Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee sanctuary

Napping Weather

by

Today was a relaxing day here at the chimp house. Everyone was resting after the big party yesterday and taking advantage of the cooler and cloudy weather. The perfect napping weather! There were some storms in the area last night and it’s been very ominous looking outside today, like it could start raining at any second. All day today I found chimps nesting and lounging. Willy B likes to nest with his leopard print blanket and he made good use of it today! We have a couple wolf blankets at the sanctuary and the seven were taking advantage of those. They are pretty large and the chimps love nesting with them.

Jamie had to make sure we got a quick walk in before any rain this afternoon. Some of the others thought about following, but turned around after they saw the weather outside. Missy did join us towards the end of the walk and was sprinting back and forth! It’s so amazing to watch her zip all over the hill. I wish I had that energy and athleticism. Also, while there was a break in the weather Chad and Katelyn picked some strawberries for the chimps and served them as an afternoon snack. The strawberry bushes are getting full of strawberries and are ready for the chimps to eat!

 

I can find Jody nesting in the front rooms most days. Today she was looking extra comfy sleeping on the wolf blanket.

 

Annie eating strawberries and making a nest on a wolf blanket.

 

Jamie watching Burrito and me play chase from her boot and blanket nest.

 

Burrito ready for me to stop taking photos and get back to playing chase.

 

Foxie relaxing in the Greenhouse.

 

The cattle were watching Jamie and I on our walk around the hill.

A leftover photo from yesterday. Jody with her lettuce from The Queens Brunch.

 

A Royal Brunch

by

In addition to today’s video, I am going to share the following message from CSNW Co-Director Diana (with a few current photos sprinkled in):
Wow!!! The Queen’s Brunch brought out so many generous people – thank you all so much!
Negra and her friends are definitely feeling the love right now.
Negra
The bidding is going on through tomorrow night at 8:00pm PT, so there’s still time to secure those things you can’t live without! We set the donation goal for sponsoring the journey of the Lucky Six at $110,000 – that’s $100 for each mile of their journey. And guess what?! We are less than $10,000 shy of that very ambitious goal.
Maybe we’ll reach it by tomorrow night when the auction closes?
Thank you for this incredibly warm welcome for the new six chimpanzees. 
Missy
We owe a big “thank you” to Cory, Brad, Kayla, and everyone at Auction Frogs for once again hosting the virtual event. Cory did an outstanding job as host-at-a-distance (with the help of Honey B and Negra, of course).
Annie
We just want to clear up some important information about the Lucky Six. They were born at a biomedical research facility. For the last 25+ years, however, they have been cared for at the Wildlife Waystation (WWS).
WWS rescued them from life as biomedical research subjects and was a pioneer in that respect. It closed in 2019 with 42 chimpanzees and hundreds of other animals needing to be re-homed. That’s when the California Department of Fish and Wildlife stepped in to manage the daily operations, still keeping on the caregivers who have been with the chimpanzees for decades.
The Chimpanzees in Need campaign then arose and is working to re-home the remaining chimpanzees, including the Lucky Six.
We are beyond thrilled to have been in a position to help the chimpanzees at Wildlife Waystation, including Honey B, Mave, and Willy B, and soon the Lucky Six. We look forward to continuing to help the campaign and see other groups of chimpanzees find their way to more accredited sanctuaries.
The new greenhouse enclosures!

Brunch Tomorrow!

by

Are you ready??!! Tomorrow is the big celebration – The Queen’s Brunch virtual event for the humans, and the celebration of Negra’s honorary 48th birthday plus the anniversary of the start of a new life for Negra, Burrito, Jamie, Jody, Annie, Missy, and Foxie.

It’s really difficult to believe that it has been 13 years since the trailer pulled up in the driveway and we welcomed the Cle Elum Seven to their sanctuary home.

And it’s even more difficult to believe that we will be doing the same thing in just a couple of weeks for six more chimpanzees!

I hope you can join us and watch the rest of this video:

And help us welcome the Lucky Six to their new home by sponsoring their journey and bidding on auction items!

You will be able to watch the virtual event on both Facebook and YouTube at 11am Pacific Time, and you can join us live from the chimp house for the After Brunch Party by getting your “ticket” in advance on the online auction site.

I owe Anthony. He came for a visit today on his day off and graciously allowed me to use the photos below that he took while the seven were enjoying their favorite space – the original greenhouse.

It won’t be long before we’ll be sharing photos of new chimpanzees in new greenhouses!!

Jody and Burrito grooming.

 

Jody in her summer spot in the greenhouse.

 

Jamie keeping her eyes on Anthony.

 

The Queen herself. Happy day before your birthday, Negra!

 

The Penny Arcade

by

It was a nice enough day that the chimpanzees were able to enjoy a lunch forage on Young’s Hill. It wasn’t too hot, too cold, and there was a bit of an overcast.

On today’s menu was avocados, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, and tomatoes. As we were watching them foraging on the hill and taking photos for the blog, I had one instant the reminded me of a mutoscopes of the late 1890s/early 1900s (the only reason I know what they are is because a local theme park where I grew up had a penny arcade that still had them). A mutoscope was a machine that housed a reel of cards and was operated by a hand crank that flipped the photos to create a moving picture. Sort of like a machine operated flip book.

While the chimpanzees were on Young’s Hill, I saw Missy on the top of Negra’s Cabin with a stash of tomatoes.

As she finished the last slice she had, she made her way to the firehose that leads to another platform on the hill. This is usually one of the most common places where she tightropes across. I prepared myself to get some photos, and away she went.

Here are some other photos from today:

Burrito during the forage.

Negra heading back inside after scoring a couple of avocado pieces.

Honey B and Mave grooming on the top platform of the tree in one of the new playrooms.

As staff are working very hard in preparing for the Lucky Six‘s arrival, we are very excited to see the possibilities they take when they are provided new opportunities here. You can help their arrival by sponsoring their journey to Washington during the Queen’s Brunch auction! Be sure to check out the different tiers of sponsorship that are available.

Last minute bonus photo of Jody eating her potatoes at dinner:

New Friend

by

Hi everyone! My name is Sam and I am one of the new caregivers here at CSNW. Originally, I am from Ohio and I moved to Washington to attend Central Washington University to obtain my Masters degree in Primate Behavior in 2016. During that time I was an intern/volunteer at CSNW and this started my path in the direction of chimpanzees. After graduation I moved to Georgia to work at Project Chimps and was a caregiver there for the past 2 1/2 years. I am beyond excited to be back in the Pacific Northwest and here at CSNW working with these amazing chimpanzees, humans, and cattle!

 

This past month I’ve been learning the routine and enjoying the beginnings of building friendships with these 10 chimpanzees. Jamie has been keeping a close eye and making sure I’m being trained correctly. Grooming my boots in the afternoon is also a strict part of the training process. Burrito has been helping to build my cardio and Honey B has been making sure I am always on my toes.

 

I have a couple photos to share with you, as I have started practicing with the camera.

 

Burrito between play sessions

 

Jamie keeping an eye on things from her comfy nest

 

Jody enjoying an orange for breakfast

Honey B watching watching us do checks

 

Betsy relaxing in her summer pasture

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burrito in a Tub

by

The other day I was questioning J.B. as to whether he thought we deserved to have playful Burrito in our lives, and his reply was, “I don’t even think the world deserves Burrito.”

Deserving or not, here he is to spread joy to all of us, doing whatever it is he was doing or trying to do with an empty tub and a big tub full of water.

Speaking of spreading joy, have you registered for The Queen’s Brunch yet?

The virtual event is on June 13th, just eight days away!

I was going to share that there were some Burrito pillow cases available to buy now that had been carefully stashed away from past events, but the two we had were snatched up already!

There are, however, still a few pillow cases featuring Negra, Foxie, and Willy B on the online auction site. You might need to act fast to get one!

 

Burrito’s Barrel

by

Last week I mentioned in my blog about Burrito playing on top of the barrel while Foxie was below him. Burrito spends a lot of time on that barrel in the playroom. Having Burrito’s kind of energy can be a blessing and a curse because not all of his chimp friends want to go go go all the time. We can often find him on the barrel playing by himself or peeking over at the neighbors waiting for a chimp or human to play. From time to time Jamie and Burrito share the barrel, which is probably the best thing I have ever seen! And the other day I found him dragging the giant wolf blanket onto the barrel with him. Please enjoy this video of the different stages of Burrito on the barrel.

*Important Note* Queen’s Brunch is around the corner so don’t forget to mark your calendars and put a reminder in your phone, June 13th! I have to share with you all that the Royal-Tea Box this year is amazing! Not only do you get a chance to win a virtual visit to the sanctuary, but there is a special tea blend, delicious vegan tea cakes, and so much more! Please do not miss out on Negra’s Royal-Tea box!

Bonus Foxie photos!