Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimp

Annie’s cousin?

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Annie’s birthday is Saturday, so I thought I’d share a picture taken from when the raceway to Young’s Hill was built:

When I first met the Cle Elum Seven in 2008, I was working at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI) in Ellensburg, just 20 miles away from CSNW. I was going to grad school studying the chimps’ use of sign language (which coincidentally, all of the CSNW staff members did before me as well).

I remember when I first saw Annie, I immediately thought she looked like Washoe.

Washoe and Annie were both captured from Africa. Washoe originally was captured for NASA to be a space chimp, but she was too big and so she ended up in Reno, NV where she learned sign language. Washoe lived in a couple different places across two decades before she was given sanctuary at CHCI, but thankfully she was never used in invasive biomedical research. She was much luckier than Annie, who was taken from Africa and put straight into invasive research.

Regardless of their backgrounds, captivity is never ideal for a chimpanzee. We can’t ever make up for the amount of space they would normally have in the wild, but with the opening of Young’s Hill, Annie will have more space to roam than ever before since leaving Africa.

Chocolate Shoebox Bale Sale & Donations

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Starting in 1 hour 3 minutes and lasting through business hours tomorrow, the Chocolate Shoebox in Seattle will be holding a bake sale AND giving 10% of sales (online too!!!) to benefit Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and Precious Life Animal Sanctuary.

If you’re in Seattle, you need to go check out the bake sale, enter the raffle and tell me all about it. For more details, see their Facebook event page.

If you’re at a distance, go to the Chocolate Shoebox website and pick out some new kicks! I am slightly obsessed with shoes (Jamie and I have that in common), so I’m happy to provide a few recommendations. The Chocolate Shoebox carries really good quality vegan shoes. I wore this pair of shoes by Jambu (in darker brown) on my wedding day and they were comfortable through lots of standing and a little dancing too. They have them in black as well. I’m a fan of Birkis, the vegetarian line of Birkenstocks. The Chocolate Shoebox has the traditional style, some fun ones with a flowery pattern and a clog-like style (I’m wearing a pair similar to those right now that I’ve had for almost ten years). If I were eighteen again, I would buy these green boots in a second. And if I were a guy, I’d get a couple pairs of fancy shoes and this plaid pair for fun. If I were Jamie, I’d choose these cowboy-style boots.

As for the chocolate, which is also available to online buyers, you really can’t go wrong with any of it, but definitely include some Cocomels in your order – they are out of this world.

So, shop with shoe-loving Jamie in mind and feel good that 10% of your purchases will go towards the chimps and Precious Life!

bake sale

 

Jamie wearing boot

 

 

Workin’ hard

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Today J.B., Colin, and Noah worked on some Young’s Hill trench-digging around the entire perimeter. Here’s J.B. using what I have been calling “the crazy chainsaw for the ground” machine (though it’s actually called a ditch witch).

Trench-digging is also do-able with a pick ax and shovel, though I imagine it’s pretty hard work! Here’s Colin and Noah workin’ hard:

… and hardly workin’

 

Out of the Box!

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Tickets are now on sale for Out of the Box 2011, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s gala auction in Seattle. They are going fast, so get yours while they last!

There will also be an online auction for out-of-town supporters. The online auction site is up and we’ve added information about our important Fund-a-Need project. Auction items will be added in the coming weeks, and there will be some incredible items! The online auction is shorter this year: October 7-9th.

I am looking for a few more Individual Sponsors for the event. We have some specific expenses that need covering, including $250 worth of gas for the truck we are renting to get all of the auction stuff from Cle Elum to Seattle and back ($250 is a Play Face Sponsor level), about $500 (Play Laugh Sponsor level) for really cool volunteer auction t-shirts (we’ll sell a few too), and about $500 in printing costs (another Play Laugh Sponsor could cover this).

Individual Sponsorships range from $100 Head Nod / Table Sponsors to $5,000 Pant Hoot Sponsors, with some fun sponsor levels in between. Perhaps blog readers could team up to donate towards a particular level? Learn more about who’s already stepped up to sponsor and how you can do the same on our Auction Sponsors page or just send me an email: [email protected].

Out of the Box 2011 is truly our biggest event to date. Volunteers worked really hard to procure awesome things for you to bid on. The Seattle event is going to have a wonderful food and wine, thanks to the chef at Bell Harbor and generous donations from Field Roast Grain Meat and Goose Ridge Vineyard and Winery, plus more wine from Dulces Bistro & Wine, Chandler Reach and Saviah Cellars.

Personally, I can’t wait!

auction 2011 logo

Annie

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It’s really amazing to look through some old photos of when the chimps first arrived at the sanctuary. Their skin was so faded, they had so little hair, and they just seemed expressionless. Even after just a few months, we started to see some drastic changes. This post shows before and after pictures of Annie—with only about 3 months between. Well, I took a photo of Annie today sitting in the same exact spot as our “before” picture. It’s pretty striking how amazing she looks after 3 years in sanctuary.

Annie before (June 13, 2008)

 

Annie now (August 30, 2011)