Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

Anna

Memories for Monday

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Every now and then I like to look back and see what life was like at the sanctuary on this same day in CSNW history.

On June 17th in 2008, the chimpanzees had just arrived in their new home in Cle Elum. Diana took this haunting photo of Jody that we can now compare to this photo of her today. What a difference sanctuary life has made!

On June 17th in 2009, Diana shared a couple stories about Foxie and how her life had changed after one year in sanctuary.

On June 17th in 2010, big beautiful nests were all the rage!

On June 17th in 2011, JB and volunteers were in the throes of building Young’s Hill.

On June 17th in 2012, Burrito played a silly game (some things never change).

On June 17th in 2013, we mentioned our Amazon wishlist. This list is still up and running and today it includes some exciting new items such as our washer and dryer that we are going to need in our expansion!

On June 17th in 2014, Missy got a good view from the top of the hill!

On June 17th in 2015, Katelyn wrote about a private moment of friendship between Foxie and Burrito.

On June 17th in 2016, JB took us for a trip down Memory Lane.

On June 17th in 2017, it was a perfectly ordinary day 🙂

And last year on June 17th, we threw the chimps a slightly belated 10 year Anniversary party!

We can’t wait to see what will come our way next year!

Negra’s 46th birthday party!

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Today we celebrated Negra’s 46th birthday and the 11th anniversary of the chimpanzees’ arrival to their sanctuary. Since it’s Negra’s (honorary) birthday, we geared the day towards the things she truly loves. The morning started with a beautiful brunch featuring buckwheat carrot waffles (with a peanut butter drizzle) made with love by volunteer caregiver Patti, hard boiled eggs from my happy chickens, fresh roses and juicy plums!

I think this video of the waffle feast pretty much sums up how absolutely delighted Negra was.

Then for lunch we set out a giant lettuce forage. It’s really nice that simple things like a whole head of lettuce can still be so exciting to the chimps (even after 11 years!!).
Everyone enjoyed their lunch, but Jamie really wowed us (and not just because she collected a bunch of lettuce). It had more to do with what she decided to do after she filled her hands and mouth:

We were all in awe as she crossed an entire tightrope like this:

Here’s to many more years of waffle and lettuce celebrations!

A big week!

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We’ve got a big week full of excitement planned here at the sanctuary. This Thursday we are celebrating the 11th year of the chimpanzees’ arrival at their forever home in Cle Elum. Of course, the chimps’ party planning committee is working hard to make the day special for them!

Here’s Jody during last year’s party forage:

We also celebrate Negra’s honorary birthday on the same day (June 13th). This week she will be turning 46 years old!

As if this wasn’t already enough excitement, staff, volunteers and many amazing supporters are all ending the week together in Seattle at HOOT! our big gala fundraising celebration. There are just a few tickets left in case you haven’t purchased yours yet. This year everyone gets to participate in the big day, even if you can’t make it to the actual venue. First, you can start by previewing what’s going to be up for auction here. Then, starting tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m., you can get involved in the auction and start pre-bidding online!

So much to celebrate, we can’t hardly wait!

Snacking and monitoring

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Jody is always keeping an eye on her Cle Elum 7 family. The other day she waited patiently for Negra to come back inside from Young’s Hill, all while snacking on several prickly (but apparently delicious) wild rose plants she had harvested.

For those wondering about Burrito today after yesterday’s visit to the new clinic, he is doing great. He’s still sleepy but seems to be enjoying the extra treats and alone time until he gets back to his full-rowdy self.