Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Annie Norris has also sponsored today in memory of her mother, Rita. Here’s what Annie had to say:
“I’m sponsoring a day of sanctuary in honor of my mom, Rita Yardley. We lost her this past November and today would have been her 75th birthday. She loved all animals, but had a special place in her heart for gorillas and chimpanzees. We miss her dearly.”
Annie has recently started volunteering in the chimp house, and we couldn’t be happier to have her. Thanks, Annie!
Karen has sponsored today to make sure the Cle Elum Seven have warm blankets and full bellies. Thanks, Karen, from Missy and the gang.
Tracy Headley has also sponsored today for the chimps! It is a day of love, indeed.
And what’s more lovely than Foxie giving Dora a ride on her back around Young’s Hill?
Thanks, Tracy!
I can’t believe it’s already almost half-way through February! That means Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and we have a super spiffy card you can send to your special someone. Just make a donation in honor of your Valentine before noon tomorrow and they’ll get a nice “It’s Good to Be Loved” card. (Check out this morning’s newsletter for more info).
Here’s some pictures of the chimps enjoying a pomegranate forage the other day:
Negra:
Foxie:
Annie:
Burrito often bites on something when he’s feeling playful. Here he’s doing his best to charm me into playing with him while I’m trying to take photos.
Pamela Miller sponsored today for her sister Linda. Pam says that Linda has a newfound interest in animal welfare, and we can’t think of any better ambassadors for the cause than the Cle Elum Seven. Welcome aboard, Linda!
Normally after cleaning the playroom, we put out a small forage of nuts, seeds, dried fruit or some combination before letting the chimps back in there. They most certainly know our routine so as we start to wrap things up in there, the chimps start checking in with us to see what the forage is going to be. They watch us scatter what ever it is and (depending on how exciting it is) they begin to food grunt (and hopefully food squeak) in anticipation. Today, no one was around as we scattered the forage – not even Burrito, who is always interested to see what the forage will be! We locked everything up and I opened the door for the chimps – nothing.
But as it turns out, the absence of chimps wasn’t because they just weren’t hungry or interested in the forage – it’s because all seven chimps were out on Young’s Hill! No one had even seemed to notice that I had opened the playroom back up for them. I walked outside to see what they were up to and Burrito and Jody were roaming the very top of the hill, Annie and Missy were wrestling on the shaky bridge, Jamie was walking around in the bamboo with a boot, Foxie was on top of one of the climbing structures playing with a pink-haired troll doll, and Negra was simply sitting by the log structure.
With it being as cold as it has been, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Negra just “hanging out” out there. She’s gone out a few times since the snow melted but not for very long. This morning, it was warm and sunny enough that she just sat down and took in some fresh air.
As J.B. mentioned the other day, we often can’t get photos of Negra on the hill because she “doesn’t deal with the paparazzi” as well as the others, but today, for what ever reason, she didn’t seem to mind one bit. She sat there for a good 15 minutes with me snapping photos. I guess all that fresh air and sunshine made dealing with “obnoxious” photographers trying to get a glimpse of the Queen worth it.
Looking down the driveway:
