These are all photos of the chimpanzees in their transport cages. They’ll be in their new spacious home soon!!
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
First Photos From the Road
Housewarming, Four Day Countdown, Bizarre News?
Thanks so much to everyone who came to the Housewarming event on Saturday. We had a great turn-out and the chimpanzees received so much wonderful enrichment! I was overwhelmed by the well-wishes from the community, and it was great to celebrate with some who have been involved with the sanctuary since it was just an idea.
I heard from J.B. earlier today – he and Keith are at Buckshire and spent some time with the chimpanzees this afternoon. J.B. said all of the chimpanzees were in good spirits overall (he made sure to tell me how great Negra is, and how much she is going to enjoy her new home at the sanctuary). Everyone is eager to get the journey started! I’ll keep you all updated as I hear more – they will be leaving early in the morning tomorrow.
We’ve been getting some press lately, and this is my favorite – it’s categorized as “bizarre news”: ABC 12 story.
Seems pretty normal to me to be rescuing chimpanzees…
Diana
Visualizing Chimpanzees
J.B. and I are now in Washington having finally moved from New York State. After five days of driving, we were both really anxious to see the chimp house as soon as we got here. For the first time, I could really see the chimpanzees in the building. Before I could imagine it in a theoretical kind of way, but now that their house is getting closer to completion, I could actually see Negra in front of the window on the loft, and I could see Burrito swinging from a firehose attached to the wide bridge that now spans the playroom. And I could see Jody walking out of the building to the outdoor area for the first time.
Keith and the solid and incredible group of volunteers who have helped create this building from scratch have put so much thought into it and have labored so hard, and I could finally see the chimpanzees appreciating all of that work. The Buckshire Seven arrive in 28 days. It’s hard to believe that in less than one month all of these images that I saw in my mind will be a reality! It will be so great to fill the website with photos and videos of the chimpanzees and be able to tell stories about them everyday. Stay tuned – it’s only a short wait now.
Diana
Seattle store Urbanweeds is our new best friend
This post is from Lauren Glickman, CSNW board member and event coordinator extraordinaire
A warm thank you to our friends at Urbanweeds, Steve and Tim, for hosting a Weeds and Needs benefit to help us! They donated 25% of their day’s tally – and we raised a whopping $400. We had a gorgeous sunny Saturday where people came by to shop for spring plants, planters and fun gifts as well as dropping off sheets and blankets for our Great Chimpanzee Nest Request. Urbanweeds has generously agreed to be a drop-off location for blankets so the chimpanzees always have plenty of nesting 
materials.
Thank you so much to everyone who made this a great success – and we hope to do it again at the end of the summer – so keep your eyes open for our announcement.
Mushy post about Negra
I’ve wanted to write this for a while, but I’ve been trying to figure out a way to write it so that it doesn’t sound so mushy that people think it is out of character for me. I think I’m just going to go for it, though…
I’m in love with Negra. It started when I met her in December, but when J.B. and I visited last month, I fell harder. There was this moment when the bars of the caging seemed to disappear. It was as though Negra and I were no longer in the basement of a laboratory with me wearing a tyvex suit and plastic face shield. It was just the two of us sharing the experience of looking into each others eyes. So, like anyone newly in love, I want to tell everyone I know about her and explain why she is so special.
She has a very calm and gentle demeanor, but she’s also clearly emotionally strong and independent. She currently spends most of her days sleeping, although she’ll get up for food. Food is one of the few pleasures that she has in her current life, and she’ll take whatever is offered to her. She has the best relaxed face that I have ever seen – her bottom lip drops so low it practically touches her chest. We don’t have any photos yet, but I’m sure we’ll be able to get a good one of Negra’s drooped-lip face once she is safely in her new home at CSNW.
After observing me playing with some of the other chimpanzees, Negra came down off of her ledge. That’s when she won me over. She just looked at me for a while at first. After sizing me up, she got up and started to play a good, although rather slow, game of chase. It probably only lasted for a couple of minutes, but it was fantastic – a great indication that she has good days ahead of her at the sanctuary. She went back to her concrete ledge, but continued to watch me. When it was time for us to go, I said goodbye to Negra. She returned my goodbye by playfully stomping her foot on the wall from her position laying down.
I can’t wait to see her again.
Diana
Missy & Annie
J.B. and I had our second visit with the Buckshire Seven this past weekend. On our last visit, there were two chimpanzees who were rather aloof and mostly stayed in the background – Missy and Annie. This visit was quite the opposite.
After we were there for a bit and we had given out some kale (which Missy loves) and dried fruit, Missy engaged in a lot of play with us – stomping her feet and slapping her hands against the old tire that hangs in her cage. Once Annie saw Missy playing, she joined in too. It wasn’t long before they were playing with each other – their foreheads pressed together and their arms wrapped around each other, then separating and slapping each others hands, arms and shoulders. It feels really good to “transfer” play sessions this way, and I think it’s always a subconscious goal of mine to help foster play between chimpanzees. As I was watching Annie and Missy play I was imagining them in their new home in Cle Elum; I was picturing them on a platform in front of one of the windows laughing that breathy chimpanzee laugh and tickling each other.
