Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Elizabeth

Celebrating Margaret and Karen

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Yesterday, longtime friends of the Cle Elum Seven Margaret and Karen got married in Seattle. Margaret and Karen are truly beloved by anyone who meets them. They are bright and warm and kind. They have possibly the biggest hearts of anyone you’ll ever meet.

We wanted to celebrate their joy, so today we put out the happiest, most colorful enrichment we could find. The chimpanzees spent quite some time taking inventory.

Foxie:

Annie:

Jamie:

Appropriately enough, the weather at the sanctuary is gorgeous and sunny today and the chimpanzees have been feeling pretty carefree. Annie and Missy enjoyed a lazy game of chase in the greenhouse this afternoon.

We’re so happy for you, Margaret and Karen. Lots of love from CSNW!

An unobstructed view

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Replacing the playroom window cages with chimp-proof glass has really paid off.  Removing the caging from in front of the windows lets much more light into the playroom and gives the chimpanzees an unobstructed view of the world beyond the sanctuary.  Negra, in particular, really seems to appreciate this.  There is nothing she loves more than gazing over the valley (well, she might love peanuts more).

This is approximately the view that Negra is enjoying in the above photo.

Troll games

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I took the camera out to the greenhouse this morning and found Foxie chilling out on a tire. After a minute or two she ran over, passed me her troll doll, and ran back to the tire. Pass-the-troll is a favorite game of Foxie’s. She tosses a doll through the caging to a caregiver and watches closely to see what the caregiver will do with it – the more ridiculous, the better. In this photo she’s watching me balance the troll on my head while trying to handle the camera.

Eventually, she’ll let us know she’s ready to have her troll back by holding out her hand for it. Once the troll has been returned to her, she often inspects it closely as if looking for signs of damage. Foxie knows that her dolls aren’t alive, and she often treats them as the inanimate objects they are, but she can also be very nurturing toward them. It seems that the mothering instinct that she didn’t have an opportunity to express toward her own babies in the lab has finally found an outlet.  Sometimes it even appears that Foxie likes to put her dolls in “dangerous” situations — entrusting them to a caregiver, or pushing them off a beam of a climbing structure — so that she can then “save” them.

The simple things

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We try to use this blog to share meaningful stories about the Cle Elum Seven — what they went through during their time in laboratories or how they’re experiencing sanctuary — or to talk about some interesting aspect of chimpanzee behavior. But sometimes I’m just so astounded that we get to look at these faces every day that I have to share.

Here’s Foxie enjoying the last good bits of a pomegranate peel from this morning’s breakfast.

In Memory of Dar Chimpanzee

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The CSNW staff lost a friend today. This afternoon we received a call from our friends at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) in nearby Ellensburg to let us know that Dar passed away this morning. All of our staff worked with the family of chimpanzees at CHCI during our time there as graduate students studying primate behavior.  Dar was a big, goofy, gentle giant who loved babies, games of chase, and endless somersaults.  He had a sweet freckled face and huge floppy ears that he never quite grew into.  We will miss him terribly.  Learn more about Dar here.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for sponsoring today in memory of Dar.

For Patti Sims and Anne Roberson

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Mary Ann Baltich has sponsored today in honor of Anne Roberson and Patti Sims.  Anne and Patti are coworkers and friends who are both longtime supporters of the chimpanzees, and this year they started volunteering together at the sanctuary.  Mary Ann said, “Thanksgiving seems like an appropriate time to thank them for all the work they do and support they provide!”

We’re thankful today for Mary Ann’s generosity, and for all the love and support Anne and Patti have shared with us and with the Cle Elum Seven!