Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Annie

Battle of the Toes

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It is hard to find Missy without Annie far behind. If they are not near each other- they are definitely keeping tabs on one another. I often will see Annie scanning the Hill if Missy has gone out on her own, just to make sure she know where she is (just in case). The best is walking in every morning to hear them laughing and playing together. I think we all have that go to friend(s) that we are so incredibly thankful for. And though Missy may be higher in the ranking, Annie seems to be very thankful for her close friendship with Missy, even if she doesn’t get any special favors. I hope you enjoy this sweet video of two besties playing and laughing with each other.

*Honey B update*

Honey B is recovering well and healing in the way we hoped so far!

Bonus photos:

A series of Burrito! They may all look the same, but I swear they are all a little different and it was too hard to choose!

Burrito in the portrait studio:

Annie in the portrait studio:

Jamie nesting:

A Path Out

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We finally have a decent break from the snow and subfreezing temperatures. Though there are some more winter storms in the forecast, at least most days are going to be fairly mild in regard to temperature. In fact, for the first time in a long time, the sun has broken through the clouds to grace us with it’s warm presence. With the sun out, it was too good of an opportunity not to try to give Annie’s group Young’s Hill. After some light shoveling, a path to Young’s Hill was forged.

I must apologize, however. As I watched the pileup at the door that leads to Young’s Hill was opening, I realized I had forgotten the camera and my phone. I guess it boils down to I was too plum excited to see the color contrast of chimp and snow.

Foxie

Annie

Even with access to get their own snow, sometimes having the snow brought to you is the best. At least that seemed to be Jamie’s preference, with the addition of icicles and black cherry Stur water enhancers.

Missy also had joined Jamie in snow and icicles.

Some bonus photos of Willy B playing with Lucky a couple of days ago!

Library Day

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It’s no secret that Jamie Chimpanzee loves books, and after being on the nice list and getting lots of gifts at Christmas, she had amassed quite the book collection. Today we decided to give her lots of her books to look through all at once and called it Library Day. It was a blast! Sabrina and I had fun decorating for the occasion – setting up all of her books on their own shelves, and then providing cabbage, radicchio, and juice as refreshments for the event. It turned into a library party when the stars aligned and their enrichment for the day was peanut butter puzzles, so they got a lot of things they enjoy all at once!

Above: Jamie looking through her books.

Above: Jamie drinking juice from a tea cup.

Everyone except for Negra took turns drinking from the large juice pool by the library setup. Negra made her way upstairs quickly to the peanut butter puzzles and blankets and soon was cozy in her newly built nest.

Here is a photo of Negra that I took recently, being her wonderful, regal self.

I hope you all enjoy the video from today, and have had a wonderful holiday season. The celebrations continue at the sanctuary with Burrito’s birthday which is quickly approaching! If you would like to send gifts to help him celebrate, please check out our wish list here.

Life of Enrichment and Giant Stuffed Dolphin Thanks!

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It felt fitting to have today’s blog be about enrichment! There are so many different ways to enrich the chimps lives! The video highlights a few of the many ways to add to the chimps day to day life. Thank you to Comfort & Joy auction winner Emily H. for the giant stuffed dolphin for Jamie’s group! We put it out on on Jamie’s side this morning!

Thankful Every Day

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It’s the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, which means… it’s Giving Tuesday! 🙂

If you haven’t heard of it before, Giving Tuesday is an internationally recognized day of giving as it aims to promote generosity as a part of every day life. Which, if you ask me, is just a sincerely lovely & comforting thought.

We rely on the generosity of you, our supporters, to do the work we do. All our residents deserve sanctuary and you are what makes that happen. We are grateful, every day, for each of you.

If you find yourself wanting to participate in Giving Tuesday, I would encourage you to donate by clicking the link here. There are so many ways to donate- from sponsoring a day of sanctuary, to donating directly to our produce fund, becoming a Chimp or Bovine Pal to one of our residents, or donating stocks– I can confidently tell you that every donation is felt and appreciated. Today, and every day, no donation is too small.

There are also the non-monetary ways to support the sanctuary, which I feel like sometimes get overlooked but are just as important! Sharing our posts, for example, to your social media or with your friends and family help us increase our reach. Which, in turn, helps us connect and share our residents stories with more people. That is so, so important to us. We owe it to our residents to share their names & stories as far & wide as we can. A simple share helps us do just that!

On that note, I hope you enjoy the short & sweet video today of best chimp friends Missy and Annie. 🙂

Annie, from the photo vault, during a sweet summer forage:

Also, in the honor of giving thanks, look at this amazing pile of donations from a week or so ago! Thank you so much to everyone who donates items from our wish lists or who sends us chimp-approved items. We are currently adding items that we need for our upcoming Christmas celebrations to our wish lists, so please check it out if you’re interested in helping us celebrate! 🙂

CSNW Candid Camera

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Before we begin the blog, let’s play a game!

Can you spot the fierce predator stalking this herd of deer?

Answer will be at the end!

Now onto the blog!

As much as we try and would love to be everywhere to capture the chimpanzees throughout the day, we can’t. It really is unfortunate because outside of what gets published in the blog, there are hundreds of moments during the day that are amazing. Though we can’t be there to get photos or footage, every now and again we are lucky enough to glance over to the security cameras and see what some of their day consists of.

Here are some bonus photos from today!

Rayne seemingly really enjoying her mountain rose apples at breakfast

Really she was just caught mid-blink

Negra went out onto Young’s Hill this morning to check out the new climbing structures J.B. and Jake are building

On her way back inside, she ran into a potential snack. Literally!

But alas the young pine was not willing to be uprooted for her

Gambit Gordo

Missy and Annie enjoying the morning on Young’s Hill

Burrito and Jamie returning from a patrol

Terry showing and grooming his own foot

And this guy!

Burrito was on top of a bench playing with a giant stuffed toy goose, and would occasionally look down

Were you able to find the fierce hunter earlier?

It’s Barn Kitty!

Barn Kitty (aka BK) is such a fierce individual. He doesn’t seem to be intimidated by size. I once watched him hide behind some tall grass and stalk J.B. as he was driving the tractor up hill. If he had the chance, I 100% believe he was weighing his options of pouncing; tractor or no tractor!

New Traditions

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Holidays can be hard when loved ones have passed. Though Jamieween is a celebration of Jamie’s birthday and Halloween, for all of us (staff, volunteers, and supporters) it is the day of the great pumpkin heist. Where we watched Jody end up with the pumpkin whether she was sneaky about it or just plucked the pumpkin off the Hill and walked right in with it, obviously paying the Negra tax. It was a day we all looked forward to, Jody stealing the show, which is hard to do on a day all about Jamie :). Altogether the chimps still had an amazing Jamieween filled with so much good food, laughter, play, enrichment, and pumpkins, it wasn’t quite the same without Jody’s dinosaur groans and her carrying a pumpkin as big as her.

With change sometimes comes new traditions. Everyone in Negra’s group was much more modest with the pumpkins this year, including Negra having to get her own pumpkin. Yesterday, the day after Jamieween, I let Jamie’s group out onto Young’s Hill. Jamie seemed to be in a very happy mood and sprinted out wanting to go on a perimeter walk/run with me. While Jamie was walking, Annie, Missy, and Burrito went up to Jody’s pumpkin. Annie eventually took some of the pumpkin, still leaving a little behind. Annie also found other forage items that was missed yesterday. To our surprise Jamie did not get mad when Annie had a handful of mini peppers and a mouth full of pumpkin. Instead, Jamie seemed excited to go look for her own leftover forage items. To me it seems like Annie is the winner of the great pumpkin heist this year.

Jamie the day after Jamieween. Nesting with some of her new boots:

Jamie today nesting, still recovering from her party: