Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee retirement

Happy Birthday, Margaret Parkinson!

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This day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees was also sponsored by Karen Creason in honor of her wife, Margaret Parkinson, on her birthday! Karen shared this lovely message:

“For our beloved friends, The Cle Elum Seven, in recognition of my sweet wife’s birthday. May our friends have another year of peace, love, joy, food and giggles.”

Karen and Margaret have been supporters of the sanctuary from the very beginning and we couldn’t possibly love them more. They are both very special souls who advocate tirelessly for animals everywhere. Margaret is also an amazing artist who donates her beautiful work to benefit animal organizations everywhere. You may recognize Margaret’s recent painting of Burrito, which she donated to our Hoot! gala and auction last spring:

burrito play

Karen, thank you so much for giving the chimpanzees a special day in honor of your (and our!) beloved Margaret. And Margaret, we hope your day is filled with food squeaks and lots of birthday cake, pant hoots with loved ones and nesting in comfort after all the celebrating! We love you both so much! Thank you for all the beauty, light and love you bring to life for so many beings. Happy Birthday!!

Negra:

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Monthly favorites

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Earlier this year, we phased out the individual Facebook pages for each chimp in favor of consolidating posts to our main CSNW Facebook page, with the promise that we would post our favorite photos of each chimp every month. Sometimes they are photos we haven’t posted to the blog before, and sometimes they are repeats, but ones that are definitely worth repeating! This month I selected some that haven’t been posted on the blog or Facebook before. I also wanted to thank everyone for their support during this busy month, and all year long!

You don’t have to be on Facebook to see our posts there — here’s the one from today:

Post by Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

Thank you, Patricia Schubert!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Patricia Schubert! Patricia, thank you so much for your kindness and generosity toward the chimpanzees and for honoring them with a special day! We have the most amazing supporters and it’s truly a joy and a gift to be surrounded by such compassion every day.

Part of sanctuary for Negra is mini-pumpkins:

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Thanks to everyone who has sponsored days in the last couple of months, getting us to our goal of 50 new sponsored days by the end of 2014! There’s still two more days to surpass our goal!

Today’s Highlights

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Today is sunny but very cold in Cle Elum – tonight’s low is predicted to be 0 degrees Fahrenheit – and the chimpanzees are having a quiet afternoon in the warm playroom. Here are our favorite photos from the day; let us know which is your favorite!

Negra in her nest:

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Missy checking out the blanket fort built by caregiver Keri:

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Foxie carrying the remnants of a wooden spoon that she broke earlier in the day:

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Jody with green lips after munching on an alfalfa cube:

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Burrito searching the playroom for leftover food after lunch:

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Annie grooming her arm and basking in the sun:

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Jamie looking peaceful:

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More Avian Visitors

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One particular day earlier this month, Jamie kept zigzagging back and forth across Young’s Hill instead of making her way all the way around the inside perimeter of the fence. There was a loud drumming sound coming from a group of pine trees on the east side of the property and whenever she heard it, she would head straight for it. But the sound always stopped when she approached. She stared at the trees for quite some time before continuing her walk around the hill again.

The area where the loud drumming sound was coming from.
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Jamie on Young’s Hill.
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I was with her on the fourth trip around the hill that day and we spotted the culprits on a dead pine snag within the group of pine trees. She didn’t seem too threatened by them, mostly just curious. She watched them as they made their way to the top of the snag and flew out of sight before continuing her perimeter patrol.

The chimpanzees have had a few new avian visitors this past summer, including Hank the hawk and Bernard the eagle. And now, we introduce you to Wanda and Wallace, a pair of pileated woodpeckers. They were the source of the loud drumming sounds.

Wanda
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Wallace (notice the red streak on his face)
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The pair. This is one of those Where’s Waldo photos except that instead of looking for Waldo, there is a second woodpecker on the trunk of the tree. Can you see it? (Hint: only the beak and lower body are visible on the second woodpecker)
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Today is for Brenda Radeke!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Julie and Karen Olson, in honor of their aunt, Brenda Radeke! Brenda was able to attend our visitation program this last summer and we are so happy to know she continues to follow the lives of the chimpanzees.

Julie and Karen, thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees in honoring Brenda! Having the support of all of you means so much to them (and to us!) and we are so grateful for your generous spirits. You truly make a difference in the chimpanzees’ lives!

Your support makes “play faces” an every day part of Burrito’s life in his sanctuary home:

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Favorite staff photos

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J.B. and I played a bit of a trick on Elizabeth, Debbie, Katelyn, and Keri recently.

I asked each of them to send me their favorite photos that they had taken, with the reasoning that I wanted to do an end-of-year “staff photo picks” blog post. Our real intention was to get them a Christmas gift with their favorite photo printed on metal. Pretty sneaky, right?

It worked beautifully – they were genuinely surprised by and (I’m pretty sure) happy with the gifts. Of course they couldn’t pick just one photo each, because they are all such great photographers!! Plus they love all of the chimps so much. So I had to narrow it down from the several photos they picked. There were a variety of factors to consider, including which photos would likely look best once printed on the metallic surface.

I figured I may as well go ahead with my cover story and share the photos on the blog so you too can enjoy them.

These are the four photos I had printed for their gifts:

Debbie’s photo (Foxie):

Debbie's fav photo

 

Keri’s photo (Annie):

Keri's fav photo

 

Elizabeth’s photo (Burrito):

Elizabeth's fav photo

 

Katelyn’s photo (Foxie):

Katelyn's fav photo

 

Just because I feel the need to have all of the chimps represented, here are a few more favorites:

 

a photo J.B. took of Missy in her element:

Missy balancing on fire hose

 

Another of Katelyn’s – this one I am guessing will always be a classic of Jamie:

Jamie looking at camera holding boot

 

This was another of Keri’s picks. I really like it because of Jody’s extreme relaxed face:

Jody with relaxed face

 

I took this one of Negra in October, but it might be my all time favorite photo of her (except for the other 15 all-time favorite photos I have of Negra, taken by various staff photographers):

Negra looking at camera with night bag

 

If you have a favorite photo of one (or more) of the Cle Elum Seven, let us know – we’d love to see what your favs are too!