Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Diana

Best photo of 2008

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A photo of Foxie’s fingers is one of the Yakima Herald Republic’s best photos of 2008! Photographer Kris Holland and reporter Jean Guerrero came out to the sanctuary only a couple of weeks after the  Cle Elum Seven arrived in June. Jean wrote a really great article and Kris took some fantastic photos. Below is the photo of Foxie’s hand that made the year-end cut.

And this is my personal favorite photo of 2008 (Missy eating frozen watermelon), not coincidentally also by Kris Holland – he’s a really good photographer!

Front room playing

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We do a lot of cleaning at the sanctuary. We thoroughly clean the front rooms and playroom in the morning (unless one or more of the chimps decides not to follow the morning routine) and we spot clean throughout the day. When we clean the playroom, the chimps stay in the front rooms. When we’re doing our big morning clean, during and after their breakfast, we’re always conscious of trying to get done quickly so that the chimps can have the playroom back. What we’ve noticed is that at least some of the chimpanzees take this time to play in the front rooms. We’ve already shared a few videos of Foxie and Jamie playing in the front rooms while we are cleaning the playroom.  Somehow playroom cleaning time = Jamie and Foxie playtime (along with the occasional addition of Missy, Jody and Annie). It’s kind of a play routine they’ve established around our cleaning routine.

Below is another video of Foxie and Jamie. This short video is action-packed! It includes double troll doll action, a sheet, and a leap-over move never seen before. The noise you hear in the background is J.B. squeegeeing the floor of the playroom.

play video coming soon…

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Sorry we haven’t posted in a little while! Things are hectic, in a good holiday kind of way. We’ve been working on getting all of your donation thank-you cards, new chimp pal packages and merchandise orders out in time for your holiday celebrations. Having this kind of work is so fun and gratifying. I can’t believe everyone’s generosity, and it’s so neat to see people come together in support of the Cle Elum Seven!

I do have a video to share with you all. I will upload it by tomorrow at noon – how’s that for giving myself a deadline 🙂 — it’s a really sweet video.

More soon!

Let it snow!

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Yesterday began Cle Elum’s first snow storm of the year. And, to be honest, the chimpanzees did not react to the first flakes. I was thinking, “oh no, what are we going to tell the blog readers! Everyone is anxious to know what the chimps think of snow and they have no reaction!” It snowed more overnight and of course we had the outdoor area closed off to keep it toasty warm in the building. I opened the door to the outdoor area about 11:00 this morning and to my delight and surprise there was food grunting – and lots of it, especially from Jody. Everyone except Burrito took a turn sitting in the doorway and gathering up snow to eat. Burrito hung back and watched – I’m not sure if he was apprehensive or if he just didn’t get what the fuss was about.

Anyway, here are some photos and a video of the Cle Elum Seven ladies’ first experience of snow. What a way to celebrate 6 months in sanctuary!

Six months ago today

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 I wanted to start everyone’s morning by simply pointing out that today is the Cle Elum Seven’s six month anniversary in sanctuary. It’s hard to believe. We’ve seen so many changes in the chimpanzees in this half year. Six months is a short amount of time compared to the years they spent in biomedical research, but I think we’ve proven that it doesn’t take long to begin to heal. I look forward to writing about all of them at their one year, two year…. ten year anniversary.

Thank you all for being there for them.

Jody

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Jody has a few new fans who have pointed out that she is not as represented in our blog posts as some of the other chimpanzees. I think there are a few reasons for that. She is not interested in as much attention from humans as Jamie or Foxie (for example). Jody gives us very enthusiastic greetings and then goes on her way to do her own thing. Sometimes she doesn’t like to have her photo taken (when she’s unhappy with something, she spits huge mouthfuls of water at us in a very deliberate way :). And often she’s relaxing in a part of the building that’s not easy to photograph.  In any case, below are a few photos of Jody that we have not shared before.

We shared a couple of photos of Jody photos in a recent e-newsletter to show how dramatically the chimpanzees have changed in their physical appearance. Below is another photo of Jody taken the first day the chimpanzees were at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.  The below photo really gets to me. She was so happy to have these blankets to nest with, and she made the smallest circle around her. She looks so fragile. I don’t think she realized how much bigger her life had become. Thank you to all of Jody’s Pals!

Saturday Enrichment Party update

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Party planners Cindy and Jeani asked me to post this for ya’ll regarding the super fun enrichment party this Saturday. Make some gifts for the chimps and chat with your fellow chatters.

New Place: Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in Kirkland. On the corner of NE 124th St and 100Ave NE
New Time: 12:30 (need to be done by 3:30)

Questions? Contact: Jeani: [email protected] or Cindy: [email protected]

Address: 10021 NE 124th St, Kirkland, WA 98034 (425) 823-2727

Directions:
From the South:
Take 405 Northbound to the NE 124th St exit.
Stay in the left lane and take a left of the exit on to NE 124th.
Follow that to 100th NE Ave. The church is on your left on that street corner.

From the North:
ake 405 southbound to the NE 124th St exit.
Turn right off the exit on to NE 124th ST and stay on NE 124th until you come to 100th NE Ave.
Holy Spirit is on your left.

Park in the large lot and Jeani will be at the doors to show you the room.