Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Katelyn

Happy Birthday, Bill Cavalle!

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Thanks so much to Cynthia Cavalle for sponsoring a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees and cows in celebration of Bill Cavalle!

“Happy Birthday to brother/uncle Bill back in Texas! Enjoy your special day with loving family and friends and give Fredo and Sonny a big hug and extra walk! We all look forward to many more celebrations to come! Love you! Cynthia and Meg”

Happy Birthday from all of us here at the sanctuary, Bill! We hope it’s a wonderful one and thanks for sharing your special day with the chimpanzees!

Gordo and Terry on the Bray:

Foxie and Burrito:

Missy!:

George:

Cy:

August celebrations!

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With August arrives the midpoint of summer here. The still summer-full days are just beginning to turn in at the edges. Jamie’s berry tax that Kelsi wrote about recently is yielding fewer results, though this doesn’t slow the collector’s demands. The Perseids are zooming above, the frogs and crickets are singing into the warm, slowly lengthening nights, and we’re cherishing and celebrating every moment we get to walk with the chimpanzees through the seasons of our lives together, thanks to you all.

Foxie turns 49 on August 8th! New dolls have been arriving and the stacks are towering (thank you!) and whenever I find them locally I grab a few to add to the bag o’ birthday dolls in my car.

I’ll admit we’ve been doing some occasional pre-birthday dipping into the reserves and her newest doll, Asha, from Disney’s “Wish”, has, as Jenna recently commented, become “her whole world.” 🙂 Though Foxie receives new dolls often and has an entire bin full, I’ve not seen her quite so taken in awhile. I’m not in her head, but if I had to guess I’d say it’s Asha’s hair. It’s extra long and swishy and full of amazing tiny braids.

Many of you may have seen that Foxie often likes to carry her dolls on her back as mama chimpanzees do with their young in the wild. Of course the dolls do a miserable job at hanging on, so when back inside, Foxie will often toss them on her back and sit against the caging.

On August 18th we celebrate Mave, Honey B, and Willy B’s 6th anniversary since arriving home to the sanctuary! SIX years!! It’s incredible all that six years can hold. Leaving the home where they’d spent the majority of their lives in the sunny hills of California to move to their new home in the sunny and sometimes snowy mountains of Washington with some nosey (and noisy) next door neighbors, getting through a global pandemic (unbeknownst to them), being briefly reunited with your mom (Honey B and Missy – also unbeknownst to them), meeting new friends and old, brawling with new friends and old, morphing into “Mora” (Mave + Dora = BFFs), finding the courage to go outdoors (where earth is lava) for the first time, climbing new heights, taking in what must seem like wondrous views, and all the days in between.

We are so proud of these three and their courage and curiosity in showing up for all that life has brought their way in the last six years. I can only imagine what’s ahead for them still, because of all you make possible in their lives.

Mave:

Honey B:

And Willy B:

And we celebrate Missy’s 50th birthday on August 23rd! If you’re one of our newer followers you may not be aware that Missy lives in part to eat all the tomatoes. Tomatoes will be arriving by the truckload (Charlie’s Produce truckload, that is), supplemented by the local Farmer’s Market. Beefsteaks, heirlooms, and cherries, oh my.

I think Missy holds the power of ten chimpanzee women in that tiny body of hers. As many of you may have read on the blog, she paid a visit to the clinic recently to take care of an infected tooth as her beloved friend, Annie, waited anxiously for her return. As J.B. noted in his blog post, Missy kept everyone’s hearts racing with her history of an adverse reaction to anesthesia, but Dr. Erin was prepared for this. Thanks will never be enough for the incredible team of professionals surrounding Missy that day to ensure her safety and well-being. And every day, with each of the chimpanzees.

The very next day Missy appeared un-phased, racing up Young’s Hill with her best friend, Annie, during their group’s lunch forage and the summer visit, and slack-lining her way across the fire hoses as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all. I don’t know, maybe she’s on to something with all those tomatoes.

Annie and Missy:

From the dolls that bring comfort, tomatoes that bring joy, professional and caring healthcare for quality lives, so many opportunities to make choices of how they want to spend their time and regain a sense of agency over their lives, chances to be brave and adventurous, celebrations that bring excitement and enrichment to their days, friends to spend time with, to just resting with ease and a new magazine in a summer breeze. You make each of their lives in sanctuary possible in a myriad of ways and we appreciate you being here with us more than we can say. Happy August, all!

Today is for Rachel and Ruby!

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Our heartfelt thanks today to long-time supporter and friend of the sanctuary, Rachel Ruggeri, for sponsoring this annual day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees and cows as a way to celebrate her birthday! Rachel would also especially like to honor Ruby McConnell Ruggeri today!

Rachel shared: “Ruby came to me when my father passed away on my birthday twelve years ago. So a good day to honor her.”

Rachel and her family have helped make so much possible for the chimpanzees and cows, making a lasting difference in their lives, and we’re so thrilled to share in her celebration today and in honoring Ruby! We are so grateful to them all.

Rachel and Ruby, wishing a beautiful day to you both from all of us here at the sanctuary!

Dora:

George:

Foxie:

Honey:

Negra:

Burrito:

Meredith:

Terry:

Mave and Dora:

In honor and memory of Harrison & Rita

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Our many thanks to Ashley Stroud for her third annual sponsorship of a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees and cows in honor and memory of Harrison & Rita.

“Harrison and Rita were my dogs and the best friends I could’ve asked for.”

We’re so touched that you choose to celebrate your beloved Harrison and Rita by making a difference for the chimpanzees and cows, Ashley. Thank you so much for allowing us to share in their memory and legacy and we will be thinking of you all today.

George!

Cy:

Betsy enjoying wild roses:

Rayne and Terry:

Missy and Annie:

Missy Annie running behind

Happy Birthday, Human Dave & Chimpanzee Gordo!

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Many thanks to Terry and Mike Stockdale for continuing to sponsor a day of sanctuary in celebration of Dave and Gordo on their shared special day!

“We would like to again sponsor July 19th in honor of our son Dave and his birthday buddy Gordo.We would also like to welcome Courageous George to sanctuary. His bravery and smile are heart-warming!

Happy Birthday, Dave, from all of us here at the sanctuary! Thanks for sharing your celebration with Gordo!

Gordo is turning 37 today and of course party preparation is underway, so be sure to tune in later today to join us in the celebration.

Happy Birthday, Gordo! We love you so much!!

And of course Gordo wouldn’t be Gordo without engaging in one of his favorite pastimes:

Gordo and Rayne on the Bray:

In memory of Ned and Noreen O’Flaherty

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Our many thanks to Joan O’Flaherty for continuing all these years to chose to honor her parents and their legacy by sponsoring a day of sanctuary and making a lasting difference in the lives of our beloved sanctuary residents! We so appreciate you, Joan!:

“This was my parents’ anniversary and they loved animals. Thank-you for caring for the chimpanzees and cows and giving them a safe haven and life worth living.”

Sweet George:

Annie:

Betsy, Honey, and Meredith:

Terry and Willy B:

Rayne:

July celebrations!

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The start of summer. I often think of summer as a season of nostalgia, made up of memories of summers past and re-created, and sometimes, summers as we wished they’d been. Admittedly, the heat of summer here makes it my least favorite season. And yet it holds some of the most joyful things I look forward to. When I was young, summer meant endless days stretched out with the pages of my beloved books, wandering the foggy redwoods and ducking under giant ferns while watching for centipedes to inch past, or the occasional family picnic on the windy beach, running from cold Pacific waves. Hhmmm…as I re-read that it sounds, well, very similar to my adult summers now. 😉

But nowadays summer also means seeing the chimpanzees’ immense joy over watermelon bowl season and frozen treats, watching them explore their outdoor habitats far and wide, languid afternoon moments spent sitting together companionably as we wait for a breeze, any breeze, through their open-air greenhouses. Foxie lazily passing her baby doll du jour back and forth, grooming quietly with Jamie until she remembers her burgeoning currant bush and adamantly gestures toward it requesting (well, demanding) a snack, Terry inspecting the tiniest of flowers with his enormous, yet mindbogglingly (is that a word? haha) gentle hands, Rayne, legs resting up the wall with feet crossed, holding her fingertips safely on the back of my hand through the caging…so many moments to cherish.

And with July we also get to celebrate Gordo and Betsy!

Gordo turns 37 on July 19th! Four years knowing this guy and he continues to delight us with his new (to us) enjoyment of games of chase, tickle, and probably his personal favorite (not so much ours), blasting the humans in the face with bucket size mouthfuls of water. 🙂

As many of you know, Gordo is a shy person and it’s really so wonderful to see him continuing to feel more and more himself as he bravely explores his groups’ outdoor habitat, the Bray, and engages with his caregivers in increasingly playful ways, all in his own time. Exactly what sanctuary is all about. Their own way, their own time.

And we will be celebrating Betsy who is unbelievably turning 18 on July 20th! I admire Betsy so much. She is really the epitome of mothering nature. Despite losing her beloved son, Nutmeg, last year, she continues to be her loving, protective, and often sassy self, as she looks over her long-time family and herd-mates, Honey, and Honey’s daughter, Meredith (who Betsy helped raise).

This is the time of year when we rarely see the cows outside of daily cattle care as they enjoy the freedom of their spring and summer pastures. Theirs are lives not typically provided for bovines and we are so very grateful to all of you for making their lovely lives together possible.

Betsy and her son, Nutmeg:

Another special day of celebration this month is July 14th, World Chimpanzee Day!  Dr. Jane Goodall arrived in Gombe on this date in 1960, this year marking the 65th anniversary of her groundbreaking time spent studying the chimpanzees there.

And a special summertime moment bonus! One of our newest neighbors and their mama were enjoying the progress being made in the Memorial Garden early the other morning. Many thanks to Chad for kindly sharing these photos! As construction of the garden has continued over the past months, I’ve also spotted our resident Raven pair chatting while enjoying water here on hot days, and once, an entire family of Marmots sitting together along the benches.

A beautiful new bench and stones arrived this week and the custom statue of Jody that we’re having made by a local artist to help honor her legacy, and made possible by so many of you who generously donated to this special opportunity during Giving Tuesday last year, is nearing completion. I find it interesting that so many of our wild neighbors who also call the I think now 99+ acres of sanctuary home have been choosing to gather in this particular spot. It’s materializing into a very special space and I know we look forward to being able to share it with you all before long.

So precious!

Happy summer (or winter) days to you all! Thank you for being here with us! And especially for making here, and these cherished summer moments and memories possible.