Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

HOOT! Success and Negra’s Aging Backwards

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Last week at this time the chimpanzees were partied out, Katelyn was watching over the sanctuary, and the rest of the staff and a ton of volunteers and supporters were having the annual fundraising party in Seattle. HOOT! 2018 brought in more funds than any previous event. The night-of fundraising was over-the-top and many people who were unable to attend sent in donations from across the country. It was the eighth such event that we’ve had, starting in 2009 and skipping 2012. Each year the love seems to grow stronger!

Andy of Inland Networks TV created the highlights video below. One of the biggest moments was during the Give a HOOT! part of the evening where supporters raise their paddles to make donations. Overall, the event raised over $200,000, and a full half of that was just from Give a HOOT! It was nothing short of amazing! Big thanks to EVERYONE who donated with a special nod to Karen Emmerman Mazner, James & Jennifer Douglas and Ross & Karen Barde. Also thanks to challenge pledges from Kathy Cochran and Leah Roberts who were not attending but helped inspire others to donate.

 

Part of my talk at the event was about not knowing how long the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees would be with us when they arrived a the sanctuary on June 13, 2008. Negra was 35 years old at the time, which is considered elderly. But she’s still going strong and demonstrates the “aging in reverse” phenomenon that seems to have happened for all seven of the chimpanzees.

Here is the photo of Negra that we put on the home page of the website on the first day that the chimpanzees arrived:

Negra on day one

 

Today, Negra climbed to the top of the new (still unnamed!) structure on the hill – the top! I didn’t get a good photo, but I took some others of her exploring.

 

 

We celebrate Negra’s birthday on the anniversary of the chimpanzees’ arrival because she is the epitome of what the sanctuary is all about and it was certainly a new beginning for her. Thank you for being a part of it, whether you have been following for ten years or ten minutes.

 

The Boss’s Day Off

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As the self-appointed boss, Jamie rarely achieves total relaxation. Between monitoring all the humans coming and going from the sanctuary, and keeping her chimp family in line, she has a hard time letting herself go. But this afternoon caregiver Anna found her looking pretty blissed out.

Particular palates

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The chimpanzees each have their own unique food preferences. We’ve talked a lot about how Jody will eat a huge assortment of vegetation she finds on Young’s Hill. Foxie on the other hand, has more of a sweet tooth, so she will opt out of many types of greens, in favor of things like sweet potatoes and fruit. A lot of the chimps will eat produce that we humans would think of being really intensely flavorful, in much greater quantities than most humans would ever dream of eating.

I personally could not imagine eating a whole raw onion, but the chimps eat them without thinking twice.
Missy:

And pine tree is not on most humans’ dinner menus.
Jody:

We’ve tasted the wild prickly lettuce that Negra loves so much, and it is tongue twistingly bitter.

The one funny thing we have noticed is that the chimps don’t seem to like a lot of spices in their meals. We don’t cook things for them all that often (instead they usually eat a lot of raw produce), but when we do get a little adventurous with a cooked meal, the chimps are often skeptical, picking through their meals for anything suspect. They have no use for things like basil, oregano and cinnamon, so we generally leave things pretty simple.

Burrito eating all the parts of a lime this morning:

Nice Day

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The chimps had a very nice day! Most of the day was spent out on the Hill or in the Green House. Everyone went straight out to Young’s Hill once it was opened, even Neggie ran out right away. Negra also lead the group out for the lunch forage today! However, it must be snake season because before anyone went outside some surveillance had to be done. Annie, who is terrified of snakes, looked out towards the Hill from in the race way, making sure her toes never touched the ground. Foxie, brave little Foxie, lead everyone out giving everyone the okay, but all the chimps made sure to keep their eye out.

Foxie:

Annie:

Negra wadging pineapple:

Miss eating chow:

Jody with a loose lip giving level 3 caregiver Jake some reassurance:

Annie bipedally walking and inspecting for snakes:

Missy, the good friend that she is, giving Annie some back up:

Foxie, Annie, & Missy going out to venture on the secure Hill:

Jody watching over everyone:

And enjoying the tall green grass:

Negra:

Missy (top), Annie (middle), Foxie (below) hanging out on the new structure:

Jamie doing her perimeter check:

Jamie and I also saw Jody and Negra along the way. They were foraging on some of the natural plants that grow on the Hill.

Jody:

Negra:

Foxie enjoying the sunshine:

Later, while cleaning was going on, we caught Jamie using a toothbrush to brush this dolls hair (It was a very sweet moment):

Days like today make my heart feel so full of joy, these chimps are simply amazing. Nothing makes you feel better than seeing happy chimps grooming and playing together all day.

 

It’s a hootin’ good time!

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Tonight’s the night! It’s our annual gala and auction, HOOT! While staff, volunteers and many of our fabulous supporters are in Seattle gearing up for an evening of merriment and celebration, the chimpanzees, meanwhile, have been having a hootin’ good time in Cle Elum.

Our dear friend (and former staff), Keri, arrived with fresh rhubarb, chives and lilacs from her garden which added to the amazing Hoot! party extravaganza. Also on the chimps’ party menu were strawberries, purple cabbage, sweet potatoes, snap peas, leeks, watermelon, sparkling cider, and one pineapple top!

Jody, among the flowers:

Jody, Annie and Foxie enjoying the treats in Jamie’s kitchenette while she was busy gathering ALL the grab bags for herself. Maybe this is something akin to their version of the Dessert Dash we hold at the gala each year?:

Annie enjoying coconut:

The entire beautiful forage was scattered with lilac flowers and Foxie took it upon herself to “hoover”all of them up. Notice her trademark rubbing her toes together as she does this – the ultimate sign of a happy Foxie:

(Toes!)

Conveniently, the flowers happen to be stuck in coconut water, hence the tongue!

My favorite, with the petals on her lip 🙂

To each of you supporting the chimps in all the varied and generous ways you do, be it supporting HOOT!, attending HOOT!, volunteering your time with us and the chimps, following the chimps’ lives on the blog, sharing their stories with others, sending gifts and donations, well, the list of compassion and generosity is endless really, and from our hearts to yours, we’re so grateful to you! It gives us hope for humankind. It not only ensures the chimpanzees continue to thrive in their lives here, and thrive they do, but gives us all hope for the chimpanzees still awaiting their time in sanctuary, something all of you are helping to make possible through celebrating with us tonight, be it near or from afar.

We couldn’t have come this far for the chimps without you. And just imagine what we can accomplish together for so many others. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being part of our chimp family!

The long game

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Missy and Annie often play a long morning game of chase on Young’s Hill. This game isn’t always so obvious to the observer because it involves them each taking long breaks on opposing structures, where they seem to be doing their own thing. However, with just a flicker of communication between the two of them, the game resumes periodically, and usually ends with one racing the other back into the greenhouse.

This morning we got a nice rain storm at the sanctuary, so the ground was soaked when the chimps made there way out onto the hill. Annie and Missy’s game seemed to also include touching the earth as little as possible.

Annie spent a lot of time bipedal so she only had to touch wet grass with as few limbs as possible.

Until she could get off the ground..

Missy moved from structure to structure in her own style:

Annie wasn’t adverse to drinking the new moisture:

The chimps moved up the hill with Annie finding another playmate for a brief game of this terrifying (to human eyes) game of chase and wrestle:

That’s Foxie’s brow ridge you can barely see poking up from the platform below:

Meanwhile Missy investigated the wild plants to see if anything was worth eating:

But here comes Annie!

They reconvened on the logs before racing to the newest structure!

Then more wrestling was on the agenda:

A quick stop at the final platform before it was time to run inside. Somehow Missy knows how to get those short little legs to move at astonishing speeds 🙂