Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzee rescue

Jody’s exploring

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If you checked the blog a couple days ago, you’ll know that Jody and Foxie are making some big steps toward finding their place out on Young’s Hill. Well, as I mentioned on her Facebook page, yesterday Jody decided to start exploring all on her own! She even skipped lunch entirely to check out nearly every inch of the enclosure.

When I think about how the chimps must feel about the open space we’ve given them, I imagine they must feel so many different emotions—joy, excitement, fear, anxiety, curiosity, and so many more I’m sure. After living behind steel bars for over 3 decades, it’s fairly overwhelming to step out into grass and open sky.

I was in front of the tunnel yesterday (while cleaning Young’s Hill to get it ready for the chimps) and I was able to see how things are from their perspective. Although Young’s Hill is an enclosure, when you first leave the tunnel it does not feel that way.

Jody was captured from Africa and put into a cage, so it’s really awesome and inspiring to see her gain the confidence to step out into the unknown.

Fearless Missy

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I know we’ve said it before, but Missy has been quite a star on Young’s Hill. She’s been so confident and fearless out there! We knew she would love the Hill, but I don’t think any of us could have predicted the level of bravery she would have. I’m so proud of her! GO MISSY GO!

A Few of the Out of the Box Art Pieces

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Only a few days left to get tickets to Out of the Box 2011!

We have some really tremendous art in the auction this year! Big thanks to Jessie Johnson who headed up the art procurement. She and all procurement volunteers really outdid themselves this year.

These are just a few pieces:

Cosca I is a signed and numbered limited edition serigraph (certification included) by Victor Varsarely, leader of the Op-Art movement. It will be in “Negra’s Favorite Things” section of the silent auction. You can download a full list of silent auction items and preview live auction items on our auction preview page.

Cosca I

 

We have a few quilts in the auction this year – each one unique. One, made by Jodi Davila, is in the online auction. See her blue and yellow quilt and browse all online auction items (still more to add).

Here’s a gorgeous quilt that will be in the the “Annie & Missy: Girls Just Want to Have Fun” section of the silent auction in Seattle. The quilt was lovingly handmade by blog reader Annie Nordmark and is called Squares ²:

Squares 2 quilt

 

Tamela has made some  gorgeous necklaces this year. Two of them, Mr. B and In the Wild are in the online auction and two are in the Seattle auction.

Below is Tamela’s Miss Missy, which is also in the “Annie & Missy: Girls Just Want to Have Fun” section of the silent auction in Seattle:

Miss Missy

 

We have some amazingly talented supporters and volunteers! Here is a photo of a mirror with a beautiful hand-painted frame made by Volunteer Stephanie Perciful. You’ll find it in the “Burrito’s Corner” section of the silent auction (Burrito LOVES Stephanie):

Stephanie's mirror

 

Volunteer Seana Blake has created one-of-a-kind three-dimensional collages using enrichment well-loved by the chimpanzees (and one piece she created from discarded fence construction bits and other pieces of found metal objects).

There are five pieces by Seana total. I can’t decide what my favorite is, but it might be the one below called “Trolls are Delicious.” This will be up for bid, where else but the “Trollin’ with Foxe” section of the silent auction:

Trolls are Delicious

 

Margaret Parkinson has donated several prints of her artwork this year, including one print of her now famous Negra in the Sun (the original painting sold at the 2009 auction). You’ll find this in the “Trollin’ with Foxie” section of the silent auction too. And you can find a couple of other prints by Margaret in the online auction.

Negra in the sun framed

 

And speaking of this image, just added to the CSNW store is the greatest sweatshirt ever made. It’s a unisex hoodie made by Alternative Earth and is super-soft, mega-comfortable and has an image taken from the same photograph that inspired Margaret’s painting above. It’s not as gorgeously colorful as Margaret’s, but it’s pretty cool. The company that makes the blank sweatshirts, Alternative Apparel, retails them for $50, so getting the sweatshirt with Negra’s image for the same price is a bargain! Buy one now – you don’t want to go through the fall months without one of these hoodies – trust me. Here’s a photo of Sarah wearing a size medium:

 

Seriously Playful

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In contrast to the Negra-style play mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, when Foxie and Jamie play, they are completely uninhibited and just down right goofy. I could watch them (and laugh with them) being silly all day long.

Negra’s style of play

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Negra plays slower and less frequent than the other chimps. Missy and Foxie are very playful and active, but they slow down to Negra’s speed when she decides to engage in play with them.

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.