Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Diana

Snow Snackin Video and Mora Blanket Thanks!

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Carrying through from my post last week about the chimpanzees enjoying snow, which Chad also posted about a few days ago, I bring you a delightful video of Cy and Terry (mostly Terry).

As you can see, that group really likes to eat snow too!

We are continuing our thanks to donors for bidding on items for the chimpanzees in the Comfort and Joy auction last month. Even if you didn’t technically “win” the item for the chimps, if you bid on it, you contributed to the final donation amount, and we are so grateful to you! Huge thanks again to Monica for donating so many items for the auction!

Our very own Chad was the “winner” who gets final credit for gifting this fabulous and large Mora (Mave + Dora) blanket that was hung so well in the Marmot Mountain Playroom. Hopefully we can catch some chimps nesting with it soon!

Do Chimpanzees Like Snow?

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Snow (eating) season has arrived! Burrito’s group knows what it’s all about. Cy’s group I would say is still acclimating to the winters we have here compared to outside of LA where they lived for most of their lives. It’s warming up over the next few days, so we’ll see who braves the snowy outdoors!

The Whole Family

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I got it into my head today to take photos of EVERYONE for the blog. I’m still not sure that was a good idea, but it turned out to be fun walking around and seeing what every single individual was up to at various points during the day.

The stand-out revelation from this experience was that Negra was the most active of the whole bunch (well, besides Burrito of course). So, I won’t bury that lead and will share the photos I got of her first:

I probably could just end the blog post there, because it’s a little tale unto itself, but I was already hip-and-brain-deep in this idea of getting photos of everyone, so here we go…

Annie with her fab hair:

Burrito, who invited multiple people to run up the hill with him today:

Foxie contemplating a stem of something:

Jamie, contemplating poking the camera:

Missy contemplating joining Burrito outside:

Missy very up-close in the loft (I had to get a tall ladder for this one):

Photos on the other side of the building were challenging, but I persevered.

I had the most challenge with Cy because he was either in an awkward high-up perch or sandwiched between his adoring chimp fans:

I did finally get this photo of him grooming Willy B. Even when doors are open between rooms, the chimps will choose to groom through the mesh. I don’t know why they do it, but I always find it charming:

Adorable Dora:

Honey B, shown here in the Chute, followed me around in my photographing journey:

Gordo was another tough chap to photograph today. This is a favorite spot of his in the Lupine Playroom. He can see a lot of other spaces in this corner (did you know there was a study that showed chimpanzees and gorillas in captive settings like corners?):

Pensive-looking Lucky in the Marmot Mountain Playroom:

although most of the time she was this close to the camera:

Mave taking a break from grooming on the catwalk of the Marmot Mountain Playroom:

Rayne doing some serious lounging in the warm Riverview Greenhouse:

Terry being perfectly Terry, with a mouthful of a paper wadge and water:

Willy B keeping an eye on me:

Not wanting to ignore the other important members of the family, I asked J.B. to take some candids of the bovines:

Betsy in motion:

Meredith in between bites of hay:

Nutmeg in all his glory (did you know that the cattle add extra hair for winter? They are delightfully furry right now):

A boop from Honey:

J.B. also snapped this photo of some deer he and Jake passed on their way down from the upper pasture:

I hope you enjoyed our efforts today to bring everyone to you!

Video in Two Parts and Thanks to J.B.!

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Monica Best wanted to do something special for J.B. so she composed this incredibly nice note below and sent him a gift card to Lowes.

J.B. has spent the last two days, with the help of new part-time employee Jake, constructing the start to new structures on the hill. With the end of the Comfort & Joy auction yesterday, where we exceeded our goal for all of the Big Funds, including climbing structures, it seemed appropriate to relish the Comfort & Joy aspects of today and also to take a moment to acknowledge J.B. for all of his hard work.

Here’s Monica’s message to him:

Dear J.B.

I can still remember watching the video of The Bray being unveiled.  As I excitedly watched the chimps explore the fascinating new addition to their home,  I remember being in awe of the new structures.  Then, I recalled a conversation I had with Diana a few months prior.  Just a normal “hey, how you doing” chat.  She was updating me on the chimps and said you were out working on the new structures for The Bray.  Almost jokingly, I asked if you were doing it by yourself.  When she said, “pretty much”, I thought, that’s a lot of work for one person.  At that moment I believed you were Superman.

Now, jump forward to the unveiling and realizing just how incredible the structures were and how much work you must have put into them, I thought, he’s not Superman, he’s a magical unicorn.

I called Diana and told her how incredible the structures were and how flabbergasted I was that you had done all that work on your own.

I asked her if we could do something to show our appreciation and gratitude.  At first, we came up with a whole J.B. Appreciation Week.  But, soon realized that, like most Magical Unicorns that create amazing things, grant magical wishes and can turn a barren piece of land into a Chimpanzee Paradise, with a simple touch of their alicorn;   They, themselves, don’t always prefer grand, flashy declarations and constant praise.  That kind of laud actually can make them uncomfortable.

As sometime went by, and the Comfort and Joy Auction was getting started, I asked Diana if this might be a good time to quietly show our appreciation for your tireless devotion and care of the chimps we all love so much.  It just seemed fitting, since you bring the chimps so much

Comfort and Joy (and so much more), never asking anything in return.

So, Diana has a little present for you, that will hopefully help to get some tools and supplies, to aid in your magical unicorn tasks, that bring so much to the chimps.  Diana also had a wonderful idea to add a fund a cause to the auction, to raise money for new structures….and I know the amazing Sanctuary supporters will make sure the goal is reached.

I truly don’t know how to tell you how much you and all your hard work and dedication are appreciated by so many.

I’m always in awe of everyone at the sanctuary and all you do to ensure the chimps live their best lives.  Lives filled with joy, friends, enrichment, safety….and so much more.  Lives where the atrocities they endured, before arriving at the sanctuary, have slowly faded into the back of their minds and the fear, pain and loneliness of the past are become a distant memory.

Words can never be enough….

But, thank you for all you do.

With love from all CSNW supporters, volunteers, staff and most importantly….The Chimps.

 

P.S. Regarding the nest-building contest – Amanda and I quickly conceded to Grace and Ellen, who were seen in the video. Now that we know what the competition is like, we might challenge them to a rematch in the future.

Fun, Sun, New Experiences, and a Nickname

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It was a brisk fall day today, with periodic and most welcome appearances from the sun. In addition to the patrol that Jamie graciously invited Amanda and I on (after we figured out the proper footwear, of course), we decided to take advantage of that warming orb in the sky and set out a forage in both respective outdoor habitats.

If you aren’t quite sure who Amanda is, she introduced herself in last night’s Comfort & Joy Virtual Gathering presentation, which you can watch here!

Staff member Amanda and volunteer Amanda (we are doubly blessed with Amandas on most Mondays of late) prepared the forage, which consisted of a bunch of scrumptious fall-themed leftovers, including pumpkin, corn, and pomegranates. I suggested to the Amandas that they make a separate bowl for Negra because I doubted that she would venture outside in the windy 46 degrees.

I should know better than to doubt our Queen. Negra was lined up in the Raceway and was the first one on Young’s Hill. Her food grunts could be heard from all of the caregivers watching in delight as she happened upon the pumpkin and corn:

Missy made sure to check the forage hiding spots on high:

On the other side of the sanctuary, Terry was the first out on The Bray, quickly collecting a personal bushel of onions and demonstrating with his posture why J.B. has given him the nickname Meatball:

These days when the sun outcompetes the murmurs of winter-to-come are some of my favorite days at the sanctuary, and I think the chimpanzees feel the same.

 

Enrichment Fund on Comfort & Joy

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The Comfort & Joy online auction is well underway! It started last week and will go until November 18th. I’ve been adding items as we go, and will continue to add more fun stuff before it ends!

Enrichment Coordinator Chad gave me a list of items that he had his eye on. Some are included in the auction as individual items, and yesterday I decided to create an enrichment fund under Help Fund Big Items so we can get all of those small items on Chad’s list.

One of the things we’d like to get is an Amazon Fire TV Stick, which, as I’m typing this, I’m realizing is not exactly an enrichment puzzle. It is, however, enrichment! We should be able to use the Fire TV Stick with our existing TV so that we can stream movies and television shows on Amazon Prime for Cy and friends (right now, we have a large collection of DVDs, but we don’t have the ability to stream).

There are several chimpanzees in Cy’s group who are very into their screen time.

This afternoon, I had YouTube playing for Willy B on my tiny phone screen:

I left my phone there for a while because Rayne had also taken an interest with Dora, Mave, and Lucky sidling up once in a while to watch a little.

So, there’s the start of my pitch for the Big Items funds. You’ll see two appliances on there too. HUGE thanks to those who have already donated towards a frost-free freezer and new dryer!

In addition to donating towards those three funds, there are SO MANY fun comfort & joy items for you to bid on – some for the chimpanzees and some for you to win for yourself! Check them all out now, and keep checking back for new fun stuff!

Here are a couple of bonus close-up photos from today.

Lucky:

and Terry:

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Blanket Fort Day Contest

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We have for you a little something different and interactive today! On the enrichment calendar that Chad prepares for the month, today said “Blanket Fort Day”.  We caregivers are notorious for getting really involved in cleaning and then forgetting to set up blanket forts when it is blanket fort day. So, as a way to remember, Grace suggested we turn it into a bit of a contest, with you being the judges!

The way we divide up the staff for cleaning, is (roughly) half go to the old side of the building and the others to the new side of the building. So, there are two “teams” – one for each side. We were going to try to have each team be anonymous, but there are some nice photos of caregivers included (who you may or may not recognize). Please try to remain completely impartial, regardless.

Chad came up with these categories in which to judge our forts:

  1. Best Overall
  2. Best Photo with Chimp
  3. Best Destroyed

We’ll start with Team A:

Playroom:

 

Playroom Loft:

Greenhouse:

 

And now we have Team B

Riverview Greenhouse:

Marmot Mountain Playroom:

Marmot Mountain Playroom Catwalk:

Lupine Playroom Catwalk:

 

Front room 7:

Mezzanine:

Please respond in the comments with your judgements!

 

Wait a second, blanket forts bring to mind something…. what could it be…

Oh, yes! Comfort & Joy!! Be sure you are signed up for the Comfort & Joy online auction, opening next week, and the other festivities, including a Behind the Scenes Virtual Visit on Jamieween!