fundraisers and donating through Facebook, thank you! Facebook does not share contact information with us unless donors choose to do so, so if you need a receipt please feel to free to reach out to us or the fundraiser coordinator so we can get you one. It’s so important to us to acknowledge each of you and the generous contributions you make to the chimpanzees’ lives so in the meantime, please know how very much we appreciate your generous, heartfelt support in whichever form it is so graciously shared.
Happy Christmas Eve Eve everyone! No matter how, or if, you celebrate, may the magic you bring to the chimpanzees’ lives be cast over your own lives as well.
