Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimp enrichment

Help others Take Action – share Eyes on Apes!

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CSNW is a really unique place. We have seven amazing beings under our care, whom as you know are of utmost importance around here and truly run the show! Well, Jamie does anyway 😉 And we love to share stories about each of their personalities and their day-to-day lives.

For instance, today has been a continuation of the heat wave that has hit Cle Elum, but before the hot afternoon sun came around we did a breakfast forage on the hill which everyone loved. Here’s Foxie enjoying a piece of grapefruit:

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After we cleaned the playroom, Denice and I filled a kiddie pool with cool water, and harvested some black currents we have growing in the garden. We spread the currents around as a forage and also dropped some into the water. Jody and Jamie especially loved it!

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CSNW is also pretty big on education and advocacy. Eyes on Apes is our advocacy group and we really want to help make a difference for apes everywhere. The Cle Elum Seven truly serve as ambassadors for the life that all chimpanzees in captivity deserve, and for their wild counterparts who need our help to protect their habitat. This is only something we can achieve with your help! If you haven’t joined the Take Action e-mail list, do that today! Share our Facebook page, and re-tweet our plea for more followers on Twitter.

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Thank you, Jenna!

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Today was sponsored by one of our wonderful supporters in Canada, Jenna Miles! It thrills and amazes me that these very special beings have gone from spending decades suffering in biomedical research, unknown to most, to living in sanctuary and being loved and cared for by so many people around the world. Thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees, Jenna!  Negra (left) and Jody (right) send pant hoots, along with everyone else.

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Foxie and her dolls

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Foxie is usually never without a troll doll or Dora the Explorer doll. But there’s been some occasions where she differs from the usual and pick dolls or enrichment that are entirely different, and sometimes—shockingly—she’s been seen walking around Young’s Hill without any doll along for the ride. As endearing as Foxie’s doll love is, I think it’s really good to see her varying a bit in her choices for enrichment.

Sometimes she picks a troll AND a Dora:

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Sometimes it’s something totally different (in this case, a “My Little Pony” pink horse head)

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Sometimes we can’t be for sure if she’s carrying one or not… but she sure looks good with that beautiful forest background!

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And sometimes she’s interested in enjoying the sunshine with her chimpanzee friends and leaves the dolls to wait for her inside:

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Today is in honor of Lori Waters

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Steven Waters generously chose to sponsor a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in honor of Lori Waters.  What a thoughtful gift, thank you so much Steven!  We greatly appreciate it and so do the chimpanzees!

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Happy Anniversary CSNW from Tracy!

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Today was sponsored by Tracy Headley.  Tracy was the first person to respond to our Give Five Day campaign and chose to sponsor this very special day in honor of our 5 year anniversary.  We have so much to celebrate today because not only is it the sanctuary’s anniversary, it is also our beloved Queen Negra’s 40th birthday!  None of which would be possible without the support of so many wonderful people.  Thank you so much for such a wonderful start to the day, Tracy!  And speaking of our amazing supporters, we also have a second sponsor for today which will be posted after the celebrations get under way!

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Annie tries new things

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As the newest staff member I am enjoying many new responsibilities. The one that is, perhaps, the most fun is coming to know the chimpanzees better and developing my relationships with them. During my very first volunteer shift I remember being drawn to Annie. Elizabeth described her to me as shy and reserved, especially with the human caregivers. She reminded me of another chimpanzee friend in that regard. Over the years as a volunteer I have had the privilege to watch as she slowly comes out of her shell and I can’t tell you how lucky I always feel when Annie takes the time to greet me or play with me, however briefly. I enjoy coming to know her for herself as she figures out who that is in sanctuary. She’s always surprising us with her changing tastes; today, we caught her on film playing with one of Foxie’s Dora dolls.

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What a difference a day makes

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We have been having many days of much needed, but seemingly never ending, rain here at the sanctuary.  And let me tell you, Jamie has had a bee in her bonnet for days.  And when Jamie’s not happy she makes it well known.  I can’t really blame her as it’s hard to be stuck inside after we have had so many beautiful days recently.  As caregivers, it is always first in our minds as to how we can make the days better for the chimps, particularly when they aren’t able to go outside.  Yesterday, despite our best efforts, Jamie was a grouchy lady and let it be known in no uncertain terms that she wanted nothing to do with any of our suggestions.  But today the humans and chimpanzees finally awoke to sunny skies.  Everyone was in a good mood and JB even got a laugh from Annie, who typically reserves those for her raucous games of chase with her best friend, Missy.  We put a breakfast forage on Young’s Hill to make the most of the day and the chimps were all lined up waiting for the door to open.  They immediately all filed through the raceway together with Negra (!) in the lead. Everyone spread out, foraging through the now significantly taller grass, food squeaking with joy (we are hoping to have some great footage of this from the GoPro camera on the hill soon).  And then much to our surprise, we spotted Jamie trying her hand at tightrope walking across the fire hose bridge!  While this is usually a classic Missy move, I’d say Jamie is giving her a run for her money.  And the best thing yet? That bee that’s been in Jamie’s bonnet seems to have flown off.

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I love Jamie’s face in this last picture.  It almost looks as though she’s giving herself a little congratulatory cheer.  I would look like that as well if I had just been able to do a tightrope walk across the fire hose bridge!

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