Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for December 2023

New Year’s Eve? New Climbing Structure!

by

Thank you to that long list of supporters in the video above who donated towards new climbing structures in the Comfort & Joy online auction. What a fabulous day for some new adventure! I hope you all are looking forward to new things with the turn of the calendar tomorrow.

We have had a lot of new things delivered to the sanctuary recently! A huge shout-out to everyone who has purchased items through our Amazon wish list this month. Even with the wonders of modern technology and the efficient delivery of packages, we often don’t know who sent us wish list items. So, if you don’t receive a personal thank  you, it might be because your name wasn’t included as the gift giver. This time of year, we have quite a backlog of thanking to do too, so perhaps a thank you is on the way. In either case, please know how grateful you are for thinking of the chimpanzees and providing them and the sanctuary with much needed and much loved items.

Big thanks also to everyone who has made a donation of cash or securities this month. It’s heartwarming to receive your year-end support and read your messages about how much the sanctuary means to you. We appreciate every dollar donated and will put it to good use in 2024. THANK YOU!

Playtime with Foxie, Neggie and Burrito

by

It was a mellow day in the chimp house today. On Jamie’s side of the building everyone was in a playful mood, whether they had a friend or had to make their own fun. As you’ll see in today’s video, Bubba had no problem making his own fun!

Meanwhile, on Cy’s side it was naps and quiet walks on the Bray with a friend.

 

Cy and Rayne enjoy a quiet nap in their nests after a long morning of looking through some magazines and books:

Cy:

Rayne and Terry enjoying a quiet walk on the Bray:

Rayne and Terry trying to spy on Jake (maintenance) while he drove the tractor:

Happy Birthday to Debbie Anderson!

by

Thanks so much to Debbie Reintzell for this lovely day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in celebration of her friend, Debbie Anderson!

“I would like to sponsor December 30th in honor of my dear friend Debbie Anderson’s birthday! Debbie is a selfless individual always taking time to help others in need, friend or stranger.  When she’s not helping others in a specific way she is out volunteering her time with local charities to help make our community a better place. I am honoring Debbie this day in celebration of her birthday and in celebration of what caring, loving friendships mean to all of us. Reminding me of our precious chimps.”

Happy Birthday, from us all, Debbie! May it be the best one yet!

Honey B and Dora:

Jody and Foxie:

Annie and Missy:

Foxie and friends:

Dora and Lucky:

Library Day

by

It’s no secret that Jamie Chimpanzee loves books, and after being on the nice list and getting lots of gifts at Christmas, she had amassed quite the book collection. Today we decided to give her lots of her books to look through all at once and called it Library Day. It was a blast! Sabrina and I had fun decorating for the occasion – setting up all of her books on their own shelves, and then providing cabbage, radicchio, and juice as refreshments for the event. It turned into a library party when the stars aligned and their enrichment for the day was peanut butter puzzles, so they got a lot of things they enjoy all at once!

Above: Jamie looking through her books.

Above: Jamie drinking juice from a tea cup.

Everyone except for Negra took turns drinking from the large juice pool by the library setup. Negra made her way upstairs quickly to the peanut butter puzzles and blankets and soon was cozy in her newly built nest.

Here is a photo of Negra that I took recently, being her wonderful, regal self.

I hope you all enjoy the video from today, and have had a wonderful holiday season. The celebrations continue at the sanctuary with Burrito’s birthday which is quickly approaching! If you would like to send gifts to help him celebrate, please check out our wish list here.

2023, year in Review

by

As 2023 draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on the year that’s swiftly passing into our rear-view mirror. A shout out to our followers for always inspiring such good ideas for blog topics.

This year has definitely been a tough one for us at the sanctuary, most notably with the passing of our dear Jody Chimpanzee back at the end of April. Jody was such a huge part of her group and we all still feel the ripple effects of losing her. JB put together an eloquent and important blog about how her group mates mourned Jody on the night of her passing.

There was also lots of joy and excitement this year! We had two big birthdays this year. Burrito turned 40 and Negra marked her 50th birthday with a huge party!

The beginning of April was the very important heart week at the sanctuary as Terry, Lucky and Cy made trips to the clinic for cardiovascular exams.

In mid-May, Cy’s group went out on the Bray for the first time! This year we’ve seen such growth from that group of nine as they conquer the elements of their outdoor enclosure, one structure at a time. Sweet Lucky summoned the courage to journey outside just a few weeks after her group gained access. Her hanging out on the platform for the first time was one of my personal favorite moments of the year!

There have been numerous fun play sessions that we’ve blogged about this year, frequently starring Honey B!

Speaking of Honey B, who could forget that time she got the hose?

Oh do you also happen to remember that mystery Grace posted about months and months ago? Well it took far too long for us to figure out the perpetrator of this prank that kept going and going. Month after month, a new calendar would appear on the white board in the foyer.  Just a couple of weeks ago, volunteer Dusty admitted that she had been making the calendars and sneaking them in the chimp house to torment us with this ongoing whodunit puzzle.

Volunteer Dusty who keeps good secrets:

Here’s looking towards 2024. For me personally, I’m focusing on hope, love and home more than ever next year. What was your most memorable moment at the sanctuary from this year?

 

Post Party Blues

by

Today was pretty low key. The chimps seemed to be recovering from all the festivities, I think we can all relate to that! Please enjoy a few photos of the chimps having a nice lazy day.

Jamie on the barrel:

Jamie holding Foxie’s doll and her bonobo book:

Honey B eating Brussels Sprouts:

Lucky:

Rayne soooo sleepy in a nest:

Cy:

Gordo grooming Terry (Cy and Mave grooming in the background)

Gordo is so handsome:

Snow Toes

by

If you watched yesterday’s video of all the celebrations, you may have noticed we did have the whitest of Christmas this year. We did, however, receive some albeit lite, snow over night. It was just enough to glance a peek at who has been visiting the sanctuary during the night.

As caregiver Amanda and I were conducting our daily inspection of the perimeter fence this morning, we noticed not just a plethora of tracks, but a decent variety of tracks.

On our way up the Young’s Hill side, we noticed two sets of tracks going up and down.

Upon closer inspection, we both could clearly see they were left by a some kind of canine.

After confirming with Diana and J.B. that they did not take Abbey, Benny, or Nala for a walk up the hill recently, we can rule them out. With only one other species of canine that inhabits the area, it’s safe to say these tracks more than likely belong to some coyotes. Though there are wolves and foxes in Washington, we don’t really see them around here. Plus the size is a little more consistent with a coyote than the other two.

Also left almost literally all over were deer tracks.

We do have a lot of deer who call sanctuary grounds home. More often than not it will either be mule deer or the occasion white-tail deer. Just because there are two families of mule deer seen recently, I’m just going to guess these were mostly mule deer.

Admittedly, these next tracks I just saw be made.

These were made by a little round fluffy chickadee.

*no archived photo found of chickadee*

These next tracks were left by the absolute most fearless, vicious predator on sanctuary grounds. A predator so fierce, wolves, coyotes, cougars, bears, and all other wildlife are afraid of him.

These tracks belong to the one and only Barn Kitty! It was kind of fun to follow his steps to see where his paws lead him around. And trust me, he walks around a lot more than I thought, and I had already assumed he was walking around a lot.

Here are his paw prints next to one of the chickadees. Yes. I can confirm these tracks were made at two different times since I saw the chickadee make them.

Last but not least, there are these tracks.

Upon closer inspection, I could only guess these were made by that elusive Washington resident: Sasquatch.

Ok. Maybe not the Sasquatch, but his cousin Chimpsquatch.

And course it wouldn’t be a true snow day with some snow treats!

Burrito
Jamie

As a bonus for today, here are some photos from yesterday’s Christmas celebration!

Annie

Missy

Negra and Burrito

And my last message for tonight:

Someone very special has a birthday rapidly approaching! We could really use your help in making it special by going to our wish list and help us acquire some of the supplies/presents we want to give the special guy: Burrito!