Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

A Few Handsome Guys

by

It has been an uber busy day in the chimp house today with cleaning, general tasks, staff meetings, and more! The day has flown by, so for this blog I went through my phone for a few ‘photos from the vault‘ and found some great ones of our handsome chimp gentlemen. They really are just the best guys around!

We’re off to serve dinner to the chimps now, so I hope you enjoy! 🙂

Terry, eating a snowball earlier this week:

Willy B, enjoying a quiet moment:

Gordo enjoying an avocado for dinner this past fall:

Cy, taking a moment to look through his magazine before diving into his coconut during a party this summer:

Burrito, finding out what we stuffed pineapples with during a party on Young’s Hill this summer:

Happy Tuesday!

Theme of the Day

by

The theme of the day: a little bit of play and a WHOLE lot of grooming! Since the weather wasn’t very nice out (mostly rain), what better way to spend the day than grooming and playing with your friends? It was fun to see all the different pairings branching off to groom today. This afternoon, I found Cy and Gordo grooming, which is not a common occurrence in comparison to Cy and Willy B, or Cy and Terry.

Bonus photos!

Rayne:

Terry series:

Gordo series:

 

 

Honey B & Co.

by

It is so fun to watch a chimp like Honey B, who has always preferred human interactions, to seek her chimp friends out instead. Watching Honey B and Dora both flourish socially in their group has been one of the most rewarding parts of my job, as well as witnessing Mave find her soulmate, Dora. Please enjoy this video of Honey B, Dora, and of course, Mave!

Chimpmas is right around the corner! We have started to add enrichment and items that we need around the chimp house on our wish-list!

Mora:

The beautiful Rayne:

Thankful Every Day

by

It’s the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, which means… it’s Giving Tuesday! 🙂

If you haven’t heard of it before, Giving Tuesday is an internationally recognized day of giving as it aims to promote generosity as a part of every day life. Which, if you ask me, is just a sincerely lovely & comforting thought.

We rely on the generosity of you, our supporters, to do the work we do. All our residents deserve sanctuary and you are what makes that happen. We are grateful, every day, for each of you.

If you find yourself wanting to participate in Giving Tuesday, I would encourage you to donate by clicking the link here. There are so many ways to donate- from sponsoring a day of sanctuary, to donating directly to our produce fund, becoming a Chimp or Bovine Pal to one of our residents, or donating stocks– I can confidently tell you that every donation is felt and appreciated. Today, and every day, no donation is too small.

There are also the non-monetary ways to support the sanctuary, which I feel like sometimes get overlooked but are just as important! Sharing our posts, for example, to your social media or with your friends and family help us increase our reach. Which, in turn, helps us connect and share our residents stories with more people. That is so, so important to us. We owe it to our residents to share their names & stories as far & wide as we can. A simple share helps us do just that!

On that note, I hope you enjoy the short & sweet video today of best chimp friends Missy and Annie. 🙂

Annie, from the photo vault, during a sweet summer forage:

Also, in the honor of giving thanks, look at this amazing pile of donations from a week or so ago! Thank you so much to everyone who donates items from our wish lists or who sends us chimp-approved items. We are currently adding items that we need for our upcoming Christmas celebrations to our wish lists, so please check it out if you’re interested in helping us celebrate! 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving!

by

No matter how you celebrate this holiday, it’s a wonderful time to reflect on everything we have to be grateful for. Whether it’s the meal you eat today, the company you keep throughout the days, or the quiet moments you enjoy.

Here at the sanctuary, it’s all those things and more. We have a large family of chimps, humans, cattle, a barn kitty, a little family of deer that seem to have taken up residence on the property, and all of you that support us from afar. Every day is unique and special as we work to give our residents the best possible care that we can, and we couldn’t do it without you.

So, from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of all of us, thank you. I hope that you find comfort, joy, and happiness in your corner of the world.

 

Chimp Lesson #8: Take Some Time for Yourself

by

Continuing the series of lessons the chimps have taught us, today we have Dora to thank for teaching us to take some time for ourselves even when our days are busy, don’t skip the self care. Whether it be a vacation, yoga class or building a fine nest for a nap on a chilly day, make sure you take some time for yourself.

 

We also would like to thank all our supporters for the magazine donations made throughout the year! The response to our request for magazines has been amazing but Cy has a lot of gossip, travel and food magazines to get through right now, so we would like to put our magazine donation request on hold until he has time to catch up. We will be sure to let you all know when he has caught up on all his reading material and is ready to receive more.

Chimp Lesson #7: It Can Wait

by

Last month, caregiver Sabrina wrote the first in a series of blogs titled ‘Lessons the Chimps Have Taught Us‘. Today, I would like to add to it. 🙂

We mention it quite often, but our days here are buuuusssyyy. We have a lot to do and time tends to slip away from us, or maybe time really does just go faster when you’re in the chimp house. Either way, we have to make conscious decisions throughout the day about how we spend our time to make sure we get everything done and also spend time with the chimps.

This morning, Sabrina and I went and did our perimeter check of Young’s Hill and the Bray. I was standing by the raceway (the connecting enclosure from the Greenhouse to Young’s Hill) while giving caregiver Jenna my safety report over the radio and Burrito was already being his wild self! Wanting to play a game of chase, he would run over to me, stomp his back foot, and go running off- with me following, of course. I thought that I would need to take a few minutes to play chase with him before doing the rest of the lead caregiver’s morning responsibilities, but he had other things in mind.

As soon as I opened the door, he was running! And, not just running, but looking back at me, clapping, breathy panting, and stomping his feet. Not only was he going for a morning jog around the hill, but I was about to go with him.

I always get really happy when a chimp asks me to spend time with them- whether it be a walk outside, a quiet grooming session, or a game of chase. It’s just, well, special. And it never gets old.

While I was happy to spend time with Burrito, my mind was definitely on everything that I had to get done today. A few steps around the hill, though, Burrito paused our race to sit down while looking back at the chimp house. The winter chill could definitely be felt this morning and there was a layer of fog around the foothills, but the blue winter-y morning light made everything extra breath-taking.

I grew up in Ohio and while the Midwest has it’s own charm and beauty, I don’t think there’s anything like the mountains on a cold winter morning.

So, all this to say that today I was reminded of one of the things that the chimps have taught me.

Your to-do list will always be there and it will always be just as important. But- taking the time to spend quality, fully present moments with people you love is a pretty good reason to put it on hold. It can wait… Burrito can’t. 🙂

I hope you enjoy this mornings walk as much as I did.

Photos from My Vault

Gordo, enjoying a sunny lunch forage:

Terry, looking out to the Bray:

Don’t forget to participate in our Comfort & Joy Online Auction– be sure to get your bids & donations in before the event ends this Saturday, November 18th. 🙂