Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
In celebration of today’s winter solstice, we threw a jungle party for the chimpanzees. Why? Because we can!
After the food, the highlight of the party was the giant stuffed animals collected and sent to us by some good friends of the chimps. Stuffed animals this large are a rarity around here – most of the chimps are more interested in destroying them than playing with them. Burrito, however, is a big fan.
We had a lot of playful chimps today! When the humans arrived this morning we found Missy and Annie chasing each other, Burrito with a toy in his mouth ready to play chase, Foxie throwing dolls, Jody breathy panting, Negra giving kisses, and Jamie ready with a grooming tool for boots. Throughout the day there has been quite a bit of napping and nesting because it was really cold today. However, do not fret, the chimps have been very busy! Burrito has been running around with his scooter and Jamie has been reading books and stuffing trolls into paper bags. Check out the video to see a few more of today’s activities!
Elizabeth List’s dad made a generous Giving Tuesday donation in honor of Elizabeth and wanted to part of that to go towards honor her birthday for a sponsor-a-day.
Unfortunately, I missed posting this yesterday on her actual birthday – so sorry, Elizabeth and dad James! Hopefully, this just means the celebration can continue.
Elizabeth serves on the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest Board of Directors. You may remember seeing her smiling, blurry face in this post about her hosting Jane Goodall for a Seattle Foundation event this fall.
We’re so happy to have Elizabeth as a board member, and we are pleased that we can take part in celebrating her! I happen to know that she finds Burrito irrestible, so here are a few of my favorite photos of that charming guy.
Happy belated b-day, Elizabeth!
Jessica Keogh sponsored this day of sanctuary in honor of her boyfriend, Jonathan Londono, and in celebration of his birthday! Jessica shared this message about today:
“I am sponsoring today in honor of my boyfriend, Jonathan, on his birthday. One of the first things Jonathan told me as we were getting to know each other was that when he retired he wanted to study primatology to work with chimpanzees. I thought he was joking, but quickly learned he was kind of serious. Fortunately for me his enthusiasm is contagious, and fortunately for us we discovered CSNW. We follow the blog and watch your videos together. Jonathan really enjoys watching the way the chimps eat. Actually he enjoys everything they do. Mostly though, we follow along because we greatly respect the work you do and appreciate the home you have provided for the chimps. So thank you and happy birthday, Jonathan!”
We love that you both get so much enjoyment from following the chimps! Thank you so much for caring about them and for sponsoring today for Jonathan, Jessica! Your compassionate gift makes a difference in their lives and we so appreciate it.
Well, Jonathan, Burrito knows a thing or two about eating:
The chimps like to watch each other eat as well (food peer), but only when they are curious to see what their friend is eating and hoping they might be in the mood to share. Here is Foxie is checking out Annie’s pine tree snack:
Annie is hoping Negra might share that cabbage:
Happy Birthday, Jonathan, from all of us at CSNW! We hope it’s the best one yet! Hopefully it involves your favorite foods without the pressure to share with others who are staring at you. If it helps, the chimps are rarely swayed. 🙂
We have a stunning week of sun ahead of us in the forecast and even though the temperatures are progressively colder, the bright sun is filling everyone with adventurous spirits and joyful days. As Kelsi shared in her blog yesterday, even the Queen has been braving the chill to enjoy time outside.
Despite that, when I opened the door to Young’s Hill first thing this morning I couldn’t have been more surprised to see everyone literally racing outside seemingly on a group mission. Foxie and her doll headed straight for the nearest platforms where she proceeded to play stomp and shiver her way around with a mischievous look on her face.
Here she is mid-stomp:
Jody, Annie and Burrito wasted no time heading straight for the tire swings and it didn’t take long to realize they were remembering that the cold weather brings ice treats to be found in the tire swings! I love that they remember favorite things from each season now.
Jody:
Burrito found some ice pieces Annie and Jody missed:
Annie and Jody heading back toward the greenhouse with their ice chunks (Missy foreground):
Annie headed to the greenhouse:
Jamie on her way back from the business of the morning:
Annie returned to the outdoors seemingly to just enjoy the view and the feel the elements:
After Jody came inside with her ice she immediately realized that Foxie was still outside in the cold and charged back up the hill to collect her. Foxie is an adventurous soul and declined Jody’s encouragement to return to the greenhouse (much to Jody’s dismay) and continued on her way checking things out, but she eventually made her way back:
It makes my heart sing to see how the chimps embrace their days and everything they discover within each one, how adventurous and brave they’ve become, and how, well, themselves they’ve become. Winter, spring, summer and fall, they show us a new season of themselves.
We have a whole heck of a lot to be thankful for here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. We have an amazing team of staff, board members, and volunteers, and a huge network of supporters spread all over the world.
It would take us years to highlight each donor (wouldn’t that be fun, though!). Trying to be realistic, I decided to take this week of Thanksgiving to tell, in brief, the stories of a few different donors as representatives of the many ways that people support the chimpanzees.
With seven days and seven types of donors it seems appropriate to also highlight the seven chimpanzees while I’m at it, right?!
So, today, on day one, I’m starting the week in a big way by highlighting Bruce Davidson and Burrito.
We were first introduced to Bruce Davidson over two years ago via the nephew of long-time donors Margaret Parkinson and Karen Creason. Bruce had begun thinking about getting his will in order and wanted to designate a large portion of his estate to go towards a nonprofit. Here’s Bruce in his own words,
When I saw the original KCTS piece on the sanctuary years ago I was struck by the “audacity” of a relatively small group of people with relatively limited funds dedicated to doing what they could to make a difference. “How about we start out by saving seven? Seven. That’s seven who won’t hurt anymore.” The Audacity of Hope indeed.
Bruce has visited the sanctuary twice and this last summer we were able to show him the additional parcels of land that we had acquired and were working on acquiring (more news on that soon!). Here’s what I didn’t realize would happen with a donor whose focus is entirely on a potentially large gift that will happen (hopefully) far in the future: it has been a huge source of motivation. We know that Bruce has put the trust of his legacy in the sanctuary, and we are inspired to live up to that profound level of trust.
If the need still exists, we all want the sanctuary to live far beyond our lifetimes, and Bruce is going to be a part of making this possible. Isn’t that amazing?!
If you’re curious about becoming a legacy donor, you can check out this page on our website: www.chimpsnw.org/you_can_help/single/leave-a-legacy.
So, Burrito…
This morning when I entered the chimp house, Burrito greeted me with the usual mix of, let’s call it “assertiveness” and playfulness that is his typical greeting towards me. This means that he first needs to get out a bang or a spit towards me before he gets down to the business of play. He had a big pair of plastic tweezers that he handed/pushed towards me, which I proceeded to use as a back-scratcher, finger-grabber, and stomach-tickler.
It’s just a fact that, while Burrito can be downright intimidating:
there is no way to resist his charm:
Early this morning began with a little snow, then an utter downpour, which has turned into a chilly, but sunny afternoon. Jamie, unphased by the chill in the air, has kept staff caregiver, Kelsi, busy walking all afternoon. In the meantime, the other chimps have been enjoying quiet moments with one another in sunny spots indoors.
Good friends, Burrito and Foxie, enjoying some grooming time in the greenhouse:
Annie (background) and best friend, Missy, enjoying one another’s company in the sun coming into the raceway which leads onto Young’s Hill:
Jody was also in the raceway, but decidedly NOT with a friend. When I walked up to the tunnel I saw her intently looking at something with concern while avoiding touching the ground:
The second Jody saw me coming she clung to the caging, eyes big, hair standing on end and asking me for reassurance before running inside. I thought it might be a snake and when I went to check it out I found, well, not quite a snake, but still…:
