Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee

Great Apes Giving Day – one week away!

by

STD-Chimpanzee-Sanctuary-NorthWest

We could really use the help of you devoted blog readers to reach our goal of raising $5,000 for the first ever Great Apes Giving Day on October 14th.

This 24-hour online event, sponsored by the Arcus Foundation, the Greenbaum Foundation and our friends at the the Anti-American Vivisection Society, is aimed at raising awareness and funds for several North American sanctuaries caring for great apes. It’s a pretty cool idea, and we are happy to be participating!

With the friendly competition among the sanctuaries, we are a little nervous because we are one of the smallest and the newest sanctuary participating in the day, but it’s true that our loyal supporters have the biggest hearts!

There are three main ways that you can participate:

  • Make a donation. Your donation today or any day before the 14th will be counted toward our total on giving day. Or you can wait to make your donation on the 14th, which will increase our chances of winning cash prizes (golden tickets) given out each hour. Learn all about prizes and the rules for the day here. If you’d like to make a matching challenge donation to make things more exciting, let us know in the comments below, or email [email protected]. A donation of $100 pays for a month of blog posts – that’s a pretty good deal when you think about 30 days worth of videos and photos and stories of your chimpanzee family, isn’t it? Imagine if every blog reader donated $100!
  • Create your own fundraising page and fundraise for the sanctuary! It’s pretty easy to set up a page (take a look at these tips to get started), and we would be happy to help by answering questions, providing photos, and whatever else you need. Create your page today and start letting your potentials donors know about it!
  • Share the CSNW fundraising page and encourage others to donate. Spread the word via email and social media so more people know about the day and Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s participation in this online fundraising event!

Mark your calendars now for October 14th and check our page that day to see how close we are to our goal of raising $5,000!

Thank you, as always, for your support and dedication to Foxie, Annie, Jody, Missy, Jamie, Burrito, and Negra!

annie missy play wrestle

Happy Birthday, Michael!

by

Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Arlene Okun in honor of her husband, Michael, on his birthday! Arlene and Michael are good friends of the chimpanzees and we’re so happy to be celebrating with them today. Arlene shared this message:

“It is my husband Michael’s birthday. He is a very generous and compassionate person. Helping others is second nature to him so it is fitting to sponsor a day of sanctuary for the chimps in his honor.”

Arlene, thank you so much for choosing to honor Michael and celebrate his life by making a difference for the chimpanzees. We so appreciate all that you both do to make their lives better.

And Michael, all of us here at CSNW wish you the happiest of days full of all that you most love and enjoy! Burrito, has his priorities straight and knows how to enjoy the simple pleasures each day has to offer. So if you need any ideas on how to celebrate, he might inspire you with some of his favorites:

Food. As much as you can eat. And hold in your hands (and sometimes your feet).

web_Burrito_eat_lemon_forage_Christmas_in_July_party_GH_ek_IMG_5168

Be goofy, play, and laugh a lot.

web_Burrito_lie_on_back_play_peekaboo_cover_eyes_GH_ek_IMG_9470

Spend time with loved ones.

web Burrito hug Foxie 2 IMG_3258

Go on adventures, even if it’s in your own backyard.

web_Burrito_walk_shakey_bridge_towers_YH_jb_IMG_7443

And nap. Often.

Burrito sleeping

In memory of Carlene

by

Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Tony Garza and family in memory of his beloved wife, Carlene Olsen-Garza. The Garza family are dear members of our sanctuary family and they have done so much to ensure Carlene’s love for the chimpanzees lives on through all that they do to make the chimps’ lives better. We are so grateful to be a part of all the love and light Carlene and her family bring to the world.

Tony shared this message about today: “Carlene was a stead fast follower of CSNW right up until she lost her battle with cancer on this date in 2014. She was a great admirer of the work that the Sanctuary did and read with great interest anything to do with her three favorites: Jamie, Burrito and Foxie. Today we honor the memory of my dear wife by doing what we can to help the Sanctuary continue its work and achieve its future goals.”

Tony and family, our thoughts are with you all today. We are so touched by all that you do for the chimpanzees in Carlene’s memory and hope that your hearts are eased and comforted in knowing her spirit carries on here at the sanctuary. The dedication and love with which you all make sure that her compassion continues to make a different in the world is truly inspiring. Thank you so much for sponsoring today in her memory.

Jamie:

web_jamie_closeup_nest_pr_kd_IMG_0345

Burrito:

web_Burrito_close_up_peanut_food_in_mouth_GH_ek_IMG_6890

Foxie:

web_foxie_sunlight_look_down_kd_IMG_9218

Photos of an Amazing Chimpanzee Named Jamie

by

Photography, to me, is fascinating both as an art form and as a documentary tool. There’s no doubt that the end result – the photos that are shared – say as much about the photographer as the subject.

All of the caregivers here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest take photos (a LOT of photos) of the chimpanzees, and we each go through the process of choosing those photos that we feel best represents the moment or the individual we were trying to capture.

I was looking through photos of Jamie and discovered several from this year that I had taken that hadn’t been posted to the blog yet. Sometimes I like to save photos for print like in our annual calendar, which I’ll be working on soon, but it’s pretty difficult not to share, so I decided not to save them but to share the ones I rediscovered today with you blog readers.

With Jamie’s procedure yesterday and the two of us working together on positive reinforcement training for the last several months, Jamie’s been on my mind pretty much constantly.

No one who knows her would tell you that Jamie is an “easy chimpanzee.” Being her caregiver is a constant challenge. She’s demanding and moody and strong-willed. Despite these characteristics, or probably because of them, I can’t think of a single person on this earth that I admire and respect more than Jamie.

I hope this admiration, respect, and love comes through in these photos I took of her over the last year. And I hope these images provide a glimpse into the amazing, strong, curious and wonderful person that Jamie is:

Jamie straightforward

Jamie with brush

Jamie in a nest of boots

Jamie mischievious

Jamie foraging

Jamie beautiful

Jamie contemplative

Jamie serious

I would love it if you chose one of these photos (or all, by linking to this blog post) to share Jamie and her story with those you know. You can find out more about her past on her short bio page and the more in-depth history of her life before sanctuary on her Eyes on Apes profile page.

It makes me so happy to know that she has admirers our there!

Jamie’s exam

by

A while back, Jamie developed an abscess on her swelling that would not resolve. Thanks to our positive reinforcement training program, Jamie was letting Diana flush the wound twice a day with an antibiotic solution, but unfortunately it still wasn’t healing. So today, with the help of our wonderful vet, Dr. Erin Zamzow, and the long-distance support of board member Dr. Mensching, we decided to anesthetize Jamie to get a better look.

To say that Jamie was cooperative would be an understatement – it’s more like she’s a part of the veterinary team. We always have to isolate chimpanzees prior to anesthesia so that we can make sure they have an empty stomach and most chimpanzees quickly figure out what’s in store for them. As you can imagine, that can be quite stressful and scary. But Jamie spent the entire morning playing with her caregivers, seemingly without a care in the world. When the time came to induce anesthesia, she willingly presented her arm to Diana for injection.

Along with Dr. Zamzow, we were so grateful to have help today from Dr. Fuller of Ellensburg Animal Hospital, who brought a digital x-ray machine so that we could determine the extent of the wound and ensure there wasn’t a foreign body inside.

All in all it was good news: the injury wasn’t as extensive as we feared, and the x-rays all looked good. Dr. Zamzow was able to sterilize the wound and Diana will continue with the cooperative treatments until Jamie is fully healed. Right now, Jamie is enjoying some quiet time by herself in a room filled with blankets, with waiters on hand to give her sips of Gatorade whenever she desires.

When we are done with procedures, we position the chimps in a way that protects their airway as they recover, and to facilitate this we lay them on a couple of scarves with the ends passed through the caging so that we can gently roll them back into position if they slump over the wrong way. As soon as Jamie was up and about, she put a scarf right back to use as a fashion accessory. You can tell she’s feeling better already.

Jamie_recover_scarf_drink_gatorade_FR1_jb