Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee

¡Hola!

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Hello blog readers! My name is Sofía and I recently joined the CSNW team as veterinary assistant and animal caregiver. I was born and raised in the south of Puerto Rico in a town called Ponce. I lived there up until I graduated with a BS in Animal Science from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) back in 2017. By then, I was interning in several animal hospitals to gain experience in the veterinary field, and also interned at a dairy cattle farm to complete graduation requirements. I always knew I wanted to care for animals, I just needed to figure out in what way. Right after finishing my BS degree, I moved to the United States to pursue a MS degree in Primate Behavior and Ecology from Central Washington University (CWU). While completing my master’s degree, I interned here at CSNW and achieved a Captive Primate Care Certificate from CWU. After defending my thesis and graduating, I moved to the Bay Area, California to work full time at a small animal veterinary hospital as veterinary assistant for almost two full years before moving back to the Pacific Northwest.

Here I am getting groomed with a tool by the boss herself, Jamie

I can’t even begin to explain how happy I am to be back with the Cle Elum Seven, and how amazing it has been to get to know the California three and the four majestic bovines. Complemented by amazing human coworkers, I can only describe this as: the dream job. These past weeks have been filled with hands on training with the goal of becoming lead caregiver. From security checks, to learning more about the chimps personalities, it has been serious business in the Chimp House.

But enough about me, I know all of you want to see some chimps and I wanted to show off how it’s going during photography practice!

Foxie, making sure only her best side is captured. All of her sides are her best side.

Willie B enjoying the breeze in one of the platforms in the new green houses

Missy enjoying some forage in the hill

Jody coming back in after exploring in the hill

Chimp Activities

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Today the chimp house was a little busier than yesterday. We are making sure the two new Greenhouses are in order and ready for chimps soon! While waiting for some maintenance things to be completed we found Jamie and Burrito engaging in a long play session. I love hearing chimp laughter. To me, it is one of the best sounds in the world and always brings a smile to my face. There was lots of laughter today, as I saw Burrito playing with Foxie and Annie too.

I checked in on the three to see what they were up to and found Mave and Willy B in a grooming session. I’m still learning so much about Honey B, Willy B, and Mave. I didn’t work with them while I was an intern here, so I have been trying to get to know them better and learn more about their personalities.

Mave grooming Willy B.

Honey B looking to see what photos I was taking.

Willy B taking a break from the grooming session.

Missy resting in the Greenhouse.

Napping Weather

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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

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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!

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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!

 

Honey B’s Birthday Party

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A very Happy Birthday to the one-and-only Honey B! As Orwell didn’t quite say: All animals are unique but some animals are more unique than others. And no one is more unique than Honey B.

And a very Happy Animal Sanctuary Caregiver’s Day, as well, to our friends and colleagues around the world and especially to our very own dedicated and caring staff and volunteers. The chimps and bovines couldn’t ask for a better crew.

Jamie tests the limits to see how far her caregivers will go to make her happy.

Don’t forget to join us for the Queen’s Brunch this Sunday!

The Queen

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So much is going on this week! We have Honey B’s birthday in a few days and Negra’s birthday on Sunday with our biggest event of the year, The Queen’s Brunch. Not to mention 6 chimps will be making their way over here! It is hard to believe! This morning as I observed Sam giving the seven access to the Young’s Hill we found Negra in the greenhouse. She looked very comfortable, so I can’t blame her for not wanting to get out of bed quite yet. When I think about Negra and who she is, I feel lucky. Negra is a person that if she wants to go outside of her comfort zone she will and she has grown to have the confidence to do it. But Negra also knows exactly what she does not want to do either. A quality in Negra I really appreciate, but personally am not good at.

Don’t forget to check out all the awesome auction items! I am really looking forward to the Brunch After Party where you can join us live from the chimp house. So make sure to bid on that item, you won’t want to miss out and don’t forget your drink ;).