Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Annie

Who’s in your wallet

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This is in response to a question from Shari on the last post. Below are the images of all of the credit card options with the chimpanzees names above them. We can only have five designs at a time, and Jody is not one of the images. I decided since her image is on most of our merchandise (t-shirts, soon-to-be-added bumper stickers, and tote bags), it was okay to leave her out of this first round of designs. Thanks for helping out the sanctuary by applying for one of these cards!

Burrito

Negra

Missy and Annie

Foxie

Jamie

A new game

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Missy and Annie are playful in the morning, sometimes chasing each other all over the playroom before we even turn the lights on. Lately, they have been playing a new game: chasing each other while balancing on the catwalk railing. I finally caught them in the act the other day. Good thing they have opposable toes….

Dirty work

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Much of each day here at CSNW is spent cleaning. At 8:30 every morning, we invite the chimpanzees into the front rooms (four adjoining rooms adjacent to the playroom) for breakfast, and if everybody chooses to come in, staff and volunteers then enter the playroom and begin a thorough cleaning. The process usually takes about an hour and a half; during this time, the chimps occupy themselves in the front rooms by playing, nesting, or watching us clean (Jamie, especially, is always very interested in what we’re doing). Once we’re all finished and locked up, the chimps move to the playroom and we repeat the cleaning routine in the front rooms.

Here is a video of the daily playroom cleaning routine. It’s exhausting for sure, but it’s all part of providing a nice home for the Cle Elum Seven.

Annie & Missy

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Annie is the most anxious member of the Cle Elum Seven, but you wouldn’t know it from the photos we take. She always looks so serene:

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Missy rivals Foxie for “most playful member of the group”. Here’s Missy in the middle of a game of tug-of-war with me today. She always looks like she’s up to no good:

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Bowls and straws

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For today’s afternoon enrichment, we filled bowls with tea, soy milk, soy yogurt, peanut butter, and ketchup, and placed the bowls on the outside of the chimps’ enclosure. Then we gave them tools to fish for the food.

Its fascinating to watch the different personalities in action. Burrito has no patience, and he’s not a very adept tool user either. Negra will use someone else’s straw once they’ve fished it into the bowl, but she won’t do it herself. Missy, Annie, Jody, and Foxie are all very patient and skillful. But Jamie is by far the best. I didn’t catch this on camera, but Jamie found a clever way to get the last bit out of her bowl. After she had gotten all of the yogurt that she could, she went to the water fountain to get a mouthful of water. She spit the water through the caging and into the bowl, diluting the remaining yogurt. Then she fished her straw through and drank the liquid.

Annie’s first birthday

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This Thursday is Annie’s birthday! We don’t know the actual day of Annie’s birth, so we picked a date for her. And because we hadn’t picked one by this time last year, this will be her first birthday at the sanctuary.

So even though she’s turning 35, you can wish Annie a Happy First Birthday!

Here are a couple of photos of the soon-to-be birthday girl, taken this afternoon.

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