Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Happy 4th of July everyone! The chimps here at CSNW had a day full of fun and food! Longtime volunteer caregiver Patti made the chimps vegan ‘hotdogs’ out of carrots, while caregiver Ellen made them a shortcake out of their usual chow biscuits, fruit and whipped cream from coconut milk.
If you are celebrating today, we hope you all have a fun and safe holiday this year!
Everything fun happens around the watering hole or should I say, Gatorade pool! The chimps had a nice, quiet, and relaxing day. I think they may be resting up for the big fourth of July celebration tomorrow! Make sure to tune in for all the fun tomorrow!
Before I go, here are some bonus photos 🙂
Burrito:
Miss Mave:
Rayne’s toes, waiting for smoothie:
Negra enjoying her pudding cup:
Today we celebrate three years since the Lucky Six arrived! I truly can not imagine life without them. Each one of these chimps brings so much life to this sanctuary. When I think about the day that they arrived, the day was so full of excitement. We had done it, we had reached our goal of expanding the building to take in more chimps to provide another chance of security and a life of choice. The Lucky Six have grown so much in their 3 years here. We have watched chimps like Gordo grow confidence and comfortably with things that are unfamiliar. We have watched the group of six become a group of nine, which has provided them with more social opportunity. Watching chimps like Dora become a social butterfly and Rayne being able to use one of her best strengths, her social savvyness, to help her group navigate and build friendships! We watched all of J.B.’s hard work paid off to build the Bray, their 2 acre outdoor habitat. To be able to watch Rayne walk outside like she had done this everyday of her life was certainly one of the many highlights of my career! I could go on and on about how amazing they are, but I think that when it comes down to it we are just so lucky to have them and we are all the better for knowing them!
Cy:
Gordo:
Terry:
Dora:
Rayne:
Lucky:
During one of our donor visits, Jamie spotted a pair of cowboy boots she adored! The thing about wearing boots Jamie likes is that you might be walking out in your socks! Our very kind donor was gracious enough to part with her boots so Jamie could add them to her collection. To say Jamie was excited would be an understatement. When Jamie received her new boots, she wanted Diana to take a spin in them before we gave them to her officially. Obviously, if they did a walk around the Hill, they also needed to be groomed. At the end of the night, Jamie had her dinner on a barrel with her nighttime enrichment (peanut butter pine cones) and her new boots! She was a very happy lady 🙂
Jamie looking at her cowboy boots:
Jamie and Diana taking the boots around Young’s Hill:
Honey B has a whole lot of personality! You will often hear us refer to Honey B as a busy body, spunky, spontaneous, or mischievous. You never quite know what she is up to, even when you try to follow her on the cameras. It’s hard to keep up with her, always on the move or inspecting something. Though her moods change all throughout the hours, boring is never how I would describe her day. The other morning I found her greeting every single person in her group. It felt like she was doing crowd work as a politician, even Gordo received a very warm greeting from her! While she schmoozed the crowd, some of her group mates looked confused and tensed for a moment when she nudged or touched their shoulder, but as Honey gave them a breathy greeting, they were not going to question her behavior! Later, there was some displaying, so she joined in and screamed at all the boys, screaming and chasing Cy and Terry but later she was found laughing and playing with both of them.
In the afternoon, everyone received peanut butter magazines. Gordo got his and Honey B decided to join him out on the Bray and watch him do his afternoon enrichment. When we looked over at Gordo he seemed very hesitant that Honey B was following him outside, but he just pretend like she always did this. Eventually, Honey B left to get her own and you could tell Gordo took a big exhale :).
Just now, as caregiver Sabrina passed out kongs, Honey B was breathy panting and so excited, but as soon has Willy B came up to her she gave him a threatening look that seemed to warn “grab these and see what happens to you” like of look. Which personally, I would never want to experience! Though Honey B might keep us on our toes, she is a lot of fun to be around, and I wouldn’t have it any other way :).
Nothing is more important than your girl friends. As you will see in the video, Honey B and Dora agree! Today, Honey B and Dora held back in the front rooms so that they could have some one-on-one gal time. Sometimes you just need a break from the men, ya know! Watching these two play really warms my heart. I often get asked by people, what sanctuary means to me. For me, it’s the little moments, like watching Honey B build friendships within her group, or to watch Dora flourish and become a social butterfly, or to watch someone like Neggie turn 51 (tomorrow!) and thrive in sanctuary: making choices that was not allotted to her in her previous life.
Tomorrow is the Trifecta Jubilee, celebrating our sweet 16! I cannot believe it has been 16 years since the Cle Elum 7 arrived to the sanctuary or that Negra will already be turning 51 years young. But, lets not forget our sweet friend Terry who is turning 34 tomorrow! It will be quite the celebration! If you would like to help us celebrate, check out our Sweet Sixteen online auction.
I think it will come to no surprise that I personally love this painting, Jamie’s Boot by Cheryl Feng. I love how Cheryl captured Jamie! Place your bids today!
Jamie’s group was SO happy this morning! We had 3 different groups of wrestlers in 3 different front rooms! Today, enjoy Negra and Burrito mixing it up in front room 1.
And, don’t forget! The Sweet 16 Online Auction goes live tomorrow, June 10th, and ends the 16th. Check out Spring Rayne by our very own Caregiver Ellen. Although, I might fight you for it!
