Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Diana

HOOT! Success and Negra’s Aging Backwards

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Last week at this time the chimpanzees were partied out, Katelyn was watching over the sanctuary, and the rest of the staff and a ton of volunteers and supporters were having the annual fundraising party in Seattle. HOOT! 2018 brought in more funds than any previous event. The night-of fundraising was over-the-top and many people who were unable to attend sent in donations from across the country. It was the eighth such event that we’ve had, starting in 2009 and skipping 2012. Each year the love seems to grow stronger!

Andy of Inland Networks TV created the highlights video below. One of the biggest moments was during the Give a HOOT! part of the evening where supporters raise their paddles to make donations. Overall, the event raised over $200,000, and a full half of that was just from Give a HOOT! It was nothing short of amazing! Big thanks to EVERYONE who donated with a special nod to Karen Emmerman Mazner, James & Jennifer Douglas and Ross & Karen Barde. Also thanks to challenge pledges from Kathy Cochran and Leah Roberts who were not attending but helped inspire others to donate.

 

Part of my talk at the event was about not knowing how long the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees would be with us when they arrived a the sanctuary on June 13, 2008. Negra was 35 years old at the time, which is considered elderly. But she’s still going strong and demonstrates the “aging in reverse” phenomenon that seems to have happened for all seven of the chimpanzees.

Here is the photo of Negra that we put on the home page of the website on the first day that the chimpanzees arrived:

Negra on day one

 

Today, Negra climbed to the top of the new (still unnamed!) structure on the hill – the top! I didn’t get a good photo, but I took some others of her exploring.

 

 

We celebrate Negra’s birthday on the anniversary of the chimpanzees’ arrival because she is the epitome of what the sanctuary is all about and it was certainly a new beginning for her. Thank you for being a part of it, whether you have been following for ten years or ten minutes.

 

Missy’s Perfectly Playful Day

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Missy is having a really good day. She and Annie enjoyed some grass together first thing this morning.

 

Later, they played chase at the very top of the new structure.

 

For lunch, they sat next to each other eating some beets.

 

Missy often does things for the sure joy of movement, like this tightrope walk and dismount on some fire hose.

 

Missy shared her good spirits this afternoon by inviting me to play a game of tug-of-war with a blanket. She does this by pushing a blanket under the caging and giving a casual glance at her prospective play partner. Often these tug-of-war games are gentle, but she loves a serious match once in a while. Today, she was being particularly vigorous and I was left having to let go of the blanket when she was pulling very hard, which resulted in her falling backwards. She seemed to find this quite funny, so we repeated it several times.

Watching Missy today was a reminder to get outside, embrace the little moments, and have some laughs with a friend or two.

Endearing Photos of the Day and Special Sanctuary Supporters

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This post includes photos of the day along with information about this year’s HOOT! sponsors.

First, in case you didn’t see this little video on Facebook, take a look and share:

In reference to the video, the sanctuary continues to provide a wonderful and full life for the chimpanzees and is poised to expand only because of people who have supported the chimps over the years. We can’t say thank you enough, and we are excited to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the arrival of Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, and Negra to the sanctuary!

HOOT! 2018 sponsors have made generous contributions this year to help with the costs of the event, and many have gone above-and-beyond throughout the years.

You can join them in making a donation at the HOOT! event on May 19th or right now if you’re unable to attend the event.

Before I get into the wonderful sponsors, below is a photo of Jody. One of the best things about the sanctuary is that the chimpanzees have choices about what they can do in any given moment. In this moment, Jody was choosing to relax in the greenhouse while Jamie was walking around the hill with volunteer Becca.

 

Now for some sponsors that make these choices possible:

HOOT! 2018 Happy Hour Sponsors are:

Tracy Headley
Tracy is a dedicated donor and Foxie Pal. Tracy is a great friend of the sanctuary and supports the chimpanzees in so many ways. We were lucky enough to bring her onto the gala committee for the last two HOOT! events, and she’s really helped this year with ideas and planning. It takes a lot of work to put on the event, and I’m so grateful for everyone who is on the committee!

Pam Lehnert & Marc Warner
Pam was one of our first chimp house volunteers and a key part of our gala for years, and Marc has always been willing to help with whatever creative project Pam comes up with to add to events. Pam was also an early participant in our Chimpanzee Pal program and continues to be a monthly Missy Pal donor. Pam and Marc now live full-time on “this side of the mountains” as they say around here, so they are the chimps’ neighbors too.

 

Poppoff Logo

If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you probably know we’re big fans of this family-owned business. Gay Dorsey was on our board at a critical point in time and we were so appreciative of her leadership and support. Poppoff, Inc has not only donated funds over the years, but has also given in-kind support with various construction projects. We can’t wait to see Poppoff, Inc out here when we start the foundation for Phase 1 of the expansion!

 


Pet Connection Magazine is the only free publication in the Puget Sound region that focuses on people, pets, community, and the connections we share with each other. It provides fresh content with each release and is dedicated to supporting and highlighting local businesses and nonprofits helping animals, including past articles on CSNW. You can see all of the locations where you can pick up the magazine and information about the latest issue on their website.

 

While Jody was relaxing and Jamie was walking, Burrito was inviting me to play. I think the photo below captures Burrito’s charming but mischievous qualities pretty well.

 

Here are a couple of Burrito fans who are also HOOT! sponsors (let’s face it, anyone who knows anything about Burrito becomes a fan pretty quickly).

HOOT! 2018 Chimpanzee Champion Sponsors are:

Julie Gralow and Hugh Allen are newer supporters, having been recruited and inspired by their friend Tracy Headley (see Happy Hour Sponsors above). Tracy is also a friend of their rescued dog Sheldon. Julie, a physician, has dedicated her life to fighting breast cancer and Hugh is an aesthesiologist–we’re big fans of anesthesiologists in general now that we’ve had first-hand experience with procedures requiring anesthesia on Burrito and Negra. We’ve utilized our on-site medical trailer for these procedures, and we are really looking forward to having a medical room connected directly to the building, which is part of the Phase 1 expansion. Even though Julie and Hugh have never seen the sanctuary in person or attended the gala (maybe next year!), they were Play Laugh Sponsors last year and increased their sponsorship level this year.



Martha Faulkner was introduced to the sanctuary through the HOOT! event and then became a board member a couple of years ago. In addition to her event sponsorships and donating a portion of her commission from real estate sales, she’s been infinitely helpful these last few years as we were investing in the future of the sanctuary buy acquiring land. Her advice and expertise helped the sanctuary purchase the original 26 acres from founder Keith and increase the total sanctuary land to 90 acres. Martha also uses her real estate business to help other nonprofits. Definitely get in touch with her if you are buying or selling property in and around Seattle because you can help the animal cause of your choice in the process!



We are SO LUCKY that we met the owner of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, Gary Tashjian, at a community fair in Seattle several years ago. Darwin’s makes fresh and healthy pet food using produce from Charlie’s Produce and Gary immediately realized he could help the chimpanzees by donating produce to the sanctuary. Not only has this arrangement saved CSNW many thousands of dollars in the last several years, but it has provided the chimpanzees with wonderful and nutritious food. All seven of the chimpanzees are well-beyond middle age, and keeping them healthy is a top priority. Big thanks goes to Gary, Darwin’s and Charlies Produce for doing just that.

 

Burrito, the consummate lover of food, was really pulling out all of the stops to get me to play, including “kissing” through the caging in the greenhouse:

Obviously, I had no choice but to stop taking photos and play with him. He was being pretty goofy–throwing a blanket around and laughing. And that’s a perfect segue to the next sponsor level!

 

Big thanks also to HOOT! 2018 Play Laugh Sponsors:

Merritt & John Atwood

Melanie Kelsey

 

In addition to all of these featured sponsors, we have had many more supporters who have donated at amounts less than the $500 Play Laugh level. Every single donation is appreciated!

To round out the photos of the day, here’s Negra, who, like Jody, was lying on the “top shelf” of the structure in the greenhouse. To get this photo, I moved a bench over so I could stand on it and be eye-level with the chimpanzees. Negra thought I should also dance while I was up there, which of course I did. I was stomping around on the bench and she was nodding her head in appreciation.

I love this job.

What’s Happening on the Hill?

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The chimpanzees spent their afternoon watching volunteers Andy, Ray, John, and Drew help J.B. construct a new play structure on the hill!

Foxie:

 

Missy:

 

What do you think it’s going to look like?

 

There seems to be a lot of math involved:

 

Does this help?

 

You’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to see what the final structure looks like!

A Special Visit and Some Special Ordinary Moments

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There are so many little moments in any given day that we caregivers find endearing or funny or amazing or otherwise noteworthy.

Early this morning, for example, I saw Burrito sampling the grass for the first time this spring. I was overjoyed because I know what’s to come in the next couple of months – the chimpanzees sitting outside and stuffing their mouths with handfuls of grass. It’s one of my favorite times of year. I didn’t get a photo this morning, but you can bet there will be many to come.

At lunch, the chimpanzees had a very exciting visitor: Dr. Birute Galdikas, the famous anthropologist who is for orangutans what Dian Fossy was for gorillas and Jane Goodall is for chimpanzees. These three remarkable women were initially supported in their observational research of great apes by Louis Leakey and they each changed the collective view of our closest living relatives. Dr. Galdikas, nearly fifty years after starting her field research in Borneo, still spends more than half of each year in Indonesia running the field site and directly working to protect orangutans in their native habitat. Much of the rest of her time is spent raising awareness about the perilous situation facing orangutans in the wild and raising funds for Orangutan Foundation International.

Dr. Galdikas spoke last night to students and community members at nearby Central Washington University, thanks to one of the most unique primatology programs in the world. We were so honored that she chose to visit the sanctuary during her brief stay. I think she made a connection with Burrito, which was very sweet.

I neglected to get my own photos of her visit, maybe because I was flustered to be in her presence, but luckily others had their phones at the ready. So, below is a photo from Katelyn of Jake Funkhouser, Dr. Galdikas, and Ruth Linsky. Ruth and Jake are the students who arranged for Dr. Galdikas’ visit to CWU through the Primate Awareness Network.

Later in the afternoon, Anna and I donned some new favorite boots of Jamie’s and took off on a walk around the hill. Missy and Annie came out too and proceeded to twirl and slap and wrestle their way across the hill. Guess what? I didn’t have a camera in hand for those moments either. But, please do take a second to picture it – they were having a great time.

You may be wondering at this point whether I visually captured any part of the day at all to share with you. I did!

Jody was on a mission all day to snack on some of the spruce trees on the hill. I saw her at least three times going back and forth to the “Christmas tree lot” with pieces of tree in her mouth. She looked very satisfied by her foraging

Happy Birthday to Julie Poppoff!

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The Poppoffs are a one of our favorite families, so we’re pretty happy to be a part of wishing Julie Poppoff a “Happy Birthday from Mom & Dad!” from Mike Poppoff and Gay Dorsey who sponsored this day of sanctuary in her honor.

We go way back with the Poppoffs. as you can see in this post from 2009. The Poppoffs and Poppoff, Inc. have been really great supporters over the years, including being a sponsor for galas many years running, including the HOOT! 2018 gala coming up in May!

But today is about Julie. The chimps hope you have some fun planned, July!

Burrito and some carrots