Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Today was sponsored by Dana Kennedy in honor of Jeff Kropp’s birthday weekend! Dana, thank you SO much for including the chimpanzees in your weekend of celebration and for all you do to make a lasting difference in their lives!
Jeff, we hope you have the best birthday yet! Thanks so much for sharing it with the chimps! Burrito would probably say he hopes you get to eat a lot of good food. A LOT of good food. 🙂
The chimpanzees and humans here have an amazing friend in Kathleen Corby, who sponsored a day of sanctuary full of love and gratitude today! Kathleen lives quite a ways away, but she is ever present in heart and spirit here, and in the lives of each of the chimps, every day. We’re all lucky to know her. She makes the world a better place just by sharing her special heart. She shared this beautiful and much appreciated message:
“I want to sponsor today to say “Thank You” to everyone at CSNW. Thank you for all you do every single day to ensure that Annie, Missy, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody and Negra live out the rest of lives surrounded by HOPE, compassion, family, friends, comfort, freedom of choice, and LOVE! You have given them a true HOME and that is the magic of SANCTUARY. But beyond all this, you have also placed their precious lives and courageous souls in our hearts and hands and for this I am truly grateful. My life is richer because I have come to know and love the Cle Elum Seven. Thank you.”
From our hearts, thank you, Kathleen! We so appreciate you and are grateful to have you as part of our chimp family.
Annie:
Burrito:
Foxie:
Jamie:
Jody:
Missy:
Negra:
What a day of celebrating beautiful, dear, sweet Annie! We decided to have the party on Young’s Hill, the chimps’ 2-acre outdoor habitat and it was complete with a chimp favorite, watermelon bowls filled with lettuce, blueberries, cherry tomatoes, onions, and cabbage, and a new treat of banana leaves filled with roasted sweet potatoes and onions and leftover watermelon, and beautiful organic sunflowers strewn about!
Aren’t these amazing?! They’re bigger than Kelsi! 🙂 We have the best volunteers who found a recipe for wrapping good stuff in squares of the leaves and another who found them in Seattle for us! Something completely new for the chimps!
Here’s the birthday lady opening her banana leaf packet:
Jody was actually first onto the hill and was very excited to make it back with two watermelon bowls! I caught her mid-blink – sorry Jo! – and food squeaking with delight:
Negra’s approach to the forage was to wait for Jody to bring her haul back to the greenhouse and promptly try to take it!:
Jody kindly let her have one. That said, when Jody came back later with another one she wasn’t so willing to give it up which the Queen wasn’t too happy about, though she did get what Jody couldn’t shovel in fast enough. Oh, Neggie:
Burrito found a bowl for himself and started to make his way back to the greenhouse food squeaking all the way. But he stopped short when he saw Jody and Negra near the raceway and decided to try and play it cool so as not to attract their attention (or probably more specifically, Negra’s). You can see how excited he is by his hair standing on end (pilo-erect):
Of course, he couldn’t wait too long before taking some bites:
Jamie’s tactic was to collect everything she wanted and put it in a good place to return to when she was ready:
Missy:
Annie and Jody out for more:
And Foxie! She was way out on one of the structures by herself when she found a watermelon bowl.
Then…Oh. My. Heart! We could hear Foxie food squeaking with excitement when all of a sudden she just couldn’t contain herself! When chimpanzees are overwhelmed with excitement or fear they will often express a facial gesture known as a “fear grimace.” This is what Foxie is doing here, but she was SUPER excited. Usually others chimps are nearby and they reassure one another, but Foxie just kept looking at us from afar as if to say, “Do you see this??!! Watermelon bowls!!! I just can’t…” We love how excited the chimpanzees get over something as seemingly simple as fresh food. It never seems to get old for them and certainly seeing their joy never gets old for us.
Happy 44th, Annie! May all your days and years ahead be filled with more love, joy and adventure than you ever imagined. We love you so very much!
The chimps’ good friend, Monica Best, sponsored today in honor of beautiful, beloved Annie! Annie, unbelievably, turns 44 today and naturally, we’ve been planning her celebration for days!
Monica, thank you as always for holding the chimps in your heart and for all you do to add to their lives! We appreciate you remembering Annie on her special day!
As I type this, the chimp house is singing with Annie’s classic “bird-noises” she makes by whistling through her hands and she’s washing her hair and face with water in her classic morning routine. Annie, 44 never looked so good! We have an exciting day ahead so check back later to see the festivities!
We love you so much, Annie! Your courageous, kind, gentle, goofy, endearing, full-of-moxie soul is an inspiration every day. May this, and each birthday ahead, be the best of birthdays yet!
Annie wouldn’t quite be Annie without her love for her best friend, Missy:
A few years ago, we began a Positive Reinforcement Training (PRT) program with the chimpanzees here at the sanctuary. (See this post for an introduction to PRT including how it works, why we feel it’s important, and how it improves the chimps’ lives.)
All seven chimps have made incredible strides since we began the program. Some chimps were enthusiastic participants right from the start while others have chosen to take part at their own pace and in their own time.
Negra has always been a little touchy when it comes to, well, being touched. She’s still working on moving past her decades in research labs where she was poked and prodded against her will. Probably for that reason, she wasn’t always a big fan of PRT. She voluntarily participated, but she would be sure to let her caregivers know when she had reached her limit. At the very beginning of the program, she was even scared of the sound of the clicker.
As you’ll see in this video, she’s certainly come a long way…
I thought it would be fun to do a little flashback post and revisit some old blog posts in a game I am now calling “On this day in Sanctuary History.”
September 5, 2008:
Apparently Missy was playing a lively game of chase in the greenhouse with the sanctuary’s founder Keith! Check it out here! It’s really fun to see how far the sanctuary has come since this day (including better video cameras).
On September 5, 2009, Diana was getting ready for another auction. This auction featured the famous “Negra in the Sun” painting by good friend of the sanctuary, Margaret Parkinson.
September 5, 2010:
Jamie participated in the cleaning process
September 5, 2011:
Staff caregiver Debbie compared Annie to a famous friend of hers.
September 5, 2012:
We were recovering and full of gratitude after the Taylor Bridge Fire.
September 5, 2013:
The chimps love the nature around them!
September 5, 2014:
Two chimpanzees that share the same mannerism.
September 5, 2015:
A little lesson on chimpanzee behavior.
September 5, 2016:
Burrito celebrated Labor Day!
September 5, 2017:
Missy showed enthusiasm for her favorite food!
September 5, 2018 (Today!):
Jamie has her caregivers walking lots of laps so she can keep her eye on the new construction. The masons are busy laying the cement block walls that will be the future areas for introduction and quarantine space.
This morning everyone was on the move and cattails were still very much a theme! Jody seemed to have lot of ground to make up for because this morning we could barely keep up with her. In the afternoon the chimps had a delicious lunch forage and spent the rest of the day grooming, walking (Jamie), and playing with human and non-human friends. Overall, the chimps had a nice relaxing Sunday spent with good food, people, and friends.
Negra on the Hill this morning grabbing a few things:
Like I said Jody was on the go all morning. However, I did find a sleepy Jo in the early morning before everyone had access to the Hill, curled up on a pile of hay soaking up some sun:
Once they had access to the Hill I couldn’t keep up. Here is a sequence of her movements this morning.
Jody was the first one on the Hill:
Everything looked good so she headed back to enjoy some chow:
Jody (climbing up) seemed to be on a mission (Annie-left, Missy-right, Foxie-behind log):
Over the bridge:
To find cattails:
Burrito always enjoys some early morning play sessions, he was running around like crazy playing chase:
Burrito didn’t really feel like going on the Hill today, so he patiently waited in the Green House for everyone to come back:
Annie also was soaking in the warm sun in the Green House:
Annie walked out bipedally to eat her chow on the Hill:
And also to get some time to herself:
