Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Katelyn

Happy Birthday, Brooke!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Shani Sillence in honor of her goddaughter, Brooke Fiddian, on her 13th birthday! Shani shared this lovely message about today:

“Today is Brooke‘s 13th birthday and I wanted to get her something special. She has a great love for animals and loves everything to do with helping them. I know she will especially love the Chimpanzees at the sanctuary.”

Shani, thank you so much for sponsoring today in honor of Brooke! We are so touched that you thought of the chimpanzees when wanting to celebrate Brooke and her special day!

Brooke, you sound like such an amazing person and we are thrilled to celebrate your birthday with you! Thank you so much for seeing how special animals are and for sharing your day with the chimps – you’ve helped to make their lives better.

We also understand that you and your family recently moved to the United States from Australia! All of us here at the sanctuary send you the warmest of welcomes, both to your new home and to our sanctuary family! Big changes and new places can be exciting and scary all at the same time. These chimpanzees are some of the bravest people I know and they inspire us every day with their courage. Maybe as you get to know them they might offer some inspiration on enjoying all the new things life can bring while holding on to family, friends, and all that brings you love, comfort and happiness.

From all of us here at CSNW, Happy Birthday, Brooke! We hope you have a beautiful day!

Annie, Foxie and Troll:

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Foxie and Dora exploring new territory:

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And since Burrito just celebrated his 33rd birthday, he would probably want to remind you to party by eating your favorite foods. All day. 🙂

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Mr. B’s birthday buffet

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Today we are celebrating our guy, Burrito’s, 33rd birthday! And if you are celebrating Burrito that means you are also celebrating food. We serve the chimpanzees three meals a day by hand and/or forage in addition to a smaller forage, occasional snacks and food puzzles which consist of things like fresh vegetables, seeds and nuts. But today we decided to spread the meal service out and serve something every hour, all day long! Needless to say, Burrito has been enjoying his birthday.

Burrito has been so happy and playful today and has been anxiously watching for what comes next. We started the day off with gift boxes full of nuts and primate chow in the greenhouse as a breakfast appetizer. Anna got this photo of the birthday fella looking particularly sweet, watching through the playroom room window as we set them out:

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After breakfast was served, Burrito took over Jamie’s usual spot atop the barrel in the front rooms and watched us clean the playroom as he awaited the third course of the day. Let me tell you, this adorable guy made it pretty hard to get any work done.

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After the playroom was cleaned, we put out a forage of more nuts in gift boxes and smoothie in tiny cups. Burrito was so excited I had to wait for him to calm down and stop shaking the door leading into the playroom so I could open it. You can see in the photo below how excited he is by his pilo-erect hair (standing on end).

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And though this one is blurry, I love that it captures Burrito’s excitement during the forage – pilo-erect hair and flying across the playroom in mid-air. (It also may give you an idea of why we didn’t have much luck getting party photos – this guy was on the move!):

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Next up was roasted sweet potatoes warm from the oven. Here is caregiver-in-training, Ally, serving the birthday guy:

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After lunch we passed out whole apples which everyone was super excited about and as I type, Burrito is excitedly watching Anna as she prepares one of his very favorites, spaghetti with tomato and pepper sauce, for part of his birthday dinner forage. We still have a couple servings to go and all of the chimps’ seem to have caught on to the theme for the day and have been posted near the kitchen window to see what’s next.

In all the excitement Burrito has been a bit of a wild man, sowing his 33 years of wild oats much of the day and frequently riling up all the girls. But I think it’s safe to say they are all enjoying the day’s celebration of Burrito and food!

Happy Birthday, Burrito!! We love you so much, Bub!!

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Happy Birthday, Manuela!

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Today’s day of sanctuary is sponsored by Manuela Santacreu! Manuela is celebrating her birthday today and shared this lovely message:

“My birthday will be even more beautiful if I know that I am contributing to the happiness of these seven superb chimpanzees! For my 40th birthday, I spent a month in the Congo with chimpanzees while with Help International. I really hope to see Foxie and friends for my 50th! Best French regards!”

Manuela, thank you so much for sharing your special day with the chimpanzees and for choosing to celebrate your life by making a difference in their lives! We truly appreciate your support and hope you are able to visit the sanctuary one day. Have a beautiful day full of all that makes your heart happy, and from all of us here at CSNW, we wish you the happiest of birthdays!

Foxie and her beloved Dora:

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Thank you, Ron!

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In welcoming this new year, we also welcome a new supporter and friend to our sanctuary family! Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored for the chimpanzees by Ron Michaud! Ron shared that he just learned of the chimpanzees and the history of the sanctuary while speaking with our Co-Director, JB Mulcahy, during a flight they shared and he added this message about today, “What a great thing he has done for these chimps!! Hope they get more to add to the family.”

I always say that working here is less of a job and more a way of life. We are all so passionate about the chimpanzees and if you speak to any of us for very long you are most likely going to hear about each of these amazing beings and the incredible group of people who have come together (to include each of you) to make their lives in sanctuary possible. And as we look at providing wonderful futures for Annie, Missy, Burrito, Foxie, Jody, Jamie and Negra, we’re also thrilled to be moving ahead with plans to grow our sanctuary family so we can provide other chimps with the hope, love, home and sanctuary they also deserve.

Ron, thank you so much for sponsoring this New Years Day of sanctuary! We’re thrilled that in learning of JB’s work and the chimpanzees you shared that passion and were immediately inspired to make a difference in the chimps’ lives and we really appreciate you starting their year off with such a compassionate gesture. 2015 has been an incredible year and we are so excited as we look ahead to 2016! Happy New Year!

The Queen of the sanctuary, Negra:

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Snow removal crews

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After days, weeks really, of endless snow and treacherous commutes for staff and volunteers alike, this morning dawned a new day. Achingly gorgeous clear, blue skies, a pink sunrise with bald eagles flying overhead, glittering snow, and much to the caregivers’ delight, clear (and dare I say almost dry!) roads to drive to work on. The quintessential beautiful winter day:

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The chimpanzees, especially Jamie, have been real troopers waiting out the snow. So first thing this morning, Diana, Anna and I decided to shovel some walkways and around Young’s Hill and line them with straw for the chimpanzees to venture out. All the chimps had been watching us intently from the playroom windows and when we stepped back into the greenhouse, Jamie was more than ready to get a look at what we had done.

When I gave the chimps access to Young’s Hill, Jamie was ready and waiting and literally squeezed through the doorway as it was opening. She immediately headed onto the hill, grabbing the toy shovel we had left on her way and headed out to help finish clearing the pathways.

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And it wasn’t long before she had a back-up snow removal crew member with Annie! Annie! Can you believe it?! (The other chimps were watching from the raceway while sitting in the sun):

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Jamie initially started shoveling with the shovel side down and then tried out the handle. The second I reminded her to turn it back around she did and carried on with her snow removal project.

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That’s their breath clouding around Annie:

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When Jamie was satisfied (and probably a little cold!) she headed back inside, but Annie decided to enjoy the morning sun for a view minutes on her own.

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Once she’d had enough of the cold morning she headed back to the warmth of the greenhouse. I don’t know what we humans would do without some help from these amazing chimpanzee people:

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The chimpanzees and humans have been so incredibly fortunate this holiday season, our hearts and sanctuary home filled with the kindness and generosity of all of you. I would like to share another very special gift the chimpanzees received! The amazing children of Ms. Horton’s 5th grade class made this Christmas tree and each beautiful, heartfelt ornament on it. We are so touched that they all would take the time and care to make the chimpanzees such an awesome gift for Christmas and send it all the way from Texas! We hung it up right outside the chimpanzees’ front rooms where they can all enjoy looking at it. Thank you so much!!

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Thanks to David and to Elizabeth!

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In case you missed this morning’s blog post, we are incredibly grateful to have THREE people sponsoring today for the chimpanzees, our first of whom is Tracy Headley.

Our second sponsor of the day is David Visneau! David, thank you so  much for your generosity, we truly appreciate you thinking of the chimpanzees and making a difference in their lives!

And our third sponsor for today is Elizabeth Steele, in honor of Lars and Becca Jorgensen! Elizabeth shared this message about today:

“This donation is in honor of Becca and Lars Jorgensen and their love and devotion to the Cle Elum Seven.”

Lars and Becca are dedicated chimp house volunteers who drive all the way from Seattle as often as possible to help care for the chimps. They go above and beyond in countless ways, from Becca picking up our generous produce donations from Darwin’s Natural Pet Foods multiple times a month to bring with her, to being Boss Jamie’s right-hand woman when it comes to walking around the perimeter of Young’s Hill multiple times a day! We are so fortunate to have Lars and Becca as part of our chimp family and are happy to see them honored today.

Elizabeth, thank you for honoring Lars and Becca and for sharing in the love they have for the chimpanzees and the dedication to making their lives better.

Boss Jamie:

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Becca, Jamie and Missy patrolling the territory:

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Jamie luxuriating in her nest while wearing the gift of a new pair of boots from her friend, Becca:

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Happy Birthday, Tracy!

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Today, incredibly, we have three supporters sponsoring this day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees! We begin the day with a sponsorship by Tracy Headley, a dear friend (to chimps and humans alike) and member of our sanctuary family. Tracy probably wouldn’t tell you this, but she lives her life every day bringing light, support, comfort and love to so many beings – both human and non. She is celebrating her birthday today and shared this touching message:

“Again this year I celebrate my friends at CSNW on my birthday. Every day of the year they are a gift in my life.”

Happy Birthday, Tracy! Thank you so much for all that you do for the chimpanzees. You hold them in your heart and make a difference in their lives at every opportunity. We are thrilled to celebrate your special day with you and can’t say how happy we are that you are part of our chimpanzee family. You are a special soul and you make the world a better place by being here. We hope you have a fabulous day full of all good things! With lots of hooting!

Here are your pals to help start your celebration off right:

Ms. Foxie:

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Burrito:

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Jody:

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