Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
We have a couple of small bamboo plants that we have been keeping in the human area of the greenhouse, and we’ve discovered that the chimps, especially Annie, love it just as much as grass! Annie will make raspberry sounds and point to it, just begging for us to give her more!
The other day she discovered that not only is it fun to eat:
…but it’s also fun to watch yourself eat it:
I can’t wait to see this girl on Young’s Hill!
Annie and Missy just play, play, play:
Damien, one of Annie‘s sons who was at the wonderful Save the Chimps sanctuary in Florida, recently passed away. Damien’s death was due to kidney failure that developed after an injury.
Please visit the Save the Chimps site to learn more about Damien as well as Ted, another chimpanzee who also recently passed away.
We were all very sad to learn of Damien and Ted’s passing, and our hearts go out to their caregivers. Save the Chimps is the word’s largest sanctuary for rescued chimpanzees, and the staff are faced with the deaths of loved ones too frequently.
Here is a quote from the notice about Damien’s death: “He grew into a magnificent adult, and was one of the few chimpanzees at Save the Chimps who spent more of his life in sanctuary than in a research lab.”
Thank you to all at Save the Chimps who gave Damien a sanctuary life.
We put the emphasis on delicious fresh food for Love a Chimpanzee Day 2011, brought to the chimps by Monica, who sponsored a day and sent some extra cash and goodies for us to throw a party. (Find out how you can sponsor a day by visiting our donate page or contacting us).
Here is the forage before spreading it out (and a few non-food treats for the chimps):
Here’s Negra traveling with a perfectly ripe avocado – a favorite among all of the chimpanzees:
Here’s Foxie picking peas out of the “garden” that volunteer Connie created in the sandbox
Negra even opened a present!
Annie seemed fond of this new doll:
Foxie did not seem fond of the same doll, though she did seem to enjoy taking it apart – it’s all part of the fun:
It was a beautiful sunny day in Cle Elum and all of the chimps really enjoyed the goodies today. Dinner ended with lots of nuts for Negra and figs. Little do they know they’ll be having another party tomorrow!
Yesterday was an office day for me, but I stopped by the chimp house for a bit to take care of some things and to see the chimps. I noticed through the kitchen window into the chimp area that J.B. was playing with someone, which is certainly not an uncommon occurrence, but then I noticed who he was playing with- Annie! So, I quickly grabbed the camera and shot a short clip of it. She seems to really getting the hang of playing with her caregivers lately!
We leave out a lot of toys, blankets and other stuff for the chimps each day, and they pick what they want out of it. It’s interesting to me that there are such individual variations in what the chimps’ choose to hold on to for the day, or sometimes just a moment. I often think of the years and years before they came to the sanctuary when they had nothing.
Here’s Annie staking claim to a couple of clean blankets:
and enjoying her spoils:
Jody with a new piece of enrichment – woven and coiled jute from new Canadian friends:
Burrito usually chooses things he can put in his mouth:
and here’s Negra lying in her nest of blankets – Jody’s not the only chimpanzee who does the yoga “happy baby” pose:
