Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Can you believe it?!

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Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Willy B, Mave and Honey B’s arrival from their former home at Wildlife Waystation in California! Can you believe it?? Sometimes it feels like they’ve always been here, part of our family, and other times it feels as though they’ve only recently arrived. But one thing is certain, they continue to delight and surprise us daily. We are so honored to care for them, to get to know these three amazing people more and more with each passing day and provide them with as much love, comfort, joy and adventure as we can dream up. We’re just so honored that they call Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest home and are part of our chimpanzee family. And we cannot thank you all enough for making their lives here possible, and the lives of those still to come!

To those who directly cared and advocated for Willy B, Mave and Honey B during their time at Wildlife Waystation, and who continue to care for the chimpanzees still there awaiting their new sanctuary homes, thank you, we think of you every day.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the celebration!

Chad saved the day by graciously sharing these photos.

Mave, being her wonderful self:

Honey B rocking FOUR headband/waistbands and ready to play chase! Look at her!

Willy B working on new to them enrichment of a raisin board:

In memory of Joan

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Thyra and David Rutter of Arte for Elephants sponsored this day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees “In loving memory of Joan Lichterman – unstoppable warrior for all creatures of the earth.” 

Thank you so much for choosing to honor Joan’s legacy by making a difference in the chimpanzees’ lives, Thyra and David. We truly appreciate you thinking of them all in this way. May your day be filled with comforting, joyful and inspiring memories of Joan.

Learn more about Arte for Elephants and the wonderful work they do here.

Negra:

Summery Sundays

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It was a scorcher today. With temperatures nearing the triple digits, everybody decided to take it easy today. Well, most of the day.

When we check the weather reports and find it’s going to be a hot one, the staff usually tries to complete our safety checks as soon as possible so the chimpanzees can go onto Young’s Hill before the sun goes into full effect.

Jody was the first one on the hill this morning, and she was super excited to be out there.

Look how piloerect she was.

She was so pilo, Annie thought something was wrong and went out to give her reassurance. But Jody was just really excited to be on the hill.

Though this may seem like an intimidating photo, Annie usually walks bipedally when she is on the hill and is a normal behavior for her. You can tell it was a peaceful interaction by identifying Jody’s relaxed lower lip.

Besides that brief period of excitement in the morning, the sun showed it’s force and everybody thought it was best to take it easy.

Willy B took a nap on his leopard print blanket.

While Mave decided the bench above him was the best spot.

The cattle even came by for their daily drink from the trough with Honey leading the way.

And I had to share this one because it looks like an album cover to a pop group. (L to R: Nutmeg, Honey, Betsy. Meredith was right behind them.)

At least some people were busy. The bumble bees were in full force, pollinating the vegetable and fruit plants growing in out vegetable garden.

One very specific plant in the garden the were near was our tomato plants, which are starting to bud.

I know this isn’t the case, but I like to believe they somehow know next week is Missy’s birthday! One can believe, can’t they?

I will leave you with the end of Jody’s Sunday with photos of her nesting.

Bonus photo of her when she moved her nest into another front room with Burrito.

I hope you all have a marvelous Monday tomorrow and great week!

Willy B on Repeat and Highlights of the Day

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The video above is a pretty good follow-up to the snippet of Willy B that I shared within this video a few weeks ago.

I took the footage for today’s video last week, but didn’t want to usurp Foxie’s birthday so I saved it for today.

For a glimpse of actual happenings today, visit our Instagram page, and behold some highlights below from the breakfast forage on Young’s Hill.

Missy slacklining on fire hose

 

Missy dismounting from the fire hose, showing off the benefit of opposable toes.

 

Jamie was just scratching her face in that image above, but I like how it looks like she might be saying, “oh, geez, Missy”

Jody once again dominated the willow forage:

and Negra seemed to be just fine with our secret lettuce-for-breakfast-outside weight loss plan aimed to slim her down a bit:

Happy Birthday, Ben!

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Laura Bradshaw sponsored this day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in celebration of Ben Bradshaw on his birthday and shared this lovely message about her gift:

“Ben loves the wonderful residents of CSNW because the fabulous people there have done an amazing job of helping all of us get to know them. Without meeting them in person, we feel ourselves lift whenever we see their faces, or feet, or other random body parts. Thank you for allowing the CSNW critters to be a part of Ben’s birthday celebration.”

Laura and Ben, thank you for your kind words, we’re so happy knowing the chimpanzees bring so much joy to your lives, especially during these unprecedented times. And we’re thrilled that you chose to include them in Ben’s celebration! Thank you for making a difference in theirs lives with your generous hearts.

Happiest of days to you, Ben, from all of us here at CSNW!

Mave!

Burrito:

Willy in his tub:

Miss Honey B:

Jody:

For Terry, Foxie and Missy!

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Mike Stockdale sponsored a day of sanctuary today with this fantastic note: “This donation is in honor of my wife Terry on her birthday August 14 and to the chimps who share her birthday month. Please use the extra money for enrichment for the entire group.”

We love this! Mike, thank you so much for celebrating Terry and our August birthday ladies, Foxie and Missy! We really appreciate you thinking of them all in such a sweet and generous way!

Happy Birthday, Terry! This was a good month to be born! 🙂 Even if your birthday doesn’t involve smoothies, watermelon bowls, Orange Blossom dolls and more tomatoes than you can possibly eat (unless you’re Missy), we hope it’s the best one yet!

Missy and Foxie:

Find your pineapple wadge

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Taking these photos of Annie reminded me that her birthday is quickly approaching on September 10th. It also sent me reeling on a slightly mournful tangent thinking about how 2020 (especially this summer) has melted away like a Popsicle we never got to enjoy.

To me, Annie’s birthday feels like our farewell summer party and often features bouquets of glorious sunflowers. As this year ticks by at a maddening speed, I try to grasp on to familiar landmarks in time (like her day filled with sunflowers) to remind myself that some things on this earth haven’t changed. COVID-19 won’t stop the mountain huckleberries above my home from turning purple or the eddies in the Yakima river from being the best places to spend a 90 degree day.  Many an enjoyable evening can still be spent in the comfort of one’s own breakfast nook, watching the chickens forage before the sun completely abandons the backyard.

There will still be mountains of tomatoes for Missy’s birthday (August 23rd) and carved pumpkins on Jamieween (October 31st).  There are still so many days to look forward to this year. We humans just need to be a little creative in how we can safely spend these special days.

For now, take the lead from Annie herself and lean into the small things.  Relax on a good blanket, put your feet up and spend some quality time with a favorite food. Find your own version of a pineapple wadge and truly make the best of it.