Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
TODAY is the last day to Share the Chimp Love! Thanks to you, we’ve raised $11,546 in February (and I’m $152 ahead of J.B.). The donation deadline is midnight tonight. It would be so nice to end things with an even $12,000. What do you think? Here are some more photos of love for inspiration:
The February Share the Chimp Love campaign is almost over – we’re counting down in hours rather than days now!
As of this minute, you have helped raise $11,246 for the chimpanzees! That’s a lot of chimp love!
You may not know that there is a bit of a competition going on between the Interim Co-Directors. I am just a bit ahead of J.B. right now, but it’s anyone’s game at this point because J.B. is trailing by just $110.
Perhaps you’d like to even things out by donating on J.B.’s page, or (better yet) strengthen my lead by making a donation on my page. Either way, your donations will help us care for the real directors of the sanctuary – Jamie, Jody, Negra, Missy, Burrito, Foxie, and Annie.
These last two months have been full of wonderful acts of generosity and support for the sanctuary. Seeing the Share the Chimp Love campaign surpass our $10,000 goal and watching other people – board members, staff, volunteers, and donors – fundraise on behalf of the chimps has been inspiring.
As we say on the campaign page, it takes about $30,000 per month just for the very basics to run the sanctuary. We do not receive any governmental support, so all of the money raised comes from private donations by individuals, foundations, and organizations. We partake in a variety of activities to raise the money needed to care for the chimpanzees including grant-writing, auctions, and special events, and it’s really true that every dollar helps. So, thank you so much for helping!
Speaking of special events, I hope to see all of you local folks at the Grapes for Apes wine tasting on Saturday to celebrate the Share the Chimp Love success. You can share the Grapes for Apes event on Facebook with your friends, even if you’re unable to attend.
And I hope even some non-local folks will consider making a trip out to Seattle to attend the Hoot! gala on May 3rd. Invitations are going in the mail very soon. It’s going to be so much fun!
We’ve said it before, but here’s some more evidence of the “aging in reverse” process that has happened for the chimpanzees at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest:
Jamie in 2008:
Jamie in 2011:
Jamie this morning:
This morning, we awoke to another power outage – the fourth one this winter.
Losing power is never fun when you’re caring for chimps. In the winter, we have to set up a portable generator outside and connect it to a backup heater to keep the chimp house warm. In the summer, we risk losing hundreds of dollars worth of produce if we can’t keep our refrigerators running. And after the Taylor Bridge Fire, when we had no power for days, we were left with no lights, no laundry, no computers, and worst of all, a struggle to keep essential phones and radios charged during an emergency.
I’m happy to say that this morning was probably the last time we’ll ever have to deal with the effects a power outage. Thanks to a grant from the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) Sanctuary Fund and a generous donation from supporters Karen and Don Young, we will soon be installing a 20-kilowatt standby generator. This generator will come on automatically within seconds anytime the power goes out and will run everything in the chimp house: heat, lights, chimp doors, refrigerators, and the electric fences.
Sometimes I wish the chimps could see all the things that people and organizations from all over the world do to help care for them. But in this case, the whole point of the gift is that they won’t ever know anything was wrong in the first place. And that means Negra won’t have to lose a single minute of sleep over it.
So our sincere thanks go out to NAVS, and to Karen and Don, for giving our staff some peace of mind, and for giving Negra some peace and quiet.
When Burrito wants a caregiver to play with him, he dips into his toolkit of irresistibly charming play initiation behaviors. Things start out innocently enough.
But as soon as he makes eye contact, you know it’s all over.
He holds your gaze while biting on the nearest object.
He might add a head tilt for good measure.
If that doesn’t get you, he’ll throw in a play bow.
And if by some miracle you’re still not won over, he pulls out the trump card: the joyful blanket fling.
Try saying no to that.
It’s a winter wonderland at the sanctuary today:
But Foxie is keeping Dora warm inside:
Foxie has not left her new Dora the Explorer doll alone since she got it yesterday as part of the Valentine’s Day celebration. I found her gazing lovingly at it several times today.
Meanwhile, I have been gazing lovingly at our Share the Chimp Love fundraising site! We are 74% to our goal with 12 days to go. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated and shared the site and the Share the Chimp Love video.
I am really looking forward to the Grapes for Apes wine tasting in Kirkland on Saturday, March 1st where we can celebrate reaching the $10,000 goal for the month, some other really loving things that occurred this February (more on those soon), and the kick-off to our Hoot! ticket sales. There certainly are a lot of things to look forward to both inside and outside the chimp house in the coming months!
