Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Happy Anniversary, Robin!

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Pat Salak sponsored a day of sanctuary to wish, “Happy 35th Wedding Anniversary to my wife Robin!!” Robin is one of our pre-Covid student volunteers from the Primate Behavior and Ecology Program at Central Washington University and among all those waiting patiently and hoping for the day volunteers are able to return to the sanctuary.

Pat and Robin, thanks so much for choosing to celebrate your anniversary by thinking of the chimpanzees and contributing to their care in such a thoughtful way. Happy Anniversary to you both!

Burrito and Negra:

Jody:

Willy B and Mave:

Honey B:

The seven:

A more easeful evening

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As you might imagine, it’s been an extra, extra busy day in the chimp house! Hopefully you’ve had a chance to check out the very endearing and very encouraging update Diana and J.B. shared earlier today of Burrito’s continued progress toward healing from the recent rattlesnake bite he received. We will continue to closely monitor him for potential complications over the next several days, so while he isn’t out of the woods yet, each day that passes with his steady progress allows us to breathe a little deeper.

As we mentioned earlier today, many of you have been asking how you can help and so we’ve added a medical fund to our upcoming HOOT! 2020 online auction to help cover the cost of Burrito’s antivenin treatment. We’ve seen your donations coming in these past days in his name and please know how deeply we appreciate your support, in all it’s many and varied forms. The love, support and well wishes that’s been wrapped around Burrito from near and far is felt by us all. And I believe, most importantly, by him. We are profoundly grateful to you for that.

I wasn’t able to capture a dang thing for photos today, but Chad came to the rescue again and has graciously shared photos he captured of these two lovely ladies:

Cute Honey B eating a beet:

Beautiful Jody eating some foraged wild-greens:

I did manage this one a few moments ago. After a full day of visiting and playing with his chimpanzee and human family from his recovery room, working ever so hard at healing, his paper boat emptied of grape snacks, Burrito has tucked himself in and is out for the night:

May we all rest just a little easier as we hold him in our hearts tonight.

Morning Greetings

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Burrito ate a late-night snack of baked apple slices and a banana and took some medication in grape juice, then he slept soundly all night.

This morning he woke up a bit brighter-eyed and had enough energy to greet Jamie, Jody, and Foxie who all wanted to inspect and groom his still slightly swollen hand and his face (if you haven’t been following the last few days, here’s why Mr. B is in recovery). When J.B. came in early,  Burrito scooted over to play poke/tickle while still lying down.

Things are all trending in the right direction!

My mental energy has been focused on Burrito these last few days and some of my plans for HOOT! outreach have gone by the wayside. If things continue to look good, and after getting some sleep, I plan to work some more on that event which is coming up in just a few days now!

It turns out that rattlesnake antivenin, which we sourced from the nearest human ER, is extremely expensive, so I might be adding a fundraising page to help pay for Burrito’s medical expenses (so far $12,000) on the virtual auction/event site later today.

Thank you to those who have already inquired about making donations towards his care!

Happy Birthday, Mykel and Steph!

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Kathleen Zasimovich sponsored a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in honor of two special humans and sends this message:

“Happy Birthday Mykel and Steph. The chimpanzees will celebrate with you. Aunt Kathy.”

Thank you for including the chimpanzees in your family’s day of celebration for Mykel and Steph, Kathleen!

Happy Birthday, Mykel and Steph! All of us here at the sanctuary hope your day is filled with everything that brings you happiness, just as you’ve helped do for the chimpanzees by sharing your special day with them.

Foxie:

Jamie and Foxie:

Burrito:

Honey B and Mave:

Negra and her night bag

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Negra is a no-nonsense, dessert comes first kind of chimpanzee.  Dinner is usually served in the order of fruits/veggies first, but Negra has no patience for this standard operating procedure. She impatiently waits through the whole meal, often collecting a pile of produce along the way.  When we FINALLY get around to night bags, she impatiently rips into the bag and settles down for her favorite evening ritual, the slow tedious consumption of her night bag.  The rest of dinner can wait.

Happy Birthday, Tammi!

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Kelsy Compton sponsored a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees and her mom, Tammi Finnick!: “Happy Birthday Mom! I hope you enjoy your special day. Love you!”

Thank you so much, Kelsy, for including the chimpanzees in your celebration of your mom on her birthday!

Happy Birthday, Tammi! All of us here hope you have a beautiful day!

Sweet Jody:

Jody and Foxie:

International Primate Day 2020!

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Today is International Primate Day! The day was created in 2005 as a way to educate and raise awareness about various issues primates all around the world face, both in the wild and in captivity. As you know, all of our residents have come from the biomedical industry. Seven have called Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest home for 12 years now, while three have called it home for a year. Though we as staff consider ourselves very fortunate and lucky to be able to try to provide the best possible life for these 10 remarkable individuals, there are more who are in need of a new home.

Currently, there are chimpanzees at the Wildlife Waystation in Southern California who are awaiting new homes. For years, staff and volunteers there have provided care for all the animals who called Wildlife Waystation home. Unfortunately, the decision was made to close their doors last year. This left hundreds of animals in need of a new home. The only residents who remain are their chimpanzee residents. If you have been following our blog and/or the news, then you know we are one of the sanctuaries trying to expand in order to provide homes for some of these individuals as soon as possible.

Honey B watches the construction crew everyday as the new playrooms start to take shape.

You can read more about how you can help maintain those chimpanzees’ current care until they find new homes at The Chimpanzees in Need webpage.

You can also support us as we expand to bring some of these chimpanzees home to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. We are currently preparing for our first ever online gala! Due to the current pandemic, the decision was made to hold Hoot! online this year. Be sure to visit the Hoot! 2020 site to browse some of the amazing things that will be up to bid on September 12th with more to come!

Now for the happenings of today (and yesterday)!

If you watched the video, then you know there was a lot of playing going on between Mave, Honey B, and Willy B! There were scarce moments where we couldn’t hear laughter coming from that side of the building.

Yesterday, we gave them a food puzzle that seems to becoming one of their new favorites: Firehose Cubes! We put small things into the cube for them to fish out. Some things have food in them, some don’t. One item that did have nuts in them were fanny packs. Honey B was very delicate with hers and would carefully unzip the pouches to retrieve the food inside. Willy B, on the other hand, used his canines to rip it open. We could only guess what Honey B was thinking as she watched this all unfold to one of her fanny packs.

The Seven received a breakfast forage on Young’s Hill.

Beautiful Jody was seen all over the place, picking up as many orange slices and apple slices as she could.

She had to take a break and eat some of her haul, as Jamie casually ate as she went.

Missy’s first place to forage for food was in Negra’s Cabin.

Negra was actually on a platform a little bit away.

Burrito had both hands and mouthful as he grabbed whatever was in sight.

Later in the afternoon, we decided to treat everybody with a round of paper braids!

Jody enjoying hers.

Annie seemingly inhaled hers!

Note: As I was taking these photos of everybody enjoying their paper braids, I felt this presence. Like the feeling a shark circling it’s prey. With one loud stomp of the foot, my eyes shifted a little to the right. There was a flash of fur and paper braids through a child’s slide in the Greenhouse.

The presence was getting nearer and nearer. I could almost hear the theme song to Jaws being played but in a rendition of raspberries/Bronx cheers.

Who could it be!?

Burrito!!!

He was very enthused to play, but also very occupied with his paper braids. Not knowing what he wanted to do, he decided to play toe tickle. This version was with him on his back while poking his toes through the mesh. This allowed him to play and eat his paper braids.

We also gave Willy B, Honey B, and Mave paper braids.

Honey B decided to help Mave by picking up the seeds she missed as she tore into the braids.

At lunch, Foxie decided to enjoy her beets, bell peppers and (Orange) Blossom dolls inside, while the others ate outside.

We all hope you had an amazing day and have a great evening!