Happy 4th of July from the Cle Elum Seven!
Animal Welfare
Nothing Much Going On
If you follow our blog regularly, you might get the impression that the chimpanzees are always up to something. And they do spend a lot of time playing, eating, grooming, and exploring. But they also enjoy downtime.
In memory of Bryan
This day of sanctuary was sponsored by Judy Riner in memory of her husband, Bryan Riner, and she shared this beautiful message about her special gift in his honor:
“Bryan Riner loved and respected chimps. He especially enjoyed following the lives of the Cle Elum Seven, and he would be proud to know that his family honors his memory in this way. He was a loving husband and father, and that love and compassion extended to all species.”
Judy, thank you so very much for this special gift in Bryan’s memory. You and your family have been such good friends to the chimpanzees and we are honored to celebrate Bryan here today. All of us here at the sanctuary will be holding you all in our hearts and minds. We hope that the love you extend to the chimpanzees, enabling them to live their lives full of joy and comfort, is felt all around you as you celebrate Bryan and his wonderful legacy of compassion and respect for all our fellow beings.
Annie and Missy:
Burrito and Jody:
Foxie and Negra:
Jamie and Negra:
Bubbles
Once in awhile we make bubbles for the chimps with a small drop of non-toxic dish soap. They seem to like how the bubbles feel in their mouths.
Today is in memory of Susan
This day of sanctuary was sponsored by Jennifer and James Douglas to honor the memory of their dear friend, Susan von Beck Turner, and her legacy of care and compassion. Jen and James shared that “Susan touched the lives of many dogs and humans and made them better.”
Susan made a difference in the lives of so many dogs. It was her lifelong passion to rescue them and she saved hundreds, healing their health and spirits and finding them forever homes. When Susan’s own dog, Cardiff, began failing in health and she was unable to find the kind of boarding care she wanted for him, she decided to leave her job and went on to build a well-respected and successful dog boarding facility, Cardiff’s Lodge, here in Washington.
Jen and James, thank you so much for celebrating Susan’s life with such a compassionate and generous gift for the chimpanzees. We are profoundly grateful for all that you do for them and we are honored to celebrate such a special soul today. To you, and Susan’s family and friends, our thoughts are with you all and we hope that your memories of Susan bring you the joy, love and comfort that she provided to so many others.
A Strawberry Solstice
One of the chimpanzees’ favorite summertime happenings is their garden. Volunteer caregiver, Denice, and staff caregiver, Keri, are the driving forces behind this beautiful project each year. It not only helps us supplement the chimpanzees’ food supply, but it provides them with enrichment while adding beauty to their home.
As soon as the weather turned warmer this year the chimpanzees immediately started looking out the windows of the playroom to see if the garden had magically appeared overnight. Once things start growing we get to harvest fresh fruit and vegetables for them almost daily and they LOVE getting to choose what they would like and have their caregivers hand it to them straight from the garden!
With our first full day of summer arriving yesterday in conjunction with the stunning full Strawberry Moon last night, I thought it only appropriate to have a small strawberry feast this afternoon to celebrate. Volunteer caregiver, Ally, picked through the chimps’ strawberry patch as they watched from the greenhouse and then served everyone the fresh berries, still warm from the (official!) summer sun.
Burrito and Jody watch Ally in the distance. The entire time, Annie was banging her feet on the caging and Foxie was blowing raspberries to hurry Ally along with the strawberry picking:
Burrito:
Jody:
Foxie:
Annie:
Jamie:
Missy decided to wait down by the onion patch, but she was happy for a handful of strawberries:
And Queen Negra opted to avoid all the excitement in the greenhouse and wait it out in the comfort of her nest until I hand delivered some strawberries to her. She climbed down from her nest at Negra-style warp speed and though she was not interested in having her photo taken, she enjoyed her strawberries in peace with a view of the flower garden.
Year Eight
We hope that you have been enlightened, entertained, and inspired by the musings on years’ past this week. Today’s final post in the looking-back brings us from June 2015 to last week, the eighth anniversary of the arrival of the Cle Elum Seven to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
The chimps’ eighth year began with a true test of our medical clinic. Burrito spent some time in the clinic twice after breaking a canine tooth. The first was an exam to determine the extent of his previously-diagnosed congestive heart failure and to assess the broken tooth, and the second was the tooth (make that teeth) extraction procedure.
The chimpanzees are so fortunate to have such good human friends in their corner, who always go out of their way to ensure that they have the best care possible, and Burrito was in the hands of a large huge team of veterinary professionals who donated their time and skills to see Burrito through his procedures without a hitch.
Dare I say he’s even cuter with his missing teeth?
Dora the Explorer and friends were making frequent appearances with Foxie last year, and she seemed to show a particular fondness for the jaunty and clearly extra-adventurous France Dora:
and Dora’s fiery-haired friend Kate:
Troll dolls have not been replaced, though! They continued to be a favorite enrichment item for Foxie, with some of the other chimps seeming to adopt the trend:
Last summer, J.B. put together another of my favorite videos of the last eight years – the epic Troll Scarf Tug O War:
While the chimpanzees continue to make the most out of the ever-expanding life in sanctuary…
…the humans have been working hard “behind the scenes” to secure their future and work towards giving more chimpanzees a sanctuary life. The community of donors and volunteers came together and made it possible to purchase the sanctuary property that we had been leasing, acquire new land that tripled the total sanctuary footprint, and enter into an agreement to provide a home for chimpanzees coming out of biomedical research.
And, on a national scale, there was huge news as invasive biomedical research on chimpanzees came to a halt.
Just think about what the next eight years will bring!
