Animal Sanctuary Caregiver Day 2026

Please join me, in the comments, in honoring the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest staff caregivers: Amanda, Anna, Chad, Dusty, Ellen, Katelyn, Kelsi, Krissy, and Sabrina and our two brand new temporary caregivers Sophia and Cristina!

Caregiving is a challenging and sometimes exhausting job that requires dedication, flexibility, and most of all, resiliency. As Chad shared in his recent mental health awareness blog post, it’s not the kind of job you leave behind at the end of the day. Navigating self care and teamwork during daily stressors and uncertainty is as much of the job as is cleaning, serving, and monitoring the animals under our care.

Each staff caregiver brings their own important perspective and personality that helps create the best care possible for all of the chimpanzees and cows at the sanctuary.

Amanda Pauli, part-time caregiver, hasn’t yet written a blog post, so that’s something you can look forward to! Amanda has experience working at several different sanctuaries. At CSNW, she is also leading the sanctuary’s renewed advocacy program, which you will be hearing more about soon. Amanda brings curiosity and a desire to improve processes and increase efficiency–something every organization needs! Plus, she can use her artistic talents for multiple purposes, including, with Ellen, creating snow people:

Anna Wallace, after a few years working at the Fauna Foundation, has been in various roles over the years at CSNW, and is now the Volunteer Manager, bringing non-staff caregivers and new friends into the sanctuary fold. I describe her as a being a solid person, in so many aspects of her life. She gets things done and always moves forward. This approach serves her well as a caregiver who has to navigate ever-changing circumstances. She also makes a great “Vanna White” at auctions (is that an outdated reference?):

Chad de Bree was a dedicated volunteer before filling a staff role. From enrichment to research coordinator, he’s been able to prove himself to be a great chimpanzee party-planner as well as a dedicated data collector. Chad brings order and thoroughness to his job as a caregiver, which helps keep routines and ensures important policies are not forgotten. Burrito makes sure he lets loose and gets some downtime to play:

Dusty Cavaliere is a volunteer-turned-part-time caregiver who brings a lightheartedness to her shifts, sometimes playing fun pranks on fellow caregivers. She asks questions that help all of us think about situations in different ways, and she’s not afraid to belt out a tune for the cows or hug a new appliance:

Ellen Brady-McGaughey started her sanctuary career at Chimp Haven. Ellen is known for having a smile and a kind word for her fellow team mates. As a caregiver, she brings a combination of diligence and creativity that aids in all aspects of care, including her current role as enrichment coordinator and member of the positive reinforcement training team.

Katelyn Daugherty has been with the sanctuary longer than any other staff member aside from us old-timers (me and J.B.). Much of Katelyn’s work as office manager is behind a computer doing a lot of data entry and connecting with donors. She balances that work with leading summer visits, directly caring for the chimpanzees, and training new Level I volunteers. She imbues everything she does with her love of the chimpanzees. Foxie is her soul mate:

Kelsi Breen worked at the Fauna Foundation before starting as a part-time staff member many years ago, and we quickly made sure she found a full-time role at the sanctuary. Kelsi is the brains and brawn behind visitor and outreach events and juggles that important work connecting others to the sanctuary with her many duties as a direct caregiver, including ordering the chimpanzees produce deliveries twice a week. Kelsi’s infectious laugh raises everyone’s spirits, and the ideas she brings to all of her roles has helped improve the sanctuary. She’s also a great “aunt” to dogs Benny, Abbey, and Nala.

Krissy Brasfield was one of our most dedicated volunteers—so much so that we worried about loosing her as a volunteer when we hired her as a staff member. But we’ve never looked back. Her eagerness to learn and her heart as big as the moon make her a great caregiver and friend to the chimpanzees. In her role as veterinary assistant, she keeps the clinic in tip-top shape and is also learning positive reinforcement techniques that allow us to gather medical information about the chimpanzees with their cooperation. Krissy’s willingness to be vulnerable and see things from multiple perspectives helps everyone.

Sabrina Boyd, like Ellen, came to us with significant experience at Chimp Haven. As the Positive Reinforcement Coordinator at CSNW, she plays an important role in the care of the chimpanzees and the operations of the sanctuary. As a caregiver, she knows what needs to be done and does it (shout out for checking things off the daily checklist!), and she is also able to adjust as the chimpanzees assert their own ideas for how a day is going to go. Sabrina’s unflappability is invaluable in high-stress situations like introductions or in medical emergencies.

Thank you to all of the staff and volunteer caregivers, past and present!