Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Katelyn

Happy Birthday, Erin!

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Thanks so much to Maureen McHorney for sponsoring a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in celebration of her daughter, Erin Yuhas, for her birthday!

“Happy Birthday, Erin!”

Maureen and Erin, we truly appreciate your continued love and support of the sanctuary and all you help make possible in the chimpanzees’ lives. Thank you for including them in your lives!

Happiest of birthdays to you, Erin! All of us here wish you a beautiful day and year ahead.

Foxie:

Negra and Burrito:

Lucky:

Gordo:

Missy:

Honey B:

It’s Foxie’s birthdaaayyy!!

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Today Foxie is turning 46! Wahooo! I’m envisioning you all doing pirouettes, back-flips and hanging upside-down while kicking your feet about! Well, at least in your heads. 🙂 Foxie is a magical sprite of a woman if ever there were one, so it makes sense that our virtual fairy godmother of birthday Sponsor-a-Days, Paulette Wrisley, is adding to today’s celebration to help us make it as wondrous as Foxie is.

Paulette, from our hearts, thank you for helping us honor each and every one of the chimpanzees and bovines for the special and unique individuals they are over the past year, plus. I suspect we all aren’t the only ones whose lives you’ve made a difference in. We appreciate you and your kind heart.

Happy Birthday, Foxie!! Our hearts are full to bursting with love for you.

Foxie gazing at troll

Foxie listening to troll

Be sure to join us later today for the festivities!

In memory of Ryan Young

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In today’s touching day of sanctuary, Don and Karen Young are honoring the memory of their beloved son, Ryan Young:

“We honor the beautiful memory our son, Ryan, who would be 49 years old today. He visited the sanctuary on the first anniversary of the arrival of the Cle Elum Seven. It was Ryan who introduced us to the plight of captive chimpanzees through the release and restitution program at NEAVS (New England Anti-Vivisection Society). He dedicated his professional life in the field of sustainability. He would love that the chimps get to have a party on his birthday and that soon the 9 will romp and play and look down the valley from Ryan’s Lookout! Love, Don and Karen Young.”

Don and Karen Young, for whom the chimpanzees’ outdoor habitat, Young’s Hill, is named have made an immeasurable difference in the lives of the chimps. Nearly eleven years since Jamie’s group gained access to the outdoors for the first time, they continue to amaze and surprise us with their leaps and bounds (literally and figuratively) of courage, adventure and joy.

Thank you so much, Don and Karen, for allowing all of us the opportunity to share in the celebration of Ryan and his legacy with you. We will be thinking of you all today and hoping your hearts are buoyed with the comfort of love and cherished memories.

Foxie:

Annie and Missy foraging for prickly lettuce:

Burrito:

Missy:

Ryan’s Lookout, in the currently-under-construction outdoor habitat for Cy’s group, The Bray. Thanks to so many, we cannot wait to see all the ways in which the lives of the nine continue to further bloom when their new habitat is ready.

Willy B:

Gordo:

Dora:

Burrito:

Foxie:

Jamie (leading), Foxie, Missy, Annie and Burrito:

Happy Birthday, Jill!

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Thank you so much, Connie Kinyon, for choosing to celebrate your daughter, Jill Kinyon, in such a lovely way!

“My daughter loves and supports the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, and I want to support her on her birthday!”

Happy Birthday, Jill! Your long-time friendship and support of the chimpanzees means so much and all of us here wish you the happiest of days!

I can’t think of many people I know who unabashedly celebrate every moment of their lives with such joy and commitment as your Chimpanzee Pal, beautiful Jody. May she inspire your new year ahead. May she inspire us all. <3

Jody and good friend, Foxie:

Jody leading Missy, Annie, Burrito and Foxie:

Summertime celebrations!

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We made it!! We think. With any luck, today wraps up the last of the triple digits of this current heatwave and though the “Big Ass Fan” will still have plenty of work to do upon it’s arrival (thank you, all, whether you were able to contribute, or help cheer the fundraiser on!!), as we melt into August, temperatures look to be at least a little less inferno-like in the week ahead. 🙂 As I type, Jenna is passing out popsicles to Cy’s group, Jamie’s group just finished Gatorade ice cube treats and sun-warmed berries from their raspberry patch and Burrito, well, Burrito has Chad running around the hill like it’s half the temperature it is. We’re just going to hope we don’t have to send out a search party for Chad. But it’s what makes Burrito happiest so there you go. Did I capture a single usable photo of any of today’s events? Nope, I sure did not. But onward…

Speaking of August, it’s a whole new set of celebrations to look forward to! Firstly, Happy Birthday to all of you, our wonderful friends and supporters celebrating an August birthday! We hope your days are filled with all the things that make your hearts happy and that you know how much we truly appreciate you being here, being part of all our lives.

And your birthday twins! On August 8th, Foxie is turning 46! Foxie is an effervescent being, cautiously brave and adventurous, full of joyful shenanigans and a tiny spitfire of a woman. I wouldn’t know it until 30 years later, but the day she was born the world became a more magical place. And so did my heart.

On August 18th we celebrate the 3rd arrival anniversary of Honey B, Willy B and Mave! When you think of all that’s been made possible in their lives in three short years, all that YOU have made possible, it’s the most mind-boggling, hopeful and incredible thing, isn’t it? Moving from the only home and caregivers they’d known for most of their lives in California, to a sanctuary in the Cascade mountains of Washington. A new home that continues to grow not only in space, but in relationships with family and new friends, and a year ahead with still more adventures on the way. I just said it seems so much longer they’ve been part of their sanctuary family here. Maybe our hearts knew all along they were, we were just waiting on them to come home.

Mave:

Honey B:

Willy B:

And! On August 23rd, we celebrate Missy who will be turning 47! Missy is one of the most intelligent, strongest, and graceful of beings I know. I always say I wish I could be Missy for 5 minutes just to feel what it’s like to move through the world with her ease and agility, to blaze across her outdoor habitat like a comet, heart on fire with her sheer love of moving.

We have often spoken here on the blog of Missy being a “chimp’s chimp” in that she typically prefers to spend her time with her chimpanzee friends. But when she chooses to sit and groom with us, or play a game of chase, well, it makes your heart spark with the gift of it. The gift of time spent with her. The gift of her.

So happiest of August birthdays and summer days to you all! From our hearts, thank you for being here and making everything in the chimpanzees’ and bovines’ (and humans’) lives here possible. Thank you for celebrating with us and allowing us to share in your own special days! You make more of a difference than you’ll likely ever know.

Happy Birthday, Ellen!

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Today we have another lovely supporter choosing to celebrate their own birthday by giving the chimpanzees and bovines a special day of sanctuary! Many thanks, Ellen Greene, for your kind and caring heart.

“On my birthday, I would like to celebrate all the wonderful and unique chimpanzee and bovine friends at the sanctuary. I would also like to recognize the amazing people who have dedicated themselves to befriending and taking care of them.”

Happy Birthday, Ellen! We hope it’s a really beautiful day for you and truly appreciate you helping make the chimps’ and bovines’ lives in sanctuary possible.

Dear, kind Terry:

Rayne cooling off with Gatorade:

Meredith resting in her summer pasture:

And her beautiful mama, Honey:

Negra on Young’s Hill:

Burrito, no words needed:

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

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Thank you so much, to long-time friend of the sanctuary, Rachel Ruggeri, for sponsoring today in celebration of the chimpanzees, the bovines and her own special day!:

“I want to donate to my chimpanzee and bovine friends at the sanctuary in honor of my birthday! There is no better way to celebrate than to honor others, furry friends and all. Cheers to a great year ahead!”

Happy Birthday, Rachel! All of us here hope it’s the best one yet and that your kind heart is filled with as much joy and love as it can hold. Just as you make possible for sixteen wonderful chimpanzees and one special bovine family of four.

Dora:

Honey B hugging Dora:

Cy:

Gordo:

Burrito:

Foxie and Negra:

Betsy, Nutmeg, Meredith and Honey:

Annie and Missy: