Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Many of the photos we take of the chimpanzees each day never make it onto the blog. Here are a few that I’ve taken in the last couple of weeks that I just found hiding on the hard drive.
Jamie:
Burrito:
Annie:
Jody:
Negra:
Speaking of photos you may have missed, the 2017 CSNW Calendar is now available in our online store! Here’s a sneak peak:
If you’re as smitten with these chimps as we are, don’t pass up the opportunity to look at their amazing faces every day of the year!
Today was also generously sponsored by Jim Horton in honor of his mother, Vicki Fagerlee, for her birthday! We are so touched by Vicki’s family who have come together throughout the day to celebrate Vicki and the chimpanzees who mean so much to her!
Jim, thank you so much for honoring your mother in such a thoughtful way! What an amazing gift to be able to make a difference in the lives of these seven special individuals as you all celebrate someone who is so special to you.
Happy Birthday, Vicki, from all of the primates at Chimpanzee Sanctuary NW!! Thank you so much for sharing your heart with the chimpanzees and including them in your special day! We are so grateful to you and your family for ensuring that for all their days forward, the chimps’ lives will be full of love, family and home.
And since you share a birthday month with the boss lady, Jamie, I thought we should recall all the pumpkin joy this month brings. If the chimps could send you a birthday wish, they might say with any luck you have your own head stuck inside a yummy pumpkin right now! 😉 But we humans just hope you have something like a nice cake or anything made of chocolate that brings you equal happiness. 🙂
Jamie:
Jody testing out Jamie’s past birthday pumpkin:
Negra and Jody:
Negra:
Annie:
Jody and Missy:
Foxie:
Burrito. Of course.
Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Mary Horton and family in honor of their mother, Vicki Fagerlee, for her birthday! Vicki is such a wonderful friend to the chimpanzees and we’re thrilled to celebrate her birthday here today! Mary shared this message about this gift in honor of her mom: “There is nothing she would like better for a birthday gift than to help out the chimps.”
Mary and family, thank you so much for your generous and compassionate gift for the chimpanzees and Vicki! It’s easy for us to say perhaps, but when you look into the beautiful eyes of these seven amazing chimpanzee people it’s clear that the gift of sanctuary means everything to them. And as such, it does to us as well.
Vicki, we are so happy to have had the opportunity to meet you recently and are thrilled to have you as part of our chimp family! From our hearts, thank you for embracing the chimps, welcoming them into your life and making their lives better at every opportunity. All of the primates here wish you the happiest birthday yet! We hope your day is filled with all the love, comfort and joy you provide the chimps with, and I suspect so many others as well.
Burrito:
Foxie:
Jody:
Jamie:
Negra:
Annie:
Missy:
Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Cheyenne Coles, chimpanzees Cobby, Minnie, and Maggie, and the humans of the San Francisco Zoo Primate Team in honor of Great Apes Giving Day! Cobby, Minnie and Maggie are three really gorgeous chimpanzee people who reside at the San Francisco Zoo. Cheyenne shared this lovely message about today:
“Thank you so much for the work that you do!! Our staff enjoys reading your beautiful blog and utilizing your impressive enrichment database to create items for our own apes (and monkeys). You are a true inspiration for what great chimp care looks like. Thank you for rescuing, rehabilitating, and caring for the Cle Elum Seven with the respect and love they deserve. Today we honor you all!! Love, ~ The SF Zoo Primate Team and Chimps Cobby, Minnie & Maggie”
Cheyenne, Cobby, Minnie, Maggie and all of the primates at the San Francisco Zoo, thank you so much for such a gracious gift for the chimps! We are really touched by your sweet and generous sponsorship and honored that you would think of Annie, Missy, Jamie, Jody, Burrito, Foxie and Negra today. We’re so happy to hear you have been able to utilize our enrichment database for the apes and monkeys you care for! Thank you for all you do to care for your primate family. We are thinking of them all today and wish them the same days filled with the love, care, comfort and joy the Cle Elum Seven are so fortunate to receive thanks to supporters like you. Learn more about Cobby, Minnie, and Maggie and plans to improve and expand their home here.
Our Queen Negra:
Jamie, Foxie and Dora:
Annie and Missy:
Burrito, Jody and Foxie:
Today is officially Great Apes Giving Day! If you’ve already given, thank you SO much!! And if you haven’t had a chance yet you have until 9:00 pm (PT) to participate and support Missy and her family’s second chance! There are so many wonderful organizations caring for so many amazing beings and your support, in every size and shape, makes a difference (and this year African organizations are also included)! Thank you for your kind and compassionate hearts and all you make possible for these very special beings!
Every day at the sanctuary has an enrichment theme. This enables staff and volunteers to mix up the various enrichment given to the chimps and how it is given. This way, each day is different. Some examples of these themes include “Fort Day” or “Troll Scarves Day” or “Giant Pile Day” to name a few.
We also rotate the enrichment that is given to the chimps each evening. The evening enrichment given is in the form of food puzzles. It’s not that we need to give the chimps more food at the end of the day, it’s more to give them something to work on, while staff and volunteers are busy finishing the checklist of things to do before leaving each day. Pine cones, drink buckets, KONGS and hanging puzzles are some examples of the types of puzzles given throughout the month.
Here is the calendar of evening enrichment for last month.
Stuffed socks is another type of puzzle for the chimps. Volunteers stuff long socks with paper and other clothing items, and add a small handful of nuts, seeds and dried fruit within. This way the chimps have to search through the sock to find the hidden treats. The socks can be hidden throughout the enclosure or tied to various caging and railings (using raffia).
Here are photos from “Stuffed Socks with Raffia” puzzle given to the chimps last month.
Annie took her socks and sat on the ledge to open them.
Jamie preferred to gather some of the socks and sit on the floor to open them.
What could possibly be better than taking in a view like this on such a beautiful fall day?
…sharing the view with your best friend (Annie on the left, Missy on the right).
These two chimpanzees are the best of friends. They’re constantly playing together and are often in close proximity to one another. They also build blanket nests side-by-side. It’s no wonder, they would also choose to share some quiet time together.
Last night as the chimps were all curled into their nests for the night, I stood watching the last of the summer sun setting over the sanctuary. My heart beats a little faster during these moments, already pining for the passing beauty of one season, while leaping about in anticipation of the beauty to come.
After eight years in sanctuary, it’s been amazing to observe the chimpanzees beginning to make clear connections between the seasonal changes and favorite things to come. For example, the moment that the snow melted last winter they began running to the windows in anticipation to check their garden each day, seemingly hoping it would sprout up overnight.
As we welcomed the first day of autumn this morning, I found dear, sweet Annie sitting in front of the barn doors, enjoying the late morning sun and gazing out over the remainder of the chimps’ garden, seemingly lost in thought. I hope it was all the good thoughts:
Annie sat like this for several moments and at one point the breeze picked up and she just closed her eyes, letting it blow through her hair. And yes, my heart just melted:
Even Ellie, our wild and sassy neighborhood elk, was dozing in the breeze:
We’ve written about it before, but Annie is a different person after eight years in her sanctuary home than when she arrived. Having gone through many seasons of her own, it’s actually more probable that there is finally safe space for her true self to emerge, more at ease with the world around her, serene and comfortable in her own skin and able to hold hope and joy for what each day and season brings:
Happy autumn everyone (or spring, as the hemispheric case may be)!
