Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Foxie is a tiny chimpanzee woman. But her size is no indication of the amount of joy, courage, fierceness, adventure, spirit and joy she walks, flips and spins through life with. Nor is it any indication of the amount of love this one heart holds for her.
Today the chimps started out arguing and fighting and ripping and hooting, a little more than usual. But whatever family business they had to work out seems to have been resolved and they’ve spent the afternoon lounging about and engaging in a variety of goofy and endearing shenanigans.
Jamie has a routine of building a nest in one of the front rooms and napping/supervising the humans as we clean the playroom. Even while at rest, she usually has a project or a plan in progress…
and today she chose this:
Jamie is very creative and often likes to repurpose her enrichment:
(Happy Jamie flailing about):
Viola! From sock to ankle bandana:
Later in the afternoon, Foxie joined Jamie nesting in the playroom. Here is a good example of different nesting styles – Foxie doesn’t like to use blankets, whereas Jamie gets pretty creative:
With these two, it isn’t long before wrestling ensues:
And here it is folks, the ever-elusive Jamie play face!!:
Foxie is the one person who can really get Jamie to cut loose. But Jamie takes everything pretty seriously (she is the boss after all) so even when she is in full play mode, we don’t often catch a play face. So we need that in a closeup:
Foxie laughing as Jamie play bites her hand:
And last, but certainly not least, I leave you with this guy:
Picking up where we left off on yesterday’s blog, you’ll know that Annie’s heart was full of adventure yesterday as she raced out on a solo trip to a snow-covered Young’s Hill. After making it up the snowy path which caregivers had shoveled for the chimps earlier in the week, Annie made a beeline for the first structure and climbed up to enjoy the view.
Annie seems to particularly relish such cold, sunny days and the solitude she finds by venturing onto the hill on her own. When we call to her she’ll often simply turn her back to us, content to stay where she’s at. And who can blame her? So yesterday, when Jody became excited at seeing Annie out there and made her way toward her, Annie wasn’t in the mood for company apparently and quickly made her way back down the structure before Jody could reach her.
I thought she must be heading back inside, but she stopped and gazed out over the expanse of the hill. And then much to my surprise headed out across the sparkling field before her to see what she could see.
I could not love this one (or Annie) more!
Cold feet!
Curiosity satisfied, Annie finally decided to head back to the chimp house where she asked me to grab her some snow snacks to enjoy (she was too busy adventuring in the snow to grab any herself) while she warmed up those fabulous chimpanzee feet on the heated floor.
It’s hard to reconcile the Annie from merely a couple of years ago with the Annie we see new sides of each day now. I have a very vivid and heart-wrenching memory of her sitting in the raceway to Young’s Hill rocking with anxiety as she watched her best friend, Missy, ripping and running across the green fields. She was visibly distressed being separated from her beloved friend whose side she rarely left, but was too uncertain and fearful to follow her. It makes my heart sing to see the Annie we know today, courageous, curious, joyful, more comfortable, and full to the brim with moxie and spirit in every step she takes. But I think this was always Annie. Your support of her and her family gave them something even more powerful than their lives in sanctuary. You gave them a path back to themselves. And for that we are eternally grateful.
When I arrived to the chimp house this morning I went in the chimp area to greet everyone and found our patient, Queen Negra, fast asleep:
Another pass through and I found her enjoying a magazine from the comfort of her nest as she tried to wake up:
…and tried to wake-up:
But it was too early by the Queen’s standards so she swaddled herself up like a Neggie burrito and headed back to sleep until breakfast:
Negra is doing well and in great spirits! She is continuing to heal more and more each day and it seems the doctor’s orders to take it easy and rest are right up her alley.
A day of sanctuary and celebration was sponsored by Eric in honor of Adrienne’s birthday with this sweet message: “Happy Birthday from Burrito and all his friends at the sanctuary!”
Eric, thank you so much for thinking of the chimps as you honor Adrienne on her special day! Your compassion and generosity make a lasting difference in their lives.
Adrienne, it’s great that you and Burrito share a birthday month, mere days apart. During parties (and most any ol’ day) it’s not uncommon to see Burrito running through the chimp house in a dominance display, hair standing on end and clapping his hands as he attempts to intimidate the girls, especially when there’s food that he’s excited to reach. I’m not sure if you want to celebrate your special day this way (we don’t judge), but food squeaking in utter joy is also classic Burrito so you could just go with that. 🙂 However you choose to celebrate, we hope your day is full of all that you most love and enjoy! Happy Birthday!
We’re celebrating our first chimpanzee birthday of the year with Burrito, who turns 34 today! This special day of sanctuary for our beloved Bubs was kindly sponsored by Trish Loesch (you may recall her husband, John, also sponsored a day earlier this week thanks to Trish’s love for the chimps!). Trish shares this message: “Happy Birthday Burrito!!! I hope your special day will bring you lots of happiness, love and fun with your friends!!!”
If you’ve been following the blog for long, you may have gathered that we do a lot of partying around here. Parties are a wonderful source of enrichment, anticipation and excitement for the chimps. But they are also much more than that. These seven amazing chimpanzees, everything that makes them the unique individuals they are, and all the incredible humans – each of you – who make their lives in sanctuary possible, are to be celebrated. Each and every day. So really, we need to party even more!
And I’m sure as long as it involves food – lots, and lots of food – Burrito is on board. For every adorable and charming move he makes, every ruckus he raises, all the crazy food squeaks, the deadly accurate spitting upon humans, the brain-rattling cage rattling, and heart-melting play stomps, play bows, head-stands, kisses and smiles, we celebrate this amazing guy. Burrito is an important part of this family and we couldn’t love him more. We’re so happy to honor him today.
Thank you so much for your generous gift, Trish! The fridge is stocked and the celebration of Burrito (and food!) is getting underway. Be sure to tune in later today to see the festivities!
Happy Birthday, B!! We love you so much!!
It never ceases to amaze us, the love and care that abounds for the chimpanzees from wonderful people the world over. Today Manuela Santacreu is gifting the chimpanzees with a day of sanctuary in celebration of her 50th birthday! Manuela has been celebrating her birthdays with the chimpanzees for the past few years and it means so much to us and especially the chimps. She shared this message about her gift:
“Pour mes 50 ans, le plus beau des cadeau ce sera le bien être sur le visage de Foxie et ses compagnons ! Merci pour tout ce que vous faites pour eux, et pour le plaisir que me procure la lecture de leurs aventures sur FB!” (Translated with relative accuracy we hope 🙂 ) “For my 50 years, the most beautiful gift will be the well being on the face of Foxie and her companions! Thank you for everything you do for them, and for the pleasure of reading their adventures on FB!”
Manuela, thank you so much for your generous gift! We hope you’re having a beautiful day of celebration on your very special day. We are at the beginning of another arctic blast here at the sanctuary with temperatures near and below zero at night and only reaching low teens during the day so the chimps will be celebrating along with you from the warmth of their toasty chimp house.
Foxie and her beloved France Dora, enjoying warmer days:
