Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Many thanks to Rita Laws for sponsoring our second day of sanctuary today, in honor of Sue Curtis!
Thanks to both of you for your long-time support of the chimpanzees and for all the hopes turned into realities that you’ve helped us bring to their lives. Sue, we hope you have a wonderful day!
Jody, Missy, Annie, Burrito and Foxie:
Missy:
Negra:
Cy:
Mave and Honey B:
Grant Crosier sponsored a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees and bovines in honor of Jessie Crosier!
“Happy Birthday Jessie!”
Thanks so much, Grant and Jessie, for choosing to celebrate a special day in such a kind way. We truly appreciate you helping to make so much possible in the lives of the chimps and the cattle.
Have a wonderful day, Jessie!
Annie, Negra and Jody:
Rayne relaxing in her greenhouse box:
Sweet Terry:
Honey B:
Honey Cow:
Many thanks to Arlene Smith for sponsoring a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees and our tiny bovine family in honor of Patricia Levin!
“Happy Birthday to a wonderful woman who is kind, generous and has a heart big enough to hold the world.”
What a beautiful way to be thought of! Have an equally beautiful day of celebration, Patricia! Thanks to you both for making a difference in the lives of our sanctuary residents.
Foxie and Jody:
Annie and Missy:
Lucky:
Nutmeg and his mama, Betsy:
Dora and Rayne:
Negra:
In the event that you haven’t yet had the chance to see it, Sunday was not only our Mother’s Day celebration in honor of all the chimpanzee and bovine mamas and their children, but the day on which we celebrate our beloved Jody’s honorary birthday! Jody turned 47 this year!
One of Jody’s wonderful Chimpanzee Pals, Tobin, also sponsored a day of sanctuary in her honor (and through a handful of happenings outside Tobin’s control, we’re posting this generous gift a little late). But given that Jo is to be celebrated endlessly with at least a month-long birthday party, it’s perfect.
Tobin shared this special message about her kind gift:
“I want to join Jody’s many friends – simian as well as human – in honoring her on her birthday. I hope that seasonal delicacies such as lilacs will be in abundance on Young’s Hill for Farmer Jo to forage and harvest.
As a small – and admittedly misinformed – child, I wondered why the farms surrounding my small, Midwestern hometown didn’t have certain animals grazing on their lands. I would have been interested to see – let alone hear – a dinosaur in the pasture across the street from my home. Moreover, circa 1967 I was inclined to think that having a chimpanzee and an elf within my immediate social circle might prove to be a source of “enrichment”.
I never did cast my sight upon herds of Tyrannosauri or Brontosauri grazing in the countryside. Nor, ultimately did any of my pointy-eared human acquaintances declare themselves to be elves. Nonetheless, a half-century later I did fall head over heels for seven chimpanzees who reside in the Cascade mountains.
One of those seven – today’s birthday girl, Jody – will seemingly contort the shape of her ears into those of an elf when she is in good spirits. And when she feasts upon certain gourds from her garden – watermelon, squash, or pumpkin – she will evoke the grunting pleasure of a satisfied Stegosaurus.
To conclude, I not only treasure having Jody as my chimpanzee pal, but I am glad that she is in our lives as well.”
Many thanks to you, Tobin, for adding to our celebration of beautiful Jody and your long-time friendship of the seven (and now sixteen chimp people and four bovines!) who call the sanctuary their home!
Due to winter not as of yet being ready to entirely give up its time on the seasonal wheel, our local lilacs are just now barely starting to bud. But we know they will appear in their own time and a lilac celebration will hopefully ensue in a couple more weeks.
In the meantime, behold Jody, in all her endearing, elf-eared, foraging glory:
May birthday wishes have not been forsaken! Happy May Birthdays, friends! Though apologies for any belated birthday wishes to those of you who celebrate your special day early in the month!
And what a month to celebrate, as your beautiful “birthday twins” are Jody, whose birthday we celebrate on Mother’s Day (May 8th this year) and Mave, whose birthday is celebrated on May 27th! You lucky human birthday twins! We can’t imagine our lives without these two strong, intelligent, beautiful and endearing chimpanzee women. And we cannot imagine their lives without you.
Beautiful, sweet Jody is turning 47 this year! We choose to celebrate Jody on Mother’s Day in honor of the nine children she gave birth to while in biomedical research. Though she was never allowed to raise her own children, her mothering heart surrounds the members of the family she finds herself with. My heart sings every time I see her race to the closest log that sits immediately outside the raceway entrance to Young’s Hill, where she often sits in the morning sun and scans her group’s outdoor habitat for any overnight happenings, keeping a close eye on her fellow chimpanzee friends. She has an endearing habit of racing after and collecting her good friend, Foxie, if she deems for any reason that it’s in Foxie’s best interest to return to the safety of the greenhouse.
If you’ve followed us for awhile, you may recall that we typically celebrate Jody’s special day (and honor all our chimpanzee mamas, their children, and their own lost childhoods) with a glorious and abundant lilac forage! It remains to be seen, but our extended stay from winter may have us enjoying a belated lilac season, but perhaps that’s apropos for this blog! 😉 Rest assured, their celebration will be befitting the incredible person Jody is!
Foxie, during a past year’s celebration:
And Negra:
And Missy, who perhaps loves lilacs most of all:
And then there’s marvelous, magnificent Mave, who will be turning 33! Mave is an amazing woman. She can be quiet and reserved with two exceptions: she has the most heart-singing, wonderful food squeaks at breakfast time that ring throughout the chimp house, and when she takes a mind to speak up for herself or her chimpanzee friends in need, she doesn’t hold back.
You’ve probably heard us sing Mave’s praises numerous times in regard to her ability to calm and reassure her fellow chimps, especially during challenging times like introductions. For someone born and raised in captivity, I’ll never know just how she navigates chimp society and politics so well. I think it’s just how her amazing heart beats in life.
Honey B enjoying her first lilacs:
And as an added celebration bonus, May also happens to be Jody’s look-alike son’s birthday! Gorgeous Clay, who resides at Save the Chimps in Florida, will be turning 35 on May 20th! Clay also happens to be Burrito’s half-brother as they share the same father, Mack. With those stunning eyes, there’s no doubt who Clay’s mama is (*photo courtesy of Save the Chimps). We are so happy that Clay is safe and loved in his sanctuary home:
May this to be a hopeful, inspiring and joyful time for you all, abundant in all the good things big and small, just as you help ensure for Jody, Mave, and each of the sixteen amazing chimpanzee people (and bovines!) who call the sanctuary their home. We truly appreciate you!
Long-time friends of the sanctuary, Lisa and Rich Stuverud, sponsored this beautiful day of sanctuary in memory of their precious Labrador, Layla.
“Layla was born on May 5th, 14 years ago and we knew she was ours to love from day one. It was true unconditional love. Her passing is still quite raw in our hearts and minds. We always celebrated her birthday and it just seems right to continue celebrating her life and sharing our love for her with our love for CSNW…she was with us when we read the blogs, she watched and listened to many a pant hooting video with the classic dog head tilt, she made every road trip to the sanctuary with us and waited patiently in the “Lab Cab” while we dropped off chimpanzee enrichment and food favorites. We just want to share and celebrate unconditional love today. We hope everyone gets to experience it at some point in their lives.”
Lisa and Rich, we’re sending our deepest condolences for the loss of your beloved family member, Layla. Thank you so much for allowing us to celebrate what a special being she was with you and for sharing something beautiful to smile about as we envision her through your heart. We’re so happy to know she was part of the chimps’ extended family!
Honey B:
Foxie hootin’:
Jamie:
Burrito:
Lucky, Dora and Rayne:
Wonderful friend of the sanctuary, Marya Barey, sponsored this special day of sanctuary in memory of her parents. And as though that isn’t lovely enough, it also happens to be Marya’s birthday AND our official/unofficial holiday (created by another wonderful friend, Monica), Love a Chimpanzee Day!
Side note: If you are interested in helping celebrate Love a Chimpanzee Day with a donation to the chimpanzees you love, check out the GiveBIG page from Monica and Diana!
Thank you, Marya, for all you help make possible in the chimpanzees’ and bovines’ lives! Sharing your special day and beautiful message with us all means so much!:
“I’m thrilled that my birthday, April 23, is also “Love a Chimpanzee Day” and am happy to sponsor this day not only for all the wonderful chimp and people beings at CSNW but for all chimpanzees. I’m grateful for their presence, their intelligence, their adaptability, their antics and their depth of soul and spirit. And thanks to this marvelous community of human primates who help to support this and other wonderful sanctuaries. My parents gave me a love of all nature and it has sustained me through very difficult times so I’m thankful to them for their sensitivity and for passing on their commitment to me.”
Happy Birthday, Marya! Happy Love a Chimpanzee Day, all!
Love’s a funny thing. Sometimes, when we’re very lucky, we meet someone and think our hearts cannot possibly hold more love for this person. And then you meet fifteen more people…
Cy:
Jamie:
Honey B:
Honey B’s mama, Missy:
Annie:
Negra:
Dora:
Mave:
Willy B:
Foxie:
Jody:
Rayne:
Lucky:
Terry:
Gordo:
