Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Those hardworking humans

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The chimpanzees are so lucky to have such amazing volunteers and interns working for them. The sanctuary is fortunate to have a core group of volunteers from the surrounding community, as well as a fleet of Primate Behavior student interns because of our collaborative learning agreement with Central Washington University.

Our volunteers and interns help take care of all those important daily tasks that are critical to giving the chimps comfortable and happy lives.

From preparing meals:

And in turn, serving those meals to the chimps:

To cleaning enclosures:

Keeping Burrito entertained is a pretty important job in itself:

And the boss Jamie has her own list of requirements for volunteers.
Like being a patient grooming partner:

And a diligent friend to walk with:

And being willing to repeat the process for an undetermined amount of time:

Some industrious volunteers come to the sanctuary just to help with building projects, like the newest structure that was put up earlier this spring:

Other volunteers help support our outreach and fundraising projects. Our spring fundraising gala Hoot, required dozens of volunteers to put together and pull off the big night!

Handing out sanctuary information and selling merchandise helps the chimps gain fans and supporters at our tabling events (hope to see you at the first Roslyn Farmers Market of the year this Sunday!)

Last year’s Seattle Vegfest 🙂

The end of spring means it’s time to say see you later to some of our college interns until fall as they take their summer break or leave for far off places for their thesis data collection. Others are finishing up their time at CWU and moving on to the next big adventure!

Here are just a few of this year’s masters students that will be graduating this weekend:

Next week we are excited to welcome our summer interns to the sanctuary! Thanks to all those that care about the Cle Elum 7!

In memory of Robert Ruggeri

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Rachel Ruggeri sponsored a day of sanctuary for the chimpanzees in honor of her father, Robert Ruggeri. Rachel shared this touching message:

“I saw on the blog today the word…independence. And no single word could better describe my father, Robert Ruggeri, who would have been 82 years old on this day. Though he passed away five years ago, we think of him each and every day and we are grateful for the independence he fostered in each of his children. He loved all animals, most especially chimpanzees, and he would be so happy to know the gang of seven was discovering their independence in the hills of the sanctuary amid the Eastern Washington skies. “Freedom over security” was among one of the many of my father’s favorite sayings. Like the gang, here’s to hoping that my father has found the freedom and independence he so desperately craved…”

Rachel, thank you for sharing such a loving and powerful tribute about your father. It seems beautifully apropos for the chimpanzees. We are so honored to celebrate Robert’s memory with you and your family.

Ten years in sanctuary, and the chimpanzees continue to explore and embrace freedom and independence in their own meaningful ways more and more with each passing day. And we couldn’t be more honored to bear witness to their daily self-discoveries of bravery, adventure, joy, love, and healing.

Foxie relishing the accomplishment of her first courageous climb to the top of Twister:

Negra bravely traversing the shaky bridge for possibly the first time:

Annie, first to the top of the new structure:

Jody, enjoying the freedom to rest:

A spring celebration, just because

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It’s watermelon season and since the chimpanzees haven’t had a party in days, we thought what better thing to do than have an impromptu watermelon bowl party! Just because! We halved personal size watermelons and filled them with blueberries, strawberries, purple cabbage, cucumber, mini-peppers, avocado, wild roses, and chives. And what chimp party is complete without sparkling cider?

Jody:

Annie:

Negra collecting bowls:

Missy:

This guy:

Jamie lingering over the wild roses, one of her favorite things to eat:

Everybody has their favorite parts and style of eating the bowls. Foxie was all about the bowls themselves, scraping as much off the rind as she could:

The chimps spent most of the afternoon in various locations of the chimp house deep in watermelon bowl-induced naps. I came upon Annie, sound asleep in the greenhouse with the breeze blowing on her hair. But at one point she managed to find a bit of rind leftover to chew on before drifting back to sleep. She didn’t even open her eyes!:

Spring has just been a kaleidoscope of birds swirling through the cacophony of their songs, yellow and purple wildflowers covering neon green fields, warm days and cool breezes, neighboring wildlife going about all their wild lives…I mean, it’s just amazing. An ode to life, and sometimes death, just watching it all. And the fact that the chimps and their home are at the center of all this is a celebration all it’s own. We hope you are all soaking in all the beauty of this season as much as the chimps. It’s because of you that all their days are ones to celebrate.

Happy Birthday, Lisa!

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The chimps’ good friend, Lisa Stuverud, sponsored today for them as a way to celebrate her own special day! Lisa shared this lovely message:

 “I turned 60 this year, a HUGE accomplishment for me so I made a list of many things I was grateful for, things that had helped me get to 60. One of the things was ‘I am grateful for having passions in my life especially when they sustain me’ and today the passion I have for all animals especially Jamie, Foxie, Burrito, Annie, Missy, Jody, Negra and everyone in and around Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest supporting their passion will sustain me. I have often said that these seven chimpanzees and the people who selflessly support them give far more than they could ever take by showing such resilience, healing, love, kindness and devotion. Today, that will sustain me once again and I am so grateful to have this shared passion in my life.”

Lisa, thank you so much for such a lovely, inspiration-filled gift for the chimps! We are so incredibly fortunate that the chimps are surrounded by so much love and passion for their well-being and grateful ourselves that you are part of their chimp family. All of us here wish you the happiest birthday yet!

Annie and Missy:

Burrito and Negra:

Jody and Foxie:

Jamie and Missy:

Follow the Leader

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After the chimps received access to Young’s Hill this morning, almost everyone went out! Missy and Annie were playing a fun game of what looked like, follow the leader. I am sure we are all familiar with this grade school game, where one friend leads and the other friend has to copy what they do. Well, I observed the chimp version of that today! As we all know Missy is very good at running, climbing, balancing, and just basically being a chimp. So in this game, naturally Missy was the leader and Annie followed, however as you will see in the photos Annie will do her own variations and what she finds most comfortable for her.

Missy starts of by climbing up Negra’s Cabin:

Then Annie follows:

Missy then walks the tight rope:

Annie follows, but decides to do it her way:

And gracefully sticks the landing:

While this game was happening, Jamie went for a perimeter walk accompanied by Foxie and Jody:

Burrito kept a close eye on everyone from his view up top:

And Negra, well she was too comfortable to get up (I mean really comfy):

I also have some extra photos I thought should not be left out!

Jamie put a sock on this morning and was running around and playing chase (this is the only photo she would let me take of her and the sock):

Jody:

Burrito following Jody on the Hill:

Independence

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When  the chimpanzees first had access to the two-acre Young’s Hill enclosure in 2011, it was pretty intimidating for some of them. Annie, Foxie, and Negra were among the more wary of the large space and unfamiliar surroundings.

In those early days, J.B. wrote about Annie’s reluctance and Missy encouraging her and about Negra seeking reassurance from Jamie when she got a little spooked after summoning the courage to go out there in the first few weeks. He also wrote about a little motivation game that Foxie seemed to invent that got her outside even when she was hesitant.

The experience of having this new big space really brought all of the chimps together as a group and we saw them look out for one another in ways we hadn’t seen in the years prior. It was so touching to witness.

Fast forward almost seven years to today…

Foxie split off from her walking group:

 

Jake and I completely lost track of her until we spotted her again at the top of the hill on the towers with her red haired doll:

 

Jody was looking for Foxie too, and climbed up to make sure all was okay before she went about her own business:

 

Annie went out with Missy first thing, but then completely disappeared on her own, foraging for her favorite plants:

 

I noticed Missy keeping an eye on Annie, just like the friend that she’s always been:

 

Negra broke free of her usual forage pathway at lunch and climbed up on the shaky bridge (this is highly unusual, based on the old Negra, but maybe part of a new normal level of adventure for her):

 

Each year these seven chimpanzees gain more confidence, but they needed each other for encouragement, motivation, and someone to follow along the way. And even in their newfound independence, they continue to look out for one another.