Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Happy 45th birthday Negra!

June 13, 2018 by Anna

Happiest of honorary birthdays to Negra Chimpanzee! We are throwing a big party this weekend for Negra’s birthday and the 10th year of the chimpanzees arriving at the sanctuary, so stay tuned for that! Today we are doing some special things just for Queen Negra, namely giving her some of her favorite things to eat. This morning we started the day with sweet potato pancakes! Negra loves both sweet potatoes AND bread, so these pancakes were just the right thing for a breakfast treat. In case you missed the video of the chimps eating their pancakes, you should definitely check out our Facebook Live video on our page. For lunch we put out a lettuce and peanut forage on Young’s Hill, two more of Negra’s favorites.
In preparation for dinner, volunteer caregiver Jake is busy baking sweet potatoes, peeling corn and cutting up oranges. The queen will be thrilled!

The birthday girl enjoying her lunch forage:

So much to celebrate!

June 13, 2018 by Katelyn

Our dear friend, Kathleen Corby, sponsored this extra special day of celebration and shared this beautiful message:

“Two very special reasons for me to sponsor lucky June 13th: 1. I want to celebrate beautiful, remarkable, beloved Negra on her 45th birthday. The very first time I saw Negra she stole my heart. Knowing her past makes me admire and respect her all the more as I watch her courageously take on new adventures each year. Can’t wait for Negra to surprise me this year and many more years to come….Happy Birthday dear girl! 2. I am excited to celebrate with you from afar 10 magnificent years of Hope… Love… Home… Sanctuary at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Little did Missy, Annie, Negra, Jody, Foxie, Jamie, and Burrito know that the long trip from PA to WA ten years ago would change their lives for the better forever! You have given them their dignity and you have restored their wild inner souls. Happy Sanctuary Anniversary Day and much love always!”

Kathleen, we are just so lucky to have you as part of our chimp family. From our hearts, thank you for always sharing yours with the chimps, with us all. You make a lasting difference in their lives and we so appreciate the love and reverence you hold for each of them. Thank you for helping us celebrate such a special day!

If you follow us on Facebook, you may have seen us live this morning as the Birthday Queen started her special day off enjoying a homemade breakfast of sweet potato and berry pancakes served in the sunny greenhouse! If Negra could have ALL the bread and carbs, she would be a happy woman. Wouldn’t we all, Neggie, wouldn’t we all.

Happy Birthday, Negra, we love you!

And to Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy and Negra, Happy Anniversary!! Ten years in your sanctuary home bouyed by the love and support of so many near and far. You surprise, delight, teach and humble us every single day and we couldn’t love you more.

Jamie:

Annie and Missy:

Foxie:

Burrito:

Annie, Foxie and Jody:

A new evening food puzzle

June 12, 2018 by Anna

Jamie is the food puzzle star of the sanctuary, and she is also the most dominant of the group, so you might notice a lot of blog posts about her working on different puzzles that we give the chimps as evening enrichment. She has a tendency to want to keep all the puzzles to herself, so we’ve been working on finding new puzzles that we can fix to different spots around the chimps’ enclosure to give some of the other chimps more opportunities to access the puzzles.

Recently, I’ve gotten several videos of some of the other (non-Jamie) chimpanzees working on food puzzles. This video was taken while Jamie is otherwise occupied with her own project to work on inside the building. Here’s Jody trying out a new shake bottle puzzle. She makes it look pretty easy, so next time I think we will need to add some shredded paper for an added challenge!

The strawberry patch

June 11, 2018 by Katelyn

We harvested the first big bowl of strawberries from the chimps’ strawberry patch today! Spring this year has remained windy and on the cooler side so we’ve only removed the panels of the greenhouse that face Young’s Hill to avoid the wind whipping through their toasty space. So the chimps have to go into the raceway leading to Young’s Hill to see the strawberry patch, but without fail, the second I’m out there I can hear a crowd gathering behind me in anticipation.

Jamie – this face!

Jody anxiously awaiting her berries (even Dora looks excited in the background 🙂 ):

Mmmmhhh, sun-warmed strawberries…

Missy reaching for her handful:

Annie and her strawberry covered tongue got tired of waiting for more and decided to help me out by sitting with her mouth and hand ready so I could drop more in as quickly as possible:

Happy Birthday, Donna!

June 9, 2018 by Katelyn

Donna Dinsmore sponsors today for the chimpanzees each year and sent this sweet note: “This is my birthday and I would love to have the chimps celebrate it with me!”

Donna, first of all, Happy Birthday!! It’s such heart-lifting and inspiring thing when people choose to make a difference in the lives of others as a way to celebrate their own lives. And the fact that you do this each year for the chimps is incredible. We so appreciate you wanting to share your own special day with the chimps and your generosity and compassion make a lasting difference for them. And you are in good company as we look to the week ahead. With hearts full of gratitude and excitement, we will be celebrating Negra’s 45th birthday AND the chimps’ 10th anniversary in their sanctuary home! Thank you for starting things off in such a lovely way, Donna!

We hope you have a beautiful day full of all that you love!

Jamie:

Besties, Annie and Missy:

Annie:

Foxie, Jody, and Burrito:

Queen Negra:

Happy Birthday, Karen!

June 8, 2018 by Katelyn

Julie Olson sponsored today’s day of sanctuary for the chimps and her sister, Karen Olson! She shared this message about her gift:

“I wanted to sponsor a day for the chimps in honor of my sister’s birthday. I know this is a gift that truly means a lot to her. She loves all creatures great and small!”

Julie, thank you so much for always thinking of the chimpanzees and including them in your family celebrations!

Karen, we hope this is the best birthday yet! We’re so happy to celebrate your special day with you and are so grateful to you and Julie for always holding the chimpanzees in your hearts and for the difference you make in their lives.

Happy Birthday from all of us here at the sanctuary! This guy is always up for a celebration (as long as it involves food, playing and food!):