Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

animal protection

they’re called playrooms for a reason

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Or maybe they should be called multi-purpose rooms?

I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed watching these clips over and over!

I had many technical difficulties with computers and software today, so you are seeing this video after a great deal of perseverance. I almost gave up a few times, but I’m pretty stubborn.

I was thinking of you all in my stubbornness. I wanted to deliver some quality footage of the Californians in part of the new playroom space. It’s fun to be able to film through the windows for those close-up views, even when Willy B videobombs the camera.

It’s the Great Tomato Hunt, Missy!

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To watch Missy during a forage with tomatoes involved is like watching a pinball in a pinball machine. At first it seems like random zooming all over the place. But after a while, you realize that it’s all controlled and Missy indeed has a plan. The best way to describe it is “organized chaos.”

Last August, caregiver Anthony was able to perfectly describe Missy’s tomato obsession.

As soon as she spies us take those waxy red orbs out of the refrigerator, Missy turns into a ravenous lunatic whose sole objective is to ingest as many tomatoes as quickly as possible.”

When Missy first makes her way outside, first thing is to grab whatever tomato that is immediate vicinity.

Once all those are gone, it’s time to make her way to the structures. This serves as two benefits:

1) There are usually some hidden at the base of the structure.

2) Structures also provide a good vantage point to spot more tomatoes.

(Plus there may be a hidden one on the top of the structure.)

At times, when she is at a high view point, it almost seems that she plans out her route to capitalize on her movements.

While during the initial start of the forage, Missy eats as she goes. When she passes this stage, she begins collecting her prized foods. This is where her planning from the top comes in. Racing from one spot to the next, grabbing all that she can hold onto with her hands, feet, and mouth.

Once she cannot carry anymore, she anchors in a spot and enjoys the bounty of her tomato hunt.

It’s days like today, watching Missy zoom from place to place in the hunt for tomatoes, we feel very fortunate to be able to provide things they love. You can help us by donating to this year’s Give Big Washington campaign, which ends tomorrow. Anything helps us reach our goal and it directly helps them. So please consider donating if you can.

Bonus photos of Burrito and Jody grooming:

Up-Close – Really Up-Close – Chewing

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Who is your favorite chewer from the video? And why is it that non-humans animals chewing is charming, but hearing the same from our own species drives some of us up the wall?

Paper Play and Other Wish List Items

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Yesterday, we made a banner for Love a Chimpanzee Day and left the roll of paper in the greenhouse. Burrito immediately took the roll of paper outside. Did he have a plan? It’s difficult to say.

One thing we can say for sure is that we need more paper! It’s just one of many items currently on our Amazon wish list right now. Please peruse the list of things we need for a well-functioning and fun chimp house.

Today, when we were cleaning the playroom, I spied Burrito playing with the empty paper roll. You just never know what’s going to tickle the fancy of the chimps!

If you were able to join our virtual visit yesterday, I hope you had a great time! Our GiveBIG fundraising is off to a good start, but we have a pretty big goal this year. There’s still over $1,500 in matching funds from me and Monica to double your gift. The fundraiser goes until May 5th, which will be here faster than Burrito can drop a roll of paper.

It’s Love a Chimpanzee Day 2021!

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Supporter Monica Best named April 23rd Love a Chimpanzee Day and has sponsored this day each year since 2010 for her chimpanzee friends at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

We’re using this occasion as the official kick-off to GiveBig. Monica and I have teamed up by creating a joint fundraising page with a $5,000 matching donation!

Love a Chimpanzee Day has become an official holiday around here. So much so, that we even include the day in the annual calendar.

Monica created Love a Chimpanzee Day in honor of her cat Ozzie on her birthday during a difficult and uncertain time when she was battling cancer. She credits the chimpanzees with helping her through that time and subsequent relapses.

Like many of us, even as a kid, Monica loved and was drawn towards nonhuman animals, especially wolves. She didn’t fall for chimpanzees until she happened upon a television show that featured Carole Noon, the founder of Save the Chimps. She immediately searched for other sanctuaries on the internet and found Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

We are SO GRATEFUL to Monica. She has been an incredible champion of chimpanzees and is always thinking of ways to make their lives happier. She’s also always thinking of ways to broaden the support of the sanctuary and encourage others to donate to help the chimpanzees she loves and chimpanzees everywhere.

We would not be in the position of being able to welcome the Lucky Six chimpanzees coming to the sanctuary later this year without her support.

Today we are celebrating with the chimps and inviting all of their fans to join a virtual tour, see the expansion in progress, and learn about the Chimps in Need campaign and all of the chimpanzees who remain at Wildlife Waystation waiting to go to their new sanctuary homes.

You can still register for this 4:00 p.m. PT virtual event here.

Even if you are unable to attend, you can help us celebrate today and the future with more chimpanzees to love by donating on Monica and Diana’s GiveBig fundraising page or the sanctuary’s main GiveBig page.

Let’s all lean on our love of chimpanzees today and celebrate all the joy they have brought to our lives.

Happy Love a Chimpanzee Day, everyone!!

Burrito loves Duran Duran
Monica is a fan of Duran Duran and we took this photo of Burrito during the 2011 Love a Chimpanzee Day!

Stunt Missy

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When we set out food forages for the chimpanzees on Young’s Hill, the chimps’ outdoor habitat, especially on a gorgeous day like today, all of the staff onsite tend to gather at the base of the hill near the greenhouse, frequently with more than one of us taking photos.

It never gets old watching forages, and we often narrate out-loud to one another what’s happening. Today, Missy provided some excitement for our (and her) enjoyment.

The lunch forage was whole tomatoes (a Missy-favorite!), big chunks of lettuce, celery, mini sweet peppers, primate chow biscuits, and a few pieces of sweet potato.

Missy was keen on finding the tomatoes, but was also busy gathering lettuce. We spotted her on the treat rock (an artificial termite mound) taking a moment to eat some lettuce.

She must have spotted some tomatoes on top of Negra’s cabin from the vantage point of the treat rock, because she leapt off the treat rock in a way only Missy would. J.B. got a shot of her in motion!

Here’s the zoomed-in version of that photo. I dubbed it Stunt Missy.

Negra was settled in inside her cabin, casually enjoying some chow biscuits and lettuce, when Missy approached.

Missy was determined to climb up the log support of the cabin, even with her hands quite full. The humans watching wondering if she could do it…

Of course she could! She scaled up the log one-handed, not dropping a leaf of lettuce.

and enjoyed the tomato reward when she reached the top

That’s the Spot

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Today was a quintessential early spring day in Cle Elum that started with great gusts of wind driving snow across an otherwise peaceful green landscape. This attempt of winter to make a resurgence was no match for the sun, however. The snow was gone by midday and the scenery was back to being spring-like.

It’s been just a few days since Willy B, Mave, and Honey B first got access to the two new playrooms. They are still experimenting with the new space and trying out different areas. It will be fun to discover what their favorite hang-out spots are.

Today, Mave laid down to groom herself in a puddle of sun on the catwalk of Playroom 3 (also known as the Marmot Room because of the marmot silhouette painted on the wall downstairs in honor of a special supporter).

On the other side of the building, I found Jody in one of her all-time-favorite spots on the lower platform in the original greenhouse doing much the same as Mave.

Not one to spend much time lounging, Jamie was busy perusing the sanctuary’s site plan…

If you are on Facebook, you might have caught a Live Lunch Service (recorded video available on Facebook here). We hope to do more of those live videos in the future, most likely on a random and spontaneous schedule.

Whether you are more in the mood to relax or all about keeping active, if you are a local supporter, I have the thing you need to do this month!

Get yourself to Gallery One in Ellensburg and check out the display of designs that were submitted to last month’s art contest. Note – Gallery One is currently open at a limited capacity – check out their Covid protocols for more information.

You won’t go home empty-handed – there’s merchandise available for purchase that features the winning design of Fabulous Foxie by artist Thyra Rutter. There are also brand new postcards of all ten of the current chimpanzees; plus a really great display of information that the creative students in the Primate Awareness Network at Central Washington University put together. If you are not local, you will miss out on the displays, but you can still get stickers from the top four People’s Choice winners and merchandise of Fabulous Foxie in our online merchandise store.

Have fun shopping!