Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Katelyn

For Skye, in memory of Angela

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Many thanks to Tobin, for sponsoring a day of sanctuary in honor of her friends, Skye and Angela. Tobin shared this message about today:

“On this World Animal Day, October 4, I am sponsoring this day of sanctuary in honor of my friend, Skye, and in memory of Skye’s beloved soulmate, Angela. During their many years together as a devoted couple, Angela and Skye made their home a sanctuary for cats and dogs. Like my old friend Jody, these two women are and were excellent den mothers. As I think of them both, I think that their care for animals demonstrates lives well lived, of love that wills the good for others.”

Betsy and Honey:

Missy, Annie, and Burrito:

Jody and Foxie:

Honey B and Rayne:

 

A message from Jamie, probably…

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“October is finally here and it’s officially the Season of Jamieween!! IYKYK.”

“And if you don’t know yet, we celebrate my birthday on October 31st (aka Halloween) and it’s rightly one of the biggest celebrations of the year! So get ready! Now. (Said with unblinking eyes peering through your very souls).”- Jamie, probably.

Jamie is going to be 48!

To know Jamie is to know a force of nature. She is strong, creative, intelligent, mischievous, silly, opinionated, willful, intimidating, demanding, beautiful, and unspeakably resilient. And not without her scary side. It’s not always easy being her friend, but it’s a privilege unlike any other.

Our summer visits for our amazing donors just wrapped up last weekend and one of the highlights for guests (and all of us, to be honest) is being able to observe Jamie and her group forage for their lunch on Young’s Hill, their two-acre outdoor habitat. As we point out each of the chimpanzees to everyone I always delight in bringing everyone’s attention to Jamie, immediately recognizable by her no nonsense, straight-backed, power-stance posture. It’s very Jamie.

Like her group-mates (Negra, Foxie, Burrito, Missy, Annie, and previously, Jody), Jamie spent thirty years of her life in biomedical research, living in a cage the size of a bathroom stall. They’ve known one another longer than we’ve known them. Where her background differs from theirs is that she spent the first nine years of her life living with a trainer in the entertainment industry, probably being raised much like a human child until she certainly became too powerful and dangerous to control any longer. The trainer then sold her to a dealer who sold her into biomedical research. Jamie is very human-oriented and we’ve often said that of all the chimpanzees, we feel she is most uniquely aware of her captivity.

Also like her group-mates, Jamie has approached her so far seventeen+ years in sanctuary with arms and heart wide open to every choice and opportunity provided to her. The level of resilience and tenacity that takes is beyond comprehension.

“Jamieween” is easily one of the biggest, most anticipated celebrations here at the sanctuary. When October 31st was chosen as her honorary birthday there was no way of knowing just how appropriate of a date it is. Anything a little spooky, creepy, macabre? She is all in. Skeletons, mummies, and blood? She’s fascinated! There is no one like Jamie. And how incredible is it that she gets to be celebrated and honored for exactly who she is, that she finally gets to have a sense of agency over her life, how she wants to spend her time, and how she wants the humans to care for her.

Here is one of my all time favorite Jamie stories. Jamie LOVES tools, machinery, utility vehicles, anything with some power to it. And as many of you have seen over the years, she also LOVES walking with her caregivers around her outdoor enclosure (her inside, us outside, of course), and all the better if we are racing on foot or by Gator. So imagine her perceived perfect combo when one day she spotted J.B. doing some work at the top of Young’s Hill with the chainsaw! Yep! She sure did try to get him to chase her around the perimeter of the hill with the chainsaw!! This is quintessential (and horrifyingly and hilariously) Jamie!! Of course, thankfully, J.B. isn’t a run-with-scissors (or chainsaws) kinda guy, which I can imagine Jamie was pretty disgusted with. 😉 (If you caught J.B.’s recent post about George hurling a carrot at the USDA inspector, just imagine if this kind of scene happened during his visit! HA!).

We love her so much.

Racing with some of her caregivers:

And no Jamieween was, or ever will be, complete without our beloved “Great Pumpkin Thief”, Jody. She heisted the pumpkin every year! Always in our hearts:

Here at the sanctuary the entire month of October belongs to Jamie (as it should), but we are also thrilled to celebrate Negra’s sweet son, Noah, who is turning 36 on October 17th! We had the wonderful opportunity to meet Noah at his sanctuary home, Save the Chimps, in Florida and he’s such a special guy! (Photo courtesy of Save the Chimps):

His mom, Negra:

As life would have it, we are so often asked to hold joy and grief in the same breath and as I was writing this, we learned along with the rest of the world of the profoundly sad news that Dr. Jane Goodall passed away this morning at the age of 91. She was on tour, just as she had chosen to spend most days of her life for the last many years, endlessly dedicated to protecting, raising awareness of, and hope for, this astounding and invaluable world we all get the privilege to share with so many remarkable beings. She was a remarkable being.

Anything I could say here would fall short. How grateful we are that we got to live in a world with Jane Goodall and for the immense difference she made in so many lives, be they human, tree, dog, chimpanzee…so many beings. The world won’t be the same without her. And for countless of us, it won’t be the same because of her.

She will be so deeply missed and our hearts are with all mourning her absence. I hope her inspiration finds a kaleidoscope of ways to continue shining through us all.

Happy Birthday, Becky, from Tobin!

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Thank you, Tobin, for sponsoring a day of sanctuary in celebration of your friend, Rebecca Babcock on her birthday!

“To my dear friend, Becky: On this 50th anniversary, I have no doubt that your mother would be pleased at the adult you became, as a mother and grandmother, and as a person with a steadfast moral conscience. And, were she to have been able to visit your house and taken notice of the portraits of Dora, Mave, Jody, Burrito, and other chimpeople of distinction, I believe that your mother would be impressed and approving of the company you keep.”

Happy Birthday, Becky! Hope you have a wonderful day!

Dora:

Best friends, “Mora” (Mave play-biting Dora’s foot):

Happy Birthday to Mave and Jennie!

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Thank you so much to Jennie Makanos for sponsoring this special day of sanctuary in celebration of Mave and Jennie’s birthdays!:

“Mave and I share a Birthday (although she is a “bit” younger than I am!), so I wanted to sponsor a day of sanctuary in her honor. Happy 36th Birthday, Mave! May we both have many more.”

This is such a lovely way to celebrate your own birthday, Jennie, and we so appreciate you including Mave and helping to make her day extra special! All of us here hope you have a beautiful day and that it’s full of mangoes (or a suitable equivalent 😉 ).

“Mora” (Mave and her bestie, Dora):

Happy Birthday, Mike, from Terry!

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Thank you so much to Terry Stockdale for sponsoring this wonderful day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees and her husband, Mike Stockdale, in celebration of his 75th birthday!

“We both look forward to the daily blog. Mike’s favorite chimp is Burrito, so please give him a new toy to chew on. He is also so proud of George’s courage as he is welcomed into a group.”

Happy Birthday, Mike! We hope you have a fantastic day!

We truly appreciate both of you and your long-time support of the chimpanzees and thank you for including them in your lives! You’ve helped make so much possible for them.

Burrito:

His usual blur…

George!:

Happy Birthday, Rebecca, from Kimberly!

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Many thanks to Kimberly Mirocko for sponsoring this day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in honor of her sister, Rebecca “Bec” Miller, for her birthday!

“Happy 50th birthday to the BEST sister anyone could have! I’m forever grateful to have you in my life! I hope Abe buys you something nice! — Kimmie Kimmie KokoNut” 

Have a wonderful day, Rebecca! And thanks to you all for loving Cy! He’s an extraordinary guy. <3

Cy and his sister, Lucky, and Dora:

September celebrations!

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In Katy Hessel’s (of The Great Women Artists fame) forthcoming book, “How to Live an Artful Life”, she compared the last day of August to sometimes feeling like the ultimate Sunday night. I think summer holds a particular sense of freedom, time, and nostalgia for most of us. Even those of us (chimpanzee and human alike) who might could do without the occasional hellfire aspect. 😉 That said, I don’t think there is any season that doesn’t offer something for the chimpanzees and the humans who love them to look forward to and cherish.

Just the other morning it was lovely and cool which inspired the zooms in Foxie. I watched her and Burrito zip past as she chased Burrito up the hill of their outdoor habitat, him stopping here and there to wait and clap at her, meaning “hurry up!” This is something I typically only see him do when he wants his caregivers to race him around the hill, so it was pretty endearing. Especially given that the zooms are beginning to look a little different than they used to for some of our older chimpanzee friends, but no less spirit-filled. Perhaps even more so.

Despite having our warmest forecast yet for this first week of September ahead, as far as eastern Washington summers go, this one has been on the “mild” side given what’s possible. And as September tends to be one of our best months weather-wise, we are looking forward to all the celebrations it brings with it. So here we go:

Annie was born in 1974 and we’ll be celebrating her 51st birthday on September 10th!:

Quintessential Annie: walking around her outdoor habitat bi-pedally:

And of course, it’s hard to imagine Annie without Missy:

Beautiful and independent Meredith is turning 10 on September 23rd!:

Meredith with her mama, Honey (left):

And Mave is turning 36 on September 25th!

Mave (and Dora’s foot 🙂 ):

Mora (Mave+Dora):

With the arrival of sweet George, we’ve been so happy to welcome many new followers! And some of you might be wondering why, as you’ll see below, the monthly celebration posts include birthdays of the children of the chimpanzee mamas here at CSNW.

Of the original group of seven chimpanzees to arrive here in 2008, Annie, Foxie, Jody, Missy, and Negra gave birth to multiple babies during their thirty years in biomedical research. Chimpanzee mothers were typically anesthetized within hours or days of giving birth in order to take their babies, who would then be hand-raised by humans in the lab nurseries until they were old enough to be placed in research themselves. Breeding in labs was common practice and how chimpanzee populations were maintained for decades of use in research protocols.

Invasive testing on chimpanzees effectively ended in the United States in 2015 when the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed they would end the split-listing of chimpanzees under the Endangered Species Act, changing the classification of captive chimpanzees from “threatened” to “endangered” to match that of chimpanzees in the wild. This same year the National Institute of Health (NIH) announced they would phase out research on federally owned chimpanzees following the 2011 recommendations from the Institute of Medicine (IMO) which determined after an in-depth study that the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research was no longer “necessary”.

It’s a devastating, heartbreaking history we cannot change. And by now you might be thinking, “Who wants to hear about this nightmare in a blog about celebrations?!” But knowing of the thousands of chimpanzees who endured biomedical research and reading the long lists of those named and their children (sometimes identified only by a number), it’s incredible to know that Annie, Foxie, Jody, Missy, and Negra’s still living children are all safe and cared for in accredited sanctuaries. This wasn’t the outcome for all of their children (or for the majority of chimpanzees who were in biomedical research). Knowing that and being able to follow a glimpse of their lives now is a profound gift worthy of celebration. It’s one small way we can honor their histories, their ancestry, and their connections that are no less real despite having been separated from one another. And it gives us the opportunity to celebrate our fellow accredited sanctuaries, caregivers, and donors who make their lives in their own sanctuary families possible.

While we all wish the chimpanzees’ lives had been different, we are so grateful for the lives they have now, in no small part because of you. And in the eyes and bodies and mannerisms of their beautiful sons and daughters, we delight in seeing glimpses of their mothers they carry with them, their mothers who we cherish so.

Negra’s daughter, Angel, who lives at Save the Chimps sanctuary in Florida, is turning 40 on September 4th (all respective photos courtesy of Save the Chimps):

Negra:

Annie’s daughter, Mariah, shares a birthday month with her mama and is turning 34 on September 19th:

Annie:

Jody’s daughter, Andrea (the 2nd), is turning 35 on September 30th:

Our profoundly missed Jody:

In other September news, early giving for Giving Day for Apes begins on September 16th and leads up to a live 24-hour day of giving on October 7th, with competitions and the chance for each sanctuary to win additional monetary prizes. The goal of this annual day of giving is to raise awareness and funds for participating sanctuaries in Africa, Asia, and North America in support of the apes in their care!

And autumn, wondrous, beloved autumn, arrives on September 22nd! (Which of course also means the season of “Jamieween”! If you’re new here, Halloween is boss babe, Jamie’s, birthday and one of the biggest parties of the year! Personally, I can’t wait to see what George thinks of this one! 🙂 ).

Annie lounging on a beautiful autumn day:

Jamie!

And another busy season of summer visits for our donors wraps up the last weekend of the month! Though we aren’t open to the public, we truly enjoy getting to welcome so many of our donors for these limited visits so they can get a glimpse of the chimpanzees (if the chimpanzees choose to give them a glimpse!) and of all they help make possible in the chimpanzees’ and cows’ lives. If this is something you are interested in attending next year as an existing donor, registration dates become available in early spring and fill up quickly, so make a note to keep an eye on this page for more information.

Missy foraging on Young’s Hill:

And right around the corner into October is HOOT! 2025 on October 3rd! You can join us for the celebration in-person in Seattle or online! For tickets to the in-person event, to RSVP to the live online event (it’s free!), for more information, or if you’re unable to attend, but would like to support the sanctuary with a contribution, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

As always, we appreciate you so much for being here for the chimpanzees and cows! And all of us humans, as well!