We hope that you have been enlightened, entertained, and inspired by the musings on years’ past this week. Today’s final post in the looking-back brings us from June 2015 to last week, the eighth anniversary of the arrival of the Cle Elum Seven to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
The chimps’ eighth year began with a true test of our medical clinic. Burrito spent some time in the clinic twice after breaking a canine tooth. The first was an exam to determine the extent of his previously-diagnosed congestive heart failure and to assess the broken tooth, and the second was the tooth (make that teeth) extraction procedure.
The chimpanzees are so fortunate to have such good human friends in their corner, who always go out of their way to ensure that they have the best care possible, and Burrito was in the hands of a large huge team of veterinary professionals who donated their time and skills to see Burrito through his procedures without a hitch.
Dare I say he’s even cuter with his missing teeth?
Dora the Explorer and friends were making frequent appearances with Foxie last year, and she seemed to show a particular fondness for the jaunty and clearly extra-adventurous France Dora:
and Dora’s fiery-haired friend Kate:
Troll dolls have not been replaced, though! They continued to be a favorite enrichment item for Foxie, with some of the other chimps seeming to adopt the trend:
Last summer, J.B. put together another of my favorite videos of the last eight years – the epic Troll Scarf Tug O War:
While the chimpanzees continue to make the most out of the ever-expanding life in sanctuary…
…the humans have been working hard “behind the scenes” to secure their future and work towards giving more chimpanzees a sanctuary life. The community of donors and volunteers came together and made it possible to purchase the sanctuary property that we had been leasing, acquire new land that tripled the total sanctuary footprint, and enter into an agreement to provide a home for chimpanzees coming out of biomedical research.
And, on a national scale, there was huge news as invasive biomedical research on chimpanzees came to a halt.
Just think about what the next eight years will bring!
As a fairly new viewer I found these past 8 years remembrances informative. I often wondered what Young’s Hill meant (how it got it’s name), how you do medical procedures and dental work and how you can afford it (free service from veterinarians. And I was shocked to learn about the fire. Learning you had a fireproof shelter and an emergency ambulance was comforting should something like that happen again. You people are really on the ball — the chimps are so lucky to have you.)
I’m so glad that you found these posts informative, Elaine! We are definitely the lucky ones.
My how time flies when you are watching chimps having fun! The Championship Troll Scarf Tug-O-War is one of the best! Watching it this time I noticed Foxies butter belly heaving in and out as she pants and laughs with Jamie and it was so cute seeing her whole body laughing with joy!
I believe in these 8 days of ‘Memory Lane’ posts you have shown us all that CSNW may be small in size, with only seven chimpanzees to care for, but you are massive in your knowledge, experience, successes, determination, caregiving, commitment, and compassion. You have accomplished a great deal in a short amount of time and these seven chimps are the luckiest chimps I know. I am very excited to see you make HOME happen for even more deserving chimps awaiting their freedom. Thank you CSNW for providing sanctuary to these seven beautiful beings.
I just read that as “Chimpionship” Troll Scarf Tug-O-War. 🙂
Thank you, Kathleen for these words and for your excitement (and help) for the future!