Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
It seems that Foxie is upside down as often as she’s right side up. She loves to climb to the ceiling of the Greenhouse and hang by her feet, and she often swings on the fire hoses as through they’re trapezes. Today, she has carried around this plastic frying pan in her mouth for much of the day, and didn’t even put it down for her acrobatics.
Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored in honor of Sarah Baeckler by Patty Wilkerson! As Patty appropriately summed up when asked about sponsoring the day, “Who doesn’t love Sarah?!” And we couldn’t agree more! Sarah is the former Executive Director of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and recently moved out of state and into the next chapter of her life as Executive Director of the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance. And though she works tirelessly to improve the lives of primates everywhere, she still manages to come back to volunteer her time at the sanctuary as a volunteer caregiver. (As a side note, Patty is a chimp house volunteer who also comes from out of state. We have the most dedicated volunteers!).
I suspect Foxie is going to be doing a lot of pirouettes and back flips when she sees her good friend, Sarah, today. We humans might as well, but that would just be awkward, so we’ll leave it to Foxie.
Patty, thank you so much for honoring Sarah and the chimpanzees in such a thoughtful way!
Just as humans do, each of the chimpanzees has their own unique personality. And Jamie’s is like a kaleidoscope. She surprises us every day with her strength, beauty, intelligence, creativity, problem-solving abilities, and sheer, well, Jamie-ness. Jamie was my first chimpanzee friend and as such she holds a special place in my heart. While she can be demanding and intense in her relationships with both humans and chimpanzees, she can also be joyful, caring, and so much fun to hang out with. But one thing that Jamie consistently is, is a privilege to know, and an honor to call my friend.
As Diana mentioned earlier today, it takes a virtual village to care for these seven amazing beings and we are so thankful to all of you who help provide them with the sanctuary they deserve. While this next photo of Jamie was previously posted, it’s one of my favorites and I feel, catches that inimitable spirit of hers. It also reminds me, as does Jamie, of one of my favorite quotes by Federico Fellini, “You have to live spherically – in many directions. Never lose your childish enthusiasm – and things will come your way.” Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for enabling things to come Jamie’s (and all of the chimpanzees’) way.
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The chimpanzees’ relationship with Young’s Hill has certainly developed over the time they have had access to it. Sanctuary has provided them with the room to run physically as well as the room to expand psychologically. Not only have they grown as individuals as a result of the space provided but their relationships and sense of self appear to have evolved as well. Today, in honor of the gift that space provides, here is a visual exposition of the chimpanzees experiencing the splendor of Young’s Hill.
Annie foraging:
Jamie walking through the grass:
Burrito climbing over logs:
Missy smiling while running:
Foxie sitting up on one of the wooden climbing structures:
Jody walking through the grass:
Negra enjoying the sun (a repeat but one of my favorites!):
If there’s one chimpanzee who plays the role of peacemaker in the group, it’s Foxie. It seems to be her personal ambition to make sure everyone is getting along. During conflicts, she often runs around and tries to calm everyone down. You could say she’s a bit of a chimp whisperer.
So it’s not surprising that she’s a preferred play partner for a lot of the chimps. If Jamie or Burrito are looking for some fun, it’s almost always Foxie who they’ll seek out. (Burrito has the problem of being a little intimidated by almost everyone else in the group, and Jamie has the problem of almost everyone else in the group being a little intimidated by her.)
Diana got some footage of Foxie working her magic with Burrito and Negra (who doesn’t play very much with anyone due to being somewhat of an old lady) this weekend while the chimps were waiting for the humans to finish cleaning the playroom.
On an unrelated note, thanks so much to everyone who came out for Sippin’ for the Seven last night. You can see photos from the event here. And bidding for our online auction is open until Tuesday, so be sure to check out the items and get your bids in!
The chimpanzees had some special guests today! Friend of the chimpanzees (and the humans!) Adrienne Armstrong, along and her family and friends, Ollie, Jessy, and Jamie, paid a visit to the sanctuary to volunteer in the chimp house. And they brought the chimpanzees piñatas! And you’ll never guess who made a haul of all the loot…Annie!
As you may recall from a previous post, as the least dominant of the chimpanzees, this is quite a bold move for Annie and an undertaking not without some risk involved. As the boss of the sanctuary, Jamie typically makes a quick claim to enrichment like piñatas, leaving the other chimps to wait for an opportunity to see if anything was missed when she casts them aside. But today Jamie was distracted by a new pair of boots being “chimp approved” in the kitchen so Annie decided to make her move.
Jamie was briefly torn between seeing Annie with the piñatas, and staff with the new boots, but after screaming at Annie once and throwing a blanket at her from the loft, the prospective new boots won Jamie’s attention. And Annie seized not only her opportunity, but all, yes ALL, of the piñatas!
Annie wasn’t even swayed by her best (and more dominant) friend, Missy, who continually approached her while peering at her and moderately suggesting she hand the loot over. Annie just calmly picked up the piñatas and moved her spoils elsewhere. Gotta love this girl.
Thank you so much, Adrienne, Ollie, Jessy and Jamie, for all that you do for the chimpanzees and for making their day (especially Annie’s!!) special!
