Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Cle Elum Seven

Negra’s priceless life

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The other day someone asked me what I thought about all of the resources (time, staff, funds) that go into caring for a relatively small number of chimpanzees. It wasn’t a hostile or accusatory question at all, just one of curiosity.

Part of my answer in the moment was that we are working hard towards bringing more chimpanzees to the sanctuary. We are REALLY excited to expand in order to provide more chimpanzees with a home at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

But there’s also what we’ve seen in the last decade caring for the seven chimpanzees.

I was thinking about that question again this morning as I took this photo of Negra:

and then some more as I watched Negra walk out onto Young’s Hill and climb a structure to sit next to Annie in the sun:

Some things really are priceless. I could never put a value on the last ten and a half years of Negra’s life. Every moment has been invaluable for her, for her six friends, and for all of the humans who have gotten to know the chimpanzees in person and through this blog.

I’m filled with gratitude that so many people care about Negra and her friends and have given their time and money towards each priceless moment.

Negra thanks you!

 

Blankets

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It’s the time of year when everyone just wants to curl up with a blanket or ten, chimps included. Earlier today, I posted this photo of Negra to our Facebook page:

This gave me the idea to go through some of our older photos and collect some of the chimps cuddling up. Negra is the biggest blanket enthusiast, but the others enjoy getting comfy too.

Negra:

Jamie:

Jody:

Missy:

Golden Grass

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This morning was stunningly beautiful.

The fall grass touched with fresh dew seemed to be a source of light unto itself. With the angle of the morning sun and the glowing grass, the chimpanzees also seemed to emanate sunshine.

Annie:

 

Jody, as per usual, was acting as the sentry and crossing guard:

 

Jody was VERY excited to see Negra coming out to join the group:

 

Here is Jody greeting Negra. You can see her excitement in her pilo hair:

 

Negra climbed up to the first climbing structure, with Jody in tow:

 

Here they enjoyed the sights:

 

A little while later, Negra meandered back to the greenhouse, looking simply gorgeous against the backdrop of the golden grass:

It’s October!!

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It’s October!! And you know what that means…it’s the countdown to Jamie-ween!!!

For those of you who might be new to the blog/sanctuary, Halloween is probably the biggest party of the year at the sanctuary as we go all out to celebrate boss lady, Jamie, and her honorary birthday on the 31st (she turns 41 this year!). One can never plan too early. And it doesn’t hurt that we humans are all pretty crazy about Halloween. At least this human is…

Jamie had other pressing matters to attend to, but Burrito made a “new friend” during a game of chase in the greenhouse with Kelsi today:

“Can I eat this thing?”

It didn’t take him long to realize his “new friend” was a great back scratcher:

The surrounding mountains, hillsides and sanctuary property are turning all the beautiful shades of autumn:

Every season seems to gift the chimpanzees with so much abundance. They are currently enjoying freshly picked pears, apples, and Italian plums from the property orchard, and a new treat of freshly harvested Lemmon’s willow which seems to be a new favorite.

J.B.’s been working hard getting ready for our new bovine family members to arrive and has been making some adjustments to the fencing around the orchard. Our deer neighbor families are thrilled to finally have temporary access to all the pears they can possibly eat:

All the beautiful wild roses that Jamie, in particular, loves to eat during the summer have now turned to a bounty of rosehips:

Kelsi captured these lovely photos of Jody, who seems to have become the self-appointed sentry and guardian, posting herself at the opening to Young’s Hill where she takes in the early morning view of their outdoor habitat, scanning her family’s home for any signs of trouble or danger and watching over them all:

Look at that gorgeous eye healing up!

It really is such a magical, beautiful time of year. This time of harvest, full of so much abundance. Not just the local bounty of food and beauty available for the chimps to enjoy each day, but you. Every day we look around and see the abundance you make possible.

Phase I of the expansion of the chimp house literally grows by leaps and bounds each day. We’re still reeling from the overwhelming generosity and support you provided during our Summer Biddin’ online auction and the recent Giving Day for Apes event! You set up fundraisers on Facebook for the chimps, participate in your employee giving programs, supply us with all the in-kind gifts we could need to care for and provide entertainment and comfort for the chimps through our Amazon Wish List, you share your love for the chimps with others, and you show up, here, in this online space, every day to see what the chimps got up to, learn about them, and honor each of them for the amazing individuals they are.

In so many ways, you stand together with us not only in providing Jamie, Burrito, Jody, Foxie, Annie, Missy and Negra with the abundance of hope, love, and home, but also as we prepare to grow this special family in welcoming others in need of sanctuary. From our hearts, thank you for making the chimps’ lives rich beyond belief. And the lives of so many humans as well.

Warm Sunshine & Lemmon’s Willow

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This morning everyone wanted to eat chow outside! It was a perfectly brisk morning with warm sunshine, no complaints there.

Jody in her usual spot on Young’s Hill:

Jody was breathy panting with excitement for Missy to come join her:

Jody, Missy, and Foxie heading out:

Foxie:

Annie took her chow out to a log and enjoyed some solitude:

Burrito joining the ladies:

After the Green House was cleaned we put in some new foliage called Lemmon’s willow. The chimps had never tried this before and we were interested to see who would like it. We assumed Jody would, but we actually found almost all the chimps wadging on it at one point in the day, particularly Jody, Annie, Burrito, and Missy!

Jody munching on a Lemmon’s willow branch:

Missy snagging a branch:

Missy took a branch bigger than her inside to snack on:

**BONUS**

Today’s daytime enrichment was firehose knots with nuts and seeds inside. As I was walking around and snapping some photos I found Jamie enjoying what looked like 3 or 4 knots and a troll sock tied around her ankle. She had tied it herself and had been casually strutting around with it. However, once she saw that I noticed the anklet she took it off discreetly (it was very hard to get a picture of this).

Jamie with her troll anklet: