Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

Katelyn

In honor of Odd Man Inn

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Today is also sponsored by good chimp friend, Meg Lunnum, in honor of Odd Man Inn. Meg is a wonderful supporter of, and advocate for, so many animals and shared this lovely message about her gift:

“I would like to recognize another vegan animal rescue, Odd Man Inn. Until I met the chimps, I never knew that animal rescues favored vegan environments. Now that I know this, I am way more aware of vegan and vegetarian facilities for animals. Wendy and Josh rescue various domestic animals from all kinds of situations. The day I visited they were on their way to rescue a single Muscovy duck that was on the Columbia River. Rescue was successful and Paco has been adopted! They have a three-legged pig, Melvin and a pair of rock doves/pigeons named “the Mister McGillicuddy’s”, who sit on a nest! Odd Man Inn reminds me of the enthusiasm and love that all those who care for and about the Cle Elum Seven have for the chimpanzees. As another note: I can’t wait for the new chimps to arrive…”

Thanks so much, Meg, for sharing Odd Man Inn Animal Refuge and the wonderful work they do! And for always including the chimpanzees as you help make a difference in the lives of so many animals. We all so appreciate you!

Miss Jody:

Negra:

Missy:

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Ben!

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Laura Bradshaw sponsored a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in honor of her son, Ben Bradshaw! Laura shared this message about her gift:

“August 15th is my son’s birthday and he’s a huge fan of CSNW. He is an animal lover who is partial to primates. When Ben found the Sanctuary online and saw your approach to the seven (soon to be ten) chimpanzees he was intrigued. When he followed the blogs and got to know each of the seven individually, he was smitten. Now Chimp Blogs are a regular part of our day. When I asked Ben which chimpanzee he liked best, he really had a hard time because there is so much to admire about each one. He finally said Negra but that is most likely because she was so adorable enjoying her peanut butter laced birthday waffles this year. It’s heart-warming to see these lovely animals thriving and exhibiting their own special personalities in a place where they are valued and respected. Thank you staff, volunteers, supporters and Missy, Annie, Jody, Foxie, Jamie, Burrito, and Negra for sharing your celebrations, ordinary days, and adventures with all of us.”

Laura, what a wonderful gift for the chimpanzees and Ben! Thank you so much for including the chimps in your celebration!

Happy Birthday, Ben! All of us at the sanctuary wish you the best of days! We love hearing how much you enjoy following the chimps and we’re so grateful for the difference you’ve helped make in their lives. I am pretty sure Negra would say she hopes you get waffles. 🙂

Happy Birthday, Terry!

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Mike Stockdale sponsored a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in honor of his wife, Terry Stockdale, and shared this message about his gift:

“I want to sponsor August 14 to celebrate my wife Terry’s 69th birthday. She and her favorite chimpanzee, Foxie, share not only an August birthday, but a love of dolls.”

Mike, thanks so much for adding to the chimpanzees’ lives as you and Terry celebrate her special day!

Happy Birthday, Terry! Foxie’s still celebrating her birthday this week, with a different doll every day it seems. May your birthday be full of as much joy as you’ve helped bring her and her chimp family!

Golden days of summer

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Even with recent thunderstorms (thankfully full of rain) and cooler temperatures again, we’re officially into the dry, golden days of summer. Everything and everyone is shimmering in the summer sunlight.

Burrito exploring Young’s Hill this morning:

Stopping to finish off his chow from breakfast:

Annie still modeling the height of summer fashion:

Each spring we’re so fortunate to see at least a couple pair of fawns grow up on the property. This tiny being is full of sass and was stomping a warning when she saw Jamie sitting at the gate to Young’s Hill:

There is a Ponderosa pine that seems particularly favored by our avian neighbors and it’s been a training ground of sorts to many bird families. Parents bring their fledglings here to learn to hunt for their own food in between continuing to beg their parents to feed them. I was so excited to see the white-headed woodpeckers have a family and along with the nuthatch family the tree is a cacophony of bird chatter throughout the day.

The cattle continue to enjoy their summer pasture and with all the exercise they’ve been getting traipsing between pastures they definitely have their swimsuit bodies. 😉 Nutmeg smooching his mama, Betsy. It’s so special to watch the incredibly close bond shared between cow mamas and their children. Even when the children reach adulthood, their bond remains lifelong. And it’s even more endearing when those adult children are twice as big as their mothers:

Beautiful Meredith. (Meredith’s mother, Honey, declined having her photo taken today, but she occasionally poked her head around from behind Meredith):

Missy in a blur, speeding through the grass. Summer’s going to good use here at the sanctuary. We hope it’s equally so for you, wherever you may be (or a warm and cozy winter, as the case may be):

In memory of Patin Crowley

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Shauna and Jake Holliday sponsored this day of sanctuary with this lovely message:

“Patin was our beloved English Bulldog who left us a few years ago at almost 11 years old. He never had a day where he wasn’t pampered and loved like a little prince. We would like to remember his birthday by sharing with the chimpanzees. He would have been so curious to meet them! Jake and Shauna”

Shauna and Jake, thank you so much for including the chimpanzees in your celebration of dear Patin! We love hearing how loved he is and what a wonderful life he must have had with you. We hope your hearts are full of comfort and happy memories of Patin today.

The incomparable Burrito:

A little extra Jamie

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It’s no revelation to say that Jamie is a unique individual. Each of the chimpanzees are, of course. Jamie makes her wants and needs known each and every day in no uncertain terms. She isn’t always an easy person to be around, but she is a delight, a surprise and a mystery all at once. And some days, a little extra so.

I’m sure in no small part due to Jamie’s early childhood history of having been raised living in a human home with a trainer until the age of nine, her extreme intelligence, curiosity, willpower and general “Jamie-ness” were set on a path to blossom in ways they wouldn’t have otherwise. And through no fault of her own, the natural consequence of an unnatural situation, many of those ways tend to be very human oriented. We certainly wish for her that this hadn’t been the case. That she’d been born allowed to live her life as her wild-living brethren. But one thing I know for certain about Jamie is that regardless of the path her life took and the lack of choices she had in the matter, she is herself through and through. And I couldn’t admire or love her more for it.

Our volunteer caregiver, Miranda, went out to serve the chimps lunch in the greenhouse and a few minutes later she radioed to ask, “Do you know where Jamie is? She’s not here for lunch.” Well, that’s something that makes you stop what you’re doing and go to find Jamie. Immediately. I assumed she was involved in a DIY project or perhaps, supervising the construction from Young’s Hill. As I quickly strolled down the human hallway on my way outside I stopped short upon finding her in the front rooms on top of her beloved barrel, cowboy boot nestled in her hip pocket, looking sleepy and showing zero interest in heading out to lunch. Now if you know chimps, you know that they do not want to miss mealtime. So I sat with her a few minutes trying to determine if she wasn’t feeling well, or if perhaps she’d gotten overheated having just made staff caregiver, Anna, walk around Young’s Hill on this extra hot summer day and needed time to cool off.

After checking in with her, I decided to go and collect her lunch and bring it back inside and drop it in the food chute for her in the hopes she’d eat. Well! She spun around on her barrel, began hooting and breathy panting with me in excitement. I could barely breathe by the time we were done with all the breathy panting. Finally, continuing to recline on her barrel, she dug into her private lunch service, low moaning, food grunting and occasionally hooting, the entire meal. She wanted to dine in the privacy of the cooler front rooms at her leisure. As she should.

After lunch, I passed out a few plain ol’ ice cubes for everyone to enjoy, along with an offer of a small breeze from the handheld mister fan. Jody and Annie lowered their heads and then spun around and presented their backs for a quick misting. Foxie was, as I knew she would be, incensed that I would even offer to do such a thing and declined the offer. But Jamie in particular loves the fan and couldn’t get enough of it. She spent several minutes having me mist and fan her while she cooled off with her ice cubes.

Once everyone dozed off for their routine after lunch nap, I strolled through to check on them. And there was Jamie. Wrapped in a cool sheet, foot on her shopping basket, nestled in with her favorite boot du jour and magazines. At once, and always, her own person. As she was born to be. As it always should have been. And just as we love her.

A story about Jody

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One of my favorite stories about Jody involves a baby mouse and a top hat. A blue velvet top hat, to be precise. And on a side note, who doesn’t need a blue velvet top hat and why don’t I have one?! But I digress.

A couple years ago, when Jody began exhibiting more of her seemingly natural “den mother” inclinations, I found her lying on her stomach in the greenhouse gently grooming the tiniest of baby mice with her lips. My heart sunk. But again and again, Jody would set the mouse down gently and watch them with seeming concern and curiosity, only to pick them up and touch them with her lips again when they squeaked.

As you may have seen us mention on the blog before, chimpanzees are territorial beings by nature and extremely intolerant toward any other animals being in their home space. Any time any animal is in the chimps’ enclosure we do our best when possible to invite the chimps into another area (i.e., attempt to bribe them with a small treat like gum, for example) in the hopes of being able to close off the area the animal is in and safely enter on a rescue mission. It should also be noted that once something has caught the attention chimps, they are not typically ones to forget about it and walk away. Sadly, I knew this baby mouse was probably not going to make it on their own, but I still wanted to spare it further stress. So we offered the chimps a treat in the front rooms and I was happy to see everyone leave the greenhouse and rush inside. But what did Jody do? Well, she scooped that baby mouse up, grabbed a nearby blue velvet top hat, gently placed the baby inside and carried hat and all into the front rooms to collect her treat.

Once in the front rooms, Jody set the hat on the ground next to her and whenever one of the other chimps would push it aside, she calmly reached out and pulled it back next to her. I waited for Jody to decide that mouse had to go. But she never did. She just sat quietly and continued to guard her mouse and her hat. While the chimps enjoyed their treats, and we watched our rescue plans growing dimmer by the minute, dear, sweet, Annie approached Jody, curious to see what all this top hat business was about. When she looked inside the hat, I suppose she didn’t expect to see a mouse and that woman screamed at the top of her lungs (thank goodness it wasn’t a snake) and tossed the hat and poor mouse across the room in a fright. And Jody silently went to collect them.

I wish I could say that the end went well for that precious wee mouse. And I wish I could say what Jody had been thinking. We were able to finally retrieve the mouse and relocate him or her to a calmer final resting place in the garden. For a story not ending as I would have liked, it remains dear to my heart for some reason. Intriguing, from a behavioral perspective. But mostly, endearing. And somehow, quintessentially Jody.

I captured beautiful Jody enjoying a minute of solitude in the shaded doorway to the greenhouse, inspecting this blue-haired, bunny slipper clad troll doll in much the same way she did that sweet baby mouse. It made me think of that story again. And that blue velvet top hat I still need.