Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Katelyn

Today is in honor of Team Humphreys!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Jennifer Humphreys in honor of her family, “Team Humphreys,” and her mom, Carol Humphreys, on her birthday! Jennifer is a former volunteer with CSNW and we so appreciate her continued support of the chimps! She shared this message about today:

“Celebrating my mom’s birthday again, with my parents Carol and Jan, and siblings Kelli, Elizabeth, Heather, Geoff, Greg, Brian, and Kyle.”

Jennifer, thank you to you and your family for continuing to remember the chimpanzees and including them in your family celebrations! We so appreciate the difference your compassion and generosity make in their lives.

And Carol, we wish you the happiest of birthdays filled with all that you love! Have a beautiful day of celebration, Jamie-style! 😉

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Happy Birthday, Kirby!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Jodi Watson in honor of Kirby Watson for his 50th birthday! Jodi shared this really special message about Kirby:

“He’s the love of my life, and I admire him, and I hope he has another 50 years with me on this earth.”

Jodi, reading your message we are even more touched that you would choose to sponsor a day for the chimpanzees in Kirby’s honor. Thank you so much for thinking of them as you celebrate today.

And Kirby, we hope this is the best birthday yet and that it’s full of all good things! Thanks for sharing your special day with these special chimps. Happy Birthday from all of the primates here at CSNW!!

Best friends, Annie and Missy:

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Missy chase Annie

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The return of Ellie the elk

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Ellie (as we call her), our local neighborhood wild elk, spends her days roaming up and down the valley where she grew up after losing her mother. During the winter she tends to stay more frequently at the neighboring ranch, but she always makes her way back to the sanctuary in the springtime to hang out.

On one of her first days back after the snow melted she decided to accompany the chimpanzees (everyone except Negra!) and I on a walk around Young’s Hill. The chimpanzees, however, (specifically Jamie and Foxie) weren’t so welcoming of her return and wanted to remind her whose territory she was in. (Be sure to watch until the end when Jody and Missy offer Foxie and her Dora doll reassuring hugs for their bravery).

10 Minutes of Missy’s Day

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We woke up to a dusting of snow at the sanctuary but the rest of the day has remained cloudy, cool and dry. Perfect walking weather for chimps and humans – or if you’re Missy – perfect running weather. The following photos all took place within about a 10 minute span of Missy’s day.

First she chased after Jamie, Burrito and I around the perimeter.

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And then she spotted her best friend, Annie further down the hill and took off to join her:

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And they ended up chasing each other all the way back to the playroom which ended up in a game of wrestle. Naturally.

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Jamie’s choice

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Jamie spent her childhood living with a trainer. Her records are scarce, but she was most likely used in some form of entertainment before being purchased for use in biomedical research at around the age of nine. It’s heartbreaking and infuriating to see chimpanzees (or any wild animal) robbed of their natural lives, their childhood, and their family and social structures in order to provide so-called “entertainment” for humans. While we cannot change the histories the chimpanzees have experienced, or the fact that they will be in captivity for the rest of their lives, we do our best to provide them the space to be themselves, exactly as they choose in every minute of the day. A safe, dignified and loving home in which their “chimpanzee-ness” can come out.

We give the chimpanzees a variety of enrichment each day to keep their curious and intelligent minds engaged as much as possible, but whether they play with it, nest with it, tear it up or ignore it, it’s their choice. Jamie is highly intelligent and most likely as a result of her unnatural history, she is also very human oriented in her interests. She will often choose to use enrichment in ways that the other chimps don’t. But that’s the key – she gets to choose. When Jamie first arrived here she periodically chose to wear clothing that was included in enrichment, but over time her desire to do this has faded away and thankfully been replaced by chimp like activities such as walking the perimeter, playing with her friends, and being the boss of us all. But given her unnatural history, it’s only, well, natural that she would still incorporate things that are familiar to her in her play from time to time.

So while supervising the cleaning of her home from atop her barrel, this was one of Jamie’s choices:

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An upside-down-Jamie-on-a-barrel is always a happy Jamie.

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If you’d like to learn more about how you can help end the exploitation and abuse of great apes, please check out our advocacy program, Eyes on Apes, and sign up for our Take Action Alerts. Just as Jamie once did, there are others who need your voice.

Today is in memory of Ned and Noreen O’Flaherty

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Joan O’Flaherty in memory of her parents, Ned and Noreen O’Flaherty, on their shared birthday. Joan has been honoring her parents by making the chimpanzees’ lives better for many years now and we are so touched by her kindness. She shared this message about today:

“In memory of my late parents’ birthday, both of whom were great animal lovers and supporters of conservation.”

Joan, thank you so much for all that you do for the chimpanzees in your parents’ memory, they must have been very special people. We are so happy to honor Ned and Noreen here at the sanctuary and celebrate their lives along with the chimpanzees. All of us here hope your day is filled with comfort, love and memories held dear.

Burrito and Jody:

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Queen of the Hill

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Jamie does everything with a certain level of seriousness. In part, it’s just her personality and in part, it’s probably her role as alpha of the group that she works hard to remind us all of. Even when she’s really happy and playing, it’s rare to see her with a play face or hear her laugh unless she’s in a wrestling session with Foxie who is about the only person who can really get Jamie to cut loose.

Jamie’s seriousness also extends to her beloved walks around Young’s Hill. There are for the humans in particular to follow. She leads – you follow, run when she runs, don’t attempt to go in a direction she hasn’t initiated, and if she decides to wander and explore a bit, then just make yourself comfortable and wait for her to return and resume walking when she’s ready. To be fair, chimpanzees in general aren’t followers when engaging with the humans and if they initiate play they usually prefer us to follow their lead and/or mimic whatever they’re doing. But it’s especially true with the boss.

So in the middle of a walk around Young’s Hill with Jamie and Missy we were all running side by side (me outside the fence of course) when Missy suddenly playfully bumped shoulders with Jamie and then tried to grab her feet while running. A classic chimpanzee invitation to play! I wasn’t sure what Jamie’s response would be as she has a route she likes to follow around the perimeter. I had to smile to see Jamie accept Missy’s invitation and they ditched me and headed off down the hill together in a spontaneous game of chase. Just the way it should be.

Missy, mid-bounce, and Jamie (R):
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Missy following Jamie and exploring the log bridges:

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After this photo they raced through the bamboo together and I totally lost sight of them so I headed back down the hill on my own. But to my surprise they eventually ran back to meet me so we could all race back to the greenhouse together.

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