Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzees

Smiles All Around

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There are many amazing benefits to working or volunteering with the chimps (and cattle) here at CSNW. Don’t get me wrong – the days can be challenging (Anthony spoke about that wonderfully here), but it’s not lost on me how lucky I am that I get to come to work and hang out with 16 of my best friends… And the humans are pretty cool, too. 🙂

Like all humans, though, all of us have good days and bad days. In those moments where we are just feeling down, we are reminded of another perk of this job – we can (usually) rely on our chimp friends to get us smiling! Whether it’s Gordo’s bunny hop, Lucky’s excited greetings, Negra’s bed head, Annie’s bird noises, or a plethora of other small moments- no matter what our mood when we get to work, we often leave feeling content, happy, and fulfilled. I hope the daily blog gives you those feelings, too!

Missy, enjoying the brisk sunshine today out on Young’s Hill:

Rayne having a lil’ nap in the Riverview Greenhouse:

Zoomed out of Rayne’s lil nap- oh, hello Cy!

Negra looking past me to see what’s for breakfast:

Another of Missy outside, because I couldn’t pick just one:

Lucky resting inside while her caregivers cleaned:

Jamie watching Burrito run out onto the hill:

Gordo enjoying his breakfast avocado:

Hello, handsome Cy:

Annie spying on her neighbors whilst sporting the latest fashion:

Nonstop Christmas Fun!

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Well, what an amazing Christmas it has been! The chimps are still discovering new enrichment every day, like Foxie with the Anna doll from Frozen. While others, like Burrito, are still having fun with items they received before the big Christmas party. Words cannot express our gratitude for all of our supporters, we would not be able to do any of this without you!

This morning Cy’s group received access to the Chute and to say Burrito’s group were excited would be an understatement! The seven were all lined up by the window hooting and hollering, but Burrito especially took great interest! He almost missed breakfast! It had been a little while since the group of nine had received access to the Chute, because it has been so cold at the sanctuary.

I suppose I will share with you all a condensed story about the chaos that unfolded last week! We received quite a bit of snow in the past couple of weeks and it also became extremely cold, getting as cold as -5 degrees. So cold that last Wednesday our well water became frozen.  Our co-directors J.B. and Diana had left for a quick and very deserved trip to go see family over the holiday, however with all these winter storms their flight back got canceled. We went to the store and grabbed lots of water to use for cleaning and for drinking water, but we had to use the water sparingly because we had a few more days of  this extremely cold weather. Thankfully, all of this did not affect the chimps and they were none the wiser- we made sure that they had plenty of water, food, clean blankets, and most importantly a clean enclosure! We had a Christmas miracle because on Christmas eve it finally warmed up and the water started to work again! Finally, we have caught up on laundry and mostly decompressed from the chaos that has ensued. We are sooooo grateful to have J.B. and Diana back safely and that the water is flowing again!

Burrito watching his neighbors:

Cy enjoying some green beans:

Sweet Rayne:

On the Eighth Day of Christmas…

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On the eighth day of Christmas, the chimps received cozy blankets. I think you all can guess who put these blankets to good use!

Special thank you to:

CeeCee M. for bidding on cozy fleece blankets for the chimps!

And thank you to everyone who has donated blankets to us over the holiday!

It’s Negra, of course:

Negra in her morning nest. She greeted me and then went back to sleep :).

A Whirlwind of a Day

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Today has been a really busy day! Beyond the normal cleaning and preparing meals and enrichment, we had to shovel some snow, prepare for the incoming snowfall, and have our bi-weekly staff meeting! I was able to get some photos of Rayne for all to enjoy though!

And some bonus photos from last week!

Before the snow froze to become a giant ice cube for a bandit to steal, it was a trough full of fluffy snow!

Gordo was the first who grabbed a handful!

Followed by Willy B who shoved as much snow as his mouth could fit!

All the while Rayne took her time only picking out the best of the best of snow in the trough!

It’s amazing to think that when these two groups (before the integration) were very hesitant about snow treats! In fact, even last year they were pretty hesitant of snow. It’s always a joy when they come around on things they weren’t used to.

And finally, Negra still in her nest when I greeted her this morning!

And don’t forget Giving Tuesday! You can donate today or before the end of the year for our end of the year campaign!

Burrito’s Sense of Humor

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Burrito is a funny guy! He is always making us laugh, but from time to time his group doesn’t always think he is so funny. For example, in this video Burrito may or may not have gotten a little too wild for Foxie’s taste!

As you can see, Burrito is having so much fun playing with the giant stuffed bear. Make sure to check out the Comfort & Joy auction! There are a lot of great Squishmallows I know Burrito would love!

Please enjoy this silly video and some bonus photos!

The rare close up of Missy:

Beautiful Negra:

Jamie eating snow:

A series of Foxie photos:

 

Five Simple Rules to Becoming Mora

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The thing about Dora is that everyone loves her! If you had told us that she would be the popular girl, I think we all would have been shocked. But it’s hard work being popular, we don’t know how Dora does it. She doesn’t seem to get a lot of alone time, but Dora also doesn’t seem to mind all that much. Especially when it comes to Mave. Again, if we were making predictions of friendships going into integrating this group of 9, my money would not have been on Mave and Dora. But that is the thing about chimps, they are always surprising us! And this was one of the best surprise I think we all didn’t know we needed. It has been so sweet to watch Dora and Mave’s friendship blossom. They truly care for one another and enjoy their time together, which is how the power couple of Mora became. However, there are rules to Mora:

1. Groom or spend quality time as often as possible

2. Three can be a crowd, but not all the time.

*** Rules 3 and 5 are very important and can be repeated or enforced multiple times throughout the day!***

3. No, and I repeat no, more than one arms length apart from each other. If Dora or Mave are to far apart, adjustments must be make quickly!

4. Always try a little bit of each others food. Sharing is caring you know!

5. It is important for any relationship to hug or hold hands as much as possible. The more engulfed the hug is the better!

King of the Hill

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While on a walk with Jamie, I observed Burrito and Missy following each other on the logs and then start to wrestling. It made me think about when I was young playing king of the sand dune with my brother. I asked the rest of the staff if they had ever played this game when they where kids, which of course they had! Some of their variations were: king of the mountain, king of the hill, and king of the log! The object of the game was to be the last one standing and then you were pronounced king of the object you were standing on, said log, mattress, or hill and then you have bragging rights for as long as you rein! Today, for Missy and Burrito it seems as though no one holds the title but I see a rematch in their future!

Time has flown by! Can you believe it already been 4 years with our wonderful bovines!

Honey and her gang:

Honey:

Meredith:

Nutmeg and Betsy: