Check out Foxie’s unique game in this video and then feel free to jump on over and browse our newly updated Amazon Wish list. Happiest of Thursdays everyone!
The Highlights
A few photos from the day, in no particular order! Happy Thursday everyone!
Glamorous Rayne:
Nutmeg in a fresh field of green (photo by Chad):
Mave and Dora have a sweet budding friendship. What a delight watching them play and groom together this afternoon:
Negra on the mend:
Spring green!
A little wind didn’t stop Burrito’s group from enjoying a lunch forage on Young’s Hill today.
Jody was the first one to bring her bounty back to the greenhouse. She efficiently collected her peppers and cucumbers before hustling inside to eat her meal:
Missy inhaled many Roma tomatoes before settling down to savor her cucumber:
Burrito and his armful:
Foxie likes a good cucumber:
Annie looking for primate chow:
Negra, a mouthful of chow and a sea of green:
Enriching Negra
Negra was quick to investigate these Frisbee puzzles when we hung them in the greenhouse this afternoon. If an enrichment item involves peanut butter, Negra is first in line!
And then there were 9
This morning Kelsi opened the last door and officially fully merged Willy B with Cy’s groups into a single group of 9. While we can’t say for sure that this is the final product of all of our intro efforts, we remain cautiously optimistic. There is plenty of socialization work left to be done. For now though, we celebrate this momentous occasion.
The new big group (Honey B not pictured):
It might be hard to see, but there are 9 chimpanzees in this photo taken of our video surveillance tv!!
Cy and Willy B:
Appreciation during still uncertain times
This week is National Volunteer Appreciation week and I’m finding that there are not enough words to express how much our volunteers mean to us.
As the pandemic hit in March of 2020, we made the extremely tough decision to limit the numbers of humans that we had coming to the sanctuary in order to help protect the chimpanzees. This meant we had to lay off the bulk of our extremely valuable volunteer and intern workforce. While only a few volunteers were able to adapt to our strict protocols and qualifications, others found different ways to help at a distance. They filled bags of primate chow from home,collected enrichment and helped plan fundraising events. Their creativity and resourcefulness has been astounding!
Now, 2 years later, we are still working with a limited (although slightly larger) group of volunteers. Our COVID protocols have adjusted over time, but our resources (high quality masks and rapid tests) remain limited, so we currently have an active group of only 6 volunteer caregivers. While there are still many of our loving volunteers on hiatus through no fault of their own, we wanted to specifically recognize the very hard work and dedication of our current “Level 3” caregivers.
Please join me in thanking Patti, Lisa, Elizabeth, Keri, Lizz and Krissy for all their hard work during this ongoing pandemic. We seriously couldn’t have done it without you and we can’t wait for the day when we can welcome more volunteers back to the sanctuary!
Besides hard working, our volunteers can also be elusive to photograph, so we have a mixture of old and new photos of them.
Patti cleaning the front rooms:
Lisa and Foxie:
A 2015 throwback photo of Keri and Jamie:
Elizabeth and Honey B:
Krissy disinfecting the front rooms:
Lizz grooming Jamie:
Goodbyes and Hellos
Last week, staff member and longtime friend to all at the sanctuary, Sam wrote her last blog post. Sadly, that means she is moving away from Washington for her next adventure. I will miss Sam for her easy going yet mischievous personality, welcoming nature and huge heart. Everyone who knows Sam naturally loves her and she becomes a perfect fit for every team she joins. For the staff and the chimpanzees/cattle at CSNW, this isn’t really goodbye, it’s see you later!
Sam and Cy:
Sam racing Jamie:
Sam, pictured with her scarecrow doppelgänger and her cat Gracie’s doppelgänger (expertly played by my daughter Luna):
This blog post isn’t all bittersweet goodbyes though. As we wish Sam well, we also got to welcome our newest staff member Grace last month! Grace is a former graduate student intern that returns to us with her own wealth of knowledge and experience (more on that when she introduces herself on her first blog). Grace has been very busy getting acquainted and re-acquainted with the sanctuary residents, all while learning the ropes or our daily routine.
Cy and his welcoming stare:
Jamie gives Grace and her new boots a proper inspection:
Welcome Grace and best wishes to Sam!
