Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

celebration

2023 Day of Days: The Trifecta Jubilee

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Today was such a busy day in the most of exciting ways! Today is the Trifecta Jubilee! Today we celebrated Terry’s 33rd birthday, Negra’s 50th birthday, and the 15 year anniversary of the arrival of the Cle Elum Seven!

Today was a non-stop celebration with many happenings that came along with the undying support of Paulette Wrisley in today’s second sponsor! Thank you so much Paulette for sponsoring Terry and Negra’s birthdays!

It’s hard to  believe Negra and her group arrived in Washington from the Buckshire Corporation in Pennsylvania. There have been many growing pains for both chimpanzee and caregivers both former and current, but all of them for the better. In the 15 years, they have experience the outdoors for the first time in their lives, had room to run around and play in, and as of this year, able to climb their first tree!

It’s also really hard to believe Negra is now 50 years old! Negra is such a strong-willed person who knows exactly what she likes and wants. Though she is 50, is still doesn’t stop here from experiencing new things, when she wants to of course. Negra is such a well respected person by both chimpanzee and human. For her 50th birthday, there were many surprises for her. You have to watch the video to see what they were!

And Teeny Tiny Terry. How lucky are we to just know such a special person. In the couple short years we have known Terry, one thing about him we know is certain: he is the purest of souls! Terry wears his heart on his sleeve, and that heart holds nothing but sincerity. There are no tricks with him. What he does or says, he means, and it’s 100% love.

Here are some bonus photos from today!

Negra

Rayne

Missy

Gordo

Annie

Love a Chimpanzee Day 2023 Party!

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Thank you again to Monica for going above and beyond for the chimpanzees and making Love a Chimpanzee Day an annual celebration for her friends. You can keep the celebration going by making a donation on our GiveBIG page! BIG thanks to those who have already made a gift towards our goal. We really appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Here are a few photos from the party that Grace and Sabrina helped obtain for the blog. I like the series of three below of Missy maneuvering on the fire hose with her two coconuts!

Foxie:

Annie:

Burrito:

Negra:

Here are two creepy photos I took from the window of the Marmot Mountain Playroom while we were setting out a pre-party party of kale and popcorn. Creepy because neither J.B. nor Chad knew I was there taking photos of them:

Cy’s 33rd Birthday Celebration

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There’s a lot of love going out to Cy today on his 33rd birthday. Thank you to everyone who sponsored the day in his honor, made donations in his name, and purchased the limited edition Cy’s book club merchandise!

Today was also the first day of Daylight Savings Time. For CSNW, that means that, while we turn the clocks back like everyone else, we keep on the same actual time schedule for the chimp house. So, expect your blog posts an hour later than “usual” (or even later if I’m writing the blog, especially if it’s a party day).

If you haven’t already, please do think of Cy this evening and wish him a happy birthday in your heart. We don’t know what we’d do without him and his leadership over the sometimes rowdy group of nine!

 

Between Love and War: Valentine’s Day 2023

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Valentine’s is a day meant to be spent with loved ones and show affection to them. But as you know, sometimes you can fight with loved ones. J.B. actually just wrote a magnificent blog about conflict and resolution the other. Well today both Jamie and Cy’s groups spent a good chunk of the morning what I will call “bickering.” There wasn’t too much physical contact between everyone, just a lot of screaming. But, also as J.B. mentioned, they were quick to reconcile. What they were all bickering about? It would be hard to say, though I am going scapegoat the six inches of snow and colder weather that came in overnight.

Regardless, everything calmed down once they all realized something special was in store for them today: lots of strawberries, blood oranges, grape tomatoes, radishes, and sparkling blush cider with raspberries and mint leaves! Once their bellies were full of delicious treats, bygones were bygones and everybody had a restful afternoon.

Here are some photos from today:

Missy enjoying her plate of tomatoes and strawberries

And her daughter, Honey B, enjoying the same thing on the other side of the sanctuary!

The devilishly handsome Willy B

Gordo lovingly admiring his radishes

And Dora. Oh so sweet little Dora resting after the parties

Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody!

Stay Spooky

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Though October has passed and we have begun November, it doesn’t mean we can’t still be in the Spooky Season! Yesterday you saw how Jamie and friends celebrated her 45th birthday. As promised in yesterday’s blog, here is how Lucky’s group celebrated Jamieween!

Willy B and a plate full of pomegranates!

Gordo enjoying his pomegranates!

And a pumpkin top!

Honey B munching on a hazelnut!

Mave taking a sip of sparkling cider!

Cy snacking on one of the pumpkins!

Lucky taking her turn snacking!

Cy and Lucky enjoying their goodies from the party!

Yesterday, when Jody was plotting her heist of the Jamieween pumpkin with a wadge full of pomegranate!

Can you spot Nutmeg’s spy?

Stay Spooky, everybody!

Annie’s 48th Birthday Party

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All of the primates had a great day celebrating Annie (and Kelsi and Adam!) today.

Thank you to Paulette for always remembering the many birthdays at CSNW and sponsoring today for Annie on her 48th birthday. And thanks to Dr. Erin for bringing a load of edible flowers and grape vines!

Along with the always great produce (including edible orchid flowers and banana leaves) from Charlie’s Produce, we also harvested grapes from the vines that grow by the sanctuary caregiver house to round out the birthday forage.

Aside from this photo of Annie I took:

Here are a few other of my favorite photos of the day:

Jody with a sunflower:

Jamie getting every last bit of grape off of a vine, unbothered by the raffle tickets brushing her head:

Jamieween 2021!

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Jamieween is finally here! Today we celebrated the one and only Jamie’s 44th Birthday, as well as Halloween! Today was full of scarecrows, pumpkins, pomegranates, shrunken apple heads, birthday gifts for Jamie, and much much more! The chimpanzees here had quite the celebration today. Enrichment Coordinator, Chad did such a good job planning all of this for them. A huge thank you to everyone who bought items for today off of our wish list! Everything really added to the celebration today. Also, thank you to all of the care staff who helped get these great videos and photos!

I hope that Jamie and the rest of the chimpanzees here enjoyed themselves today. I know we all enjoyed watching them. Back in the day my time as an intern here only breached the surface of who Jamie is and I’m getting to know her so much better. I’m still leaning some Jamie language, but its a fun ride and it is a privilege to be able to help care for her. She is definitely a special chimpanzee.

Jamie’s group had a 2 part celebration that began in their Greenhouse. Willy B enjoyed time in the Courtyard with his scarecrow while Mave and Honey B celebrated inside. The Lucky Six enjoyed their pumpkins and Halloween bags full of things like nuts and cabbage.

Shrunken apple heads!

Jamie enjoying her pumpkin bags next to her new book.

Jamie gathering as many as she can.

Missy taking over after Jamie moved on.

Annie investigating the scarecrow.

Missy enjoying her pomegranate next to the scarecrow.

Burrito with his corn on Young’s Hill.

Foxie with her pomegranate.

Foxie made sure her doll got to enjoy the forage.

Negra found lots of Brussels sprouts.

Jody trying to carry as much as she can to enjoy her food back in the Greenhouse.

Jamie found three pomegranates!

Terry enjoying the celebration.

Lucky found some goodies.

Cy taking a break from reading.

Dora with her forage finds.

Gordo and Dora.

Rayne took hers to the Greenhouse.

Mave and Willy B are excited about pumpkins!

Mave and her pumpkin.

Honey B enjoying her stash.

Willy B found some pumpkin bags before making his way to the scarecrow.

Willy B ready to dive into the pumpkin head!

 

And…….Burrito ended up being the Great Pumpkin Thief this year! As you can see in the video he brought it down from a platform on Young’s Hill, but it rolled away. It ended up rolling into the fence and we had to bring everyone inside so we could get it unstuck. After spot cleaning the seven’s playroom we put it back inside to see who would grab it. Jody really wanted it and tried several times, but Burrito was the winner this year.