Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee rescue

It’s Love a Chimpanzee Day 2021!

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Supporter Monica Best named April 23rd Love a Chimpanzee Day and has sponsored this day each year since 2010 for her chimpanzee friends at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

We’re using this occasion as the official kick-off to GiveBig. Monica and I have teamed up by creating a joint fundraising page with a $5,000 matching donation!

Love a Chimpanzee Day has become an official holiday around here. So much so, that we even include the day in the annual calendar.

Monica created Love a Chimpanzee Day in honor of her cat Ozzie on her birthday during a difficult and uncertain time when she was battling cancer. She credits the chimpanzees with helping her through that time and subsequent relapses.

Like many of us, even as a kid, Monica loved and was drawn towards nonhuman animals, especially wolves. She didn’t fall for chimpanzees until she happened upon a television show that featured Carole Noon, the founder of Save the Chimps. She immediately searched for other sanctuaries on the internet and found Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

We are SO GRATEFUL to Monica. She has been an incredible champion of chimpanzees and is always thinking of ways to make their lives happier. She’s also always thinking of ways to broaden the support of the sanctuary and encourage others to donate to help the chimpanzees she loves and chimpanzees everywhere.

We would not be in the position of being able to welcome the Lucky Six chimpanzees coming to the sanctuary later this year without her support.

Today we are celebrating with the chimps and inviting all of their fans to join a virtual tour, see the expansion in progress, and learn about the Chimps in Need campaign and all of the chimpanzees who remain at Wildlife Waystation waiting to go to their new sanctuary homes.

You can still register for this 4:00 p.m. PT virtual event here.

Even if you are unable to attend, you can help us celebrate today and the future with more chimpanzees to love by donating on Monica and Diana’s GiveBig fundraising page or the sanctuary’s main GiveBig page.

Let’s all lean on our love of chimpanzees today and celebrate all the joy they have brought to our lives.

Happy Love a Chimpanzee Day, everyone!!

Burrito loves Duran Duran
Monica is a fan of Duran Duran and we took this photo of Burrito during the 2011 Love a Chimpanzee Day!

The Gang Grooms the Day Away

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Today has just been one of those busy days. Every time I would go to get some photos of the chimpanzees, they were in spots that are extremely difficult to get photos from. And the times the Seven were exploring Young’s Hill, I was in the middle of cleaning and didn’t make in time to take many photos. I was starting to get worried that today’s blog would just be a hodge podge of random photos I was able to get. In one final attempt, I just went to check to see what was happening in the Greenhouse. And there was the grooming party of all grooming parties.

Annie grooming Jody grooming Burrito:

Jamie and Foxie grooming:

Burrito left Jody and Annie to groom with Missy:

Jamie left Foxie to groom my boots:

And Negra passed on grooming to monitor the progress of dinner being made. Priorities.

And if you’re wondering about the hodge podge of random photos, here they are as a bonus.

Annie trying to spy on her neighbors from Young’s Hill.
Foxie returning from her own little adventure on Young’s Hill.
Foxie flexing to show how tough and fierce she is! (Ok! maybe she was just in mid-stride when this photo was snapped, but it doesn’t make it any less true!)
Honey B enjoying one of the artificial tree branch platforms!
Then climbing down to play chase with caregivers.
Willy B also enjoys this platform as well!
Honey B watching me clean one of the new playrooms in true Honey B fashion.

Sunday Activities

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What are some of your favorite Sunday activities? The video highlights some of the residents of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest favorite Sunday activities.

But before anything else, the morning patrol!

Jamie couldn’t wait to do her morning patrol. She even decided her breakfast chow had to wait until she was on Young’s Hill!

Not far behind Jamie was Burrito, Missy, and Jody.

Annie decided to venture off on her own.

Missy found a perfect spot for a little solitude and to take in the morning scenery.

However, Jamie thought this was also the perfect spot to eat her chow.

I mean, who could blame Jamie? This is the perfect spot to take in all of a Spring morning’s glory.

Missy shortly left to zoom around the hill.

While Annie decided to try to spy on her neighbors: Willy B, Honey B, and Mave.

Then there is this guy. With this glance, I know my legs are about to turn to Jello, I will be soon out of breath, and make a few trips around the Hill, which was exactly the case shortly after this photo was taken.

We here all hope you had the most perfect Sunday!

Stunt Missy

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When we set out food forages for the chimpanzees on Young’s Hill, the chimps’ outdoor habitat, especially on a gorgeous day like today, all of the staff onsite tend to gather at the base of the hill near the greenhouse, frequently with more than one of us taking photos.

It never gets old watching forages, and we often narrate out-loud to one another what’s happening. Today, Missy provided some excitement for our (and her) enjoyment.

The lunch forage was whole tomatoes (a Missy-favorite!), big chunks of lettuce, celery, mini sweet peppers, primate chow biscuits, and a few pieces of sweet potato.

Missy was keen on finding the tomatoes, but was also busy gathering lettuce. We spotted her on the treat rock (an artificial termite mound) taking a moment to eat some lettuce.

She must have spotted some tomatoes on top of Negra’s cabin from the vantage point of the treat rock, because she leapt off the treat rock in a way only Missy would. J.B. got a shot of her in motion!

Here’s the zoomed-in version of that photo. I dubbed it Stunt Missy.

Negra was settled in inside her cabin, casually enjoying some chow biscuits and lettuce, when Missy approached.

Missy was determined to climb up the log support of the cabin, even with her hands quite full. The humans watching wondering if she could do it…

Of course she could! She scaled up the log one-handed, not dropping a leaf of lettuce.

and enjoyed the tomato reward when she reached the top

That’s the Spot

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Today was a quintessential early spring day in Cle Elum that started with great gusts of wind driving snow across an otherwise peaceful green landscape. This attempt of winter to make a resurgence was no match for the sun, however. The snow was gone by midday and the scenery was back to being spring-like.

It’s been just a few days since Willy B, Mave, and Honey B first got access to the two new playrooms. They are still experimenting with the new space and trying out different areas. It will be fun to discover what their favorite hang-out spots are.

Today, Mave laid down to groom herself in a puddle of sun on the catwalk of Playroom 3 (also known as the Marmot Room because of the marmot silhouette painted on the wall downstairs in honor of a special supporter).

On the other side of the building, I found Jody in one of her all-time-favorite spots on the lower platform in the original greenhouse doing much the same as Mave.

Not one to spend much time lounging, Jamie was busy perusing the sanctuary’s site plan…

If you are on Facebook, you might have caught a Live Lunch Service (recorded video available on Facebook here). We hope to do more of those live videos in the future, most likely on a random and spontaneous schedule.

Whether you are more in the mood to relax or all about keeping active, if you are a local supporter, I have the thing you need to do this month!

Get yourself to Gallery One in Ellensburg and check out the display of designs that were submitted to last month’s art contest. Note – Gallery One is currently open at a limited capacity – check out their Covid protocols for more information.

You won’t go home empty-handed – there’s merchandise available for purchase that features the winning design of Fabulous Foxie by artist Thyra Rutter. There are also brand new postcards of all ten of the current chimpanzees; plus a really great display of information that the creative students in the Primate Awareness Network at Central Washington University put together. If you are not local, you will miss out on the displays, but you can still get stickers from the top four People’s Choice winners and merchandise of Fabulous Foxie in our online merchandise store.

Have fun shopping!

Welcome to the New Playroom!

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Today was the day! Willy B, Honey B, and Mave were finally able to move into one of the new playrooms! We are beyond thrilled they now have so much more extra room! As you know, this is only part of our plans to expand. With the construction crew finished with the playrooms, they have already begun construction on the two new greenhouses!

In short, today was a very, very exciting day!

As bonus, here are some photos of the Seven during their Easter Forage last Sunday!

Jody:

Annie:

Jamie:

Negra:

Missy:

Foxie:

Burrito:

Are You a Jamie or a Burrito (Chimpanzee)?

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Kelsi and I were cleaning the playroom this morning when Jamie got Kelsi’s attention and requested a walk (we’ve learned to read Jamie’s behavior pretty well, and she’s insistent until we figure out what she wants). It’s not unusual for Jamie to want to pull someone from cleaning to do her bidding. That’s what sanctuary is all about, right?

When Kelsi came back from the patrol around Young’s Hill, she was grinning – I could tell even with her mask on. She said she got some great video of Missy and Burrito playing while patrolling.

She was not wrong! It was a joy putting this video together.

Later in the day, during a lunch forage, Missy and Foxie scaled Negra’s Cabin at the same time (Burrito down below).

Foxie made it to the very top and secured some beets before climbing back down to where she had left her doll.

Soon enough, they were both off doing their own things separately.

Here’s a bonus photo of Spring Queen Negra:

On the other side of the building, Willy B laid down on the boardwalk, just as he did yesterday, soaking in the sun and taking cat naps. Spring is good!