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:
Jamie is one of the bossiest people I’ve ever met. She holds the alpha position here at the sanctuary, but even for a dominant chimpanzee, she is a force to be reckoned with. She runs a tight ship; both the humans and the other chimpanzees at the sanctuary know better than to get on her bad side. After decades of powerlessness in research labs, Jamie seems determined to have things her way for once.
But Jamie is not a confident leader by any means. In fact, it seems to be her insecurity that causes her to overcompensate. She would probably earn a lot more genuine respect from the other chimps if she loosened the reins a little.
One of Jamie’s most important jobs as boss is to make sure her home is safe from intruders. She knows every time a volunteer arrives for a shift. She knows every time the UPS truck pulls up. She knows what the neighbors are doing.
Like her wild counterparts, Jamie goes on patrol regularly to check the perimeter of her habitat. She does this anywhere from twice to over a dozen times a day. She almost always requests that a caregiver go with her; she seems to just like the company, but it’s also likely that she’s a little nervous to go alone.
Lately, though, we’ve seen Jamie braving it on her own more and more. While we will always love walking with her, nothing beats seeing a strong, determined chimpanzee slowly become a strong, determined, confident chimpanzee.
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!
Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Michele McLaughlin and her children, Brady and Brendan! Michele shared this message from Brady and Brendan: “We love all the chimps, they are cute!”
Michele, Brady and Brendan, thank you so much for caring about the chimpanzees and sponsoring a day of sanctuary for them! Your kindness and compassion truly makes a difference in their day and lives. Gifts such as yours help us keep the chimps happy and healthy in so many ways! It helps us buy the chimps yummy, healthy food to eat (which makes Burrito happier than almost anything else), new toys and enrichment to play with and keep their intelligent minds active, and things the humans need to keep the chimps’ home clean and cozy. They really wouldn’t be living the lives they do without you. And we are so grateful to you!
And speaking of cute, this guy, Burrito, knows a few things about that:
A few days ago was the five year anniversary of the chimpanzees going outside onto Young’s Hill for the first time. For many of the chimps, it was probably the first time they had ever been outside in their lives, and it took some adjustment.
Out of all the chimps at the sanctuary, Negra has probably had the hardest time adjusting. On her first day out, she accidentally touched the electric fence and received a shock. For someone who was already predisposed to feel some anxiety at being outdoors after decades in lab cages, this certainly didn’t help. For several months after that Negra refused to step foot outside. Eventually she decided to try again, but she wouldn’t venture far from the greenhouse, and at the first strange noise or gust of wind, she would run back inside with a fear grimace on her face.
This year has been a turning point for Negra. This spring she started hiking straight up to the top of the two-acre Young’s Hill with no apparent anxiety to enjoy some of the wild greens growing up there. Today we set up a lunch forage on the hill and Negra headed outside with the rest of the group, calm and confident.
