Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee retirement

Jody and the Bamboo

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Jody loves to harvest her own plants from Young’s Hill. In addition to a variety of wild plants that grow out there, we have planted several groves of bamboo generously donated by Provitro Biosciences. While Missy appreciates the bamboo for its climbing potential, Jody prefers to break off shoots and eat the leaves.

I snapped the following photos the other day when Jody brought this bamboo inside to enjoy.

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And as I was typing this blog post, Jody dragged this giant piece of bamboo in from outside. Let’s hope the bamboo survives Jody’s love.

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Happy Birthday, Jessie!

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Today is Jessie Cosier’s birthday and she chose to celebrate by sponsoring a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees! Jessie, what a kind and generous way to celebrate your life. Thank you so much for including the chimpanzees in your special day!

From all of us here at CSNW, we hope you have a wonderful birthday! And on behalf of the chimpanzees, we send you lots of pant hoots and food squeaks!

Negra and Jody:

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Choice

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The chimpanzees spend a lot of time in the doorway that leads from the greenhouse to Young’s Hill, deciding whether they want to go outside. Sometimes they decide against it and opt to stay in the sunny greenhouse or hang out in the indoor playroom. But I think these moments of choice are just as vital to captive chimpanzees as fresh air and sunshine and room to run.

This morning I’ve seen Negra sit in the doorway to Young’s Hill several times, taking in the view of the hill and pondering. She hasn’t yet ventured out, but I imagine that seeing two acres of green grass in front of her is something that she never imagined during her decades in a lab cage.

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Congratulations, Keri and Bob!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Diana Goodrich, Patti Sims, Lynn Williamson, and Connie Lamm in honor of the wedding of our dear friends, Keri Heniff and Bob Mark!

Diana, Patti, Lynn and Connie shared the following message for Keri and Bob:

“Congratulations on your wedding! May this be the start of a new chapter in a long and happy life together. Thanks for all you do for friends of all species!”

Keri is a volunteer caregiver here at CSNW and she and Bob are two of the kindest, most compassionate people we know. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have them as part of the CSNW family and we are so happy for them!

Keri and Bob, if you two love each other half as much as our guy, Burrito, loves his food you are going to have a great life together! Congratulations!!

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Happy Birthday, Jody Chimpanzee!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Tracy Headley in honor of her beautiful Pal, Jody’s, honorary 39th birthday! We don’t know Jody’s actual date of birth so we chose Mother’s Day to celebrate her life, in honor of the 9 children she gave birth to, but was not allowed to raise. As heartbreaking as Jody’s history is, thanks to our amazing supporters, she seems to have fully embraced her life in sanctuary. She spends her days lounging in peace and comfort in the most amazingly cozy nests, foraging on Young’s Hill for as much as she can possibly carry, and increasingly so, playing and laughing with her chimpanzee family. Of Jody’s countless endearing qualities, a favorite that comes to mind today is how she always helps round everyone up at mealtime and makes sure they get through the door before we close it, seemingly making sure no one gets “left behind.”

While nothing could make up for the loss that Jody and all chimpanzee mommas and their children have endured, we honor and celebrate their lives today. We all give life in our own way and can mother at heart. Whether it’s to ourselves, our friends, our family, or the earth, regardless of species. As said by Anais Nin, “Each friend represents a world in us, a world not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

Tracy, you are an extraordinary friend to the chimpanzees and we are so grateful for all you do for them. Thank you so much for making Jody’s day of celebration even more special! Happy Birthday/Mother’s Day, Jody, we love you!!

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All of us at CSNW wish you all a day of love, comfort, and nurturing. Be sure to check back later today for the birthday/Mother’s Day celebration!

Play initiation and Hoot!

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Tonight is our very first Hoot! gala event and I’m so excited to see everyone. I hope you all are ready to Give a Hoot! tonight! And don’t worry, for those of you that aren’t able to make it to the gala, we are going to have an online auction later this summer so everyone can participate.

Yesterday I posted about Jamie’s huge paper nest, but I left out a couple photos that Elizabeth took that day. She captured Annie initiating some play by biting on the handrail of the stairs in the playroom, right above where Jamie was nesting. Missy couldn’t resist her invitation and of course started play slapping and wrestling immediately. They didn’t seem to mind that Jamie was trying to perfect her nest just inches away—and luckily, Jamie didn’t seem to be disturbed, either.

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Lots and lots of paper

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We’ve posted about the enrichment theme “lots of paper” before, but it never gets old with the chimps. They love it, so we try to work that theme into each month—so long as we have extra paper to spare. Yesterday we had plenty, including a bunch of paper from some boxes that were shipped from Amazon when people sent us supplies we needed from our wishlist. You probably didn’t know you were helping us stock the shelves AND enriching the chimps at the same time did you? 🙂

Jamie definitely appreciated the extra paper, and we threw in some crepe paper, toilet paper, and a big roll of red paper for additional nesting materials. She built the biggest paper nest I’ve seen! It was an all day project that she returned to a few times to perfect her comfy spot.

First, she started with the brown paper from the Amazon boxes and added the giant roll of red paper.

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She abandoned it at one point (probably to go on a perimeter walk of Young’s Hill) and you can see just how elaborate it is:

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Later she returned and added some toilet paper, which she reportedly had wrapped around her like a mummy but when the paparazzi (Elizabeth) arrived she quickly brushed it off herself. The toilet paper added a nice softness to the nest and she curled up with some boots to take a mid-day nap.

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