Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Cle Elum

So much to say about the chimpanzees…

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Wow. The first full day with the Cle Elum Seven at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. There’s just so much to share – we already feel behind in updating folks. They are all just doing so well and are so much fun – it’s unbelievable. Here are my personal top ten moments (in no particular order) over the past day and a half:

1. Negra sleeping in a comfy nest on the highest platform in the first front room

2.  Jamie playing chase while carrying a purse, a t-shirt, and a large kong toy

3. Foxie looking out to the big playroom – they’ll be going in tomorrow!

4. Jody’s enthusiastic greetings whenever we walk into the human hallway

5. Missy head bobbing frantically for more sweet peppers

6. Burrito playing with Jamie

7. Annie chasing Missy throughout the front rooms – all day

8. Jamie wiping out the food door lazy susans with the t-shirt she was wearing around her neck

9. Missy’s hair blowing in the breeze from the window of room four

10. Burrito lying down, holding his feet with his hands

Diana

Twas the Night Before Freedom

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It’s 8pm on Thursday night, and I’m so excited to share the latest report on the “Freedom Van,” as one of our favorite people is calling it. We expect them to pull in tomorrow morning around 8:30am PT.

Things are so exciting around here! Amidst all the preparations for the chimpanzees (like sorting enrichment, chopping fruit, and organizing the kitchen) I keep thinking about what a new beginning tomorrow will be. It holds a lot of potential firsts for our seven new friends: first blankets, first smoothies, first oatmeal, first view of the beautiful Yakima River! But most importantly, the first day of freedom. We hope our new friends will never look back. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to tell them what’s in store? Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Sarah

Visualizing Chimpanzees

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J.B. and I are now in Washington having finally moved from New York State. After five days of driving, we were both really anxious to see the chimp house as soon as we got here.  For the first time, I could really see the chimpanzees in the building. Before I could imagine it in a theoretical kind of way, but now that their house is getting closer to completion, I could actually see Negra in front of the window on the loft, and I could see Burrito swinging from a firehose attached to the wide bridge that now spans the playroom. And I could see Jody walking out of the building to the outdoor area for the first time.

Keith and the solid and incredible group of volunteers who have helped create this building from scratch have put so much thought into it and have labored so hard, and I could finally see the chimpanzees appreciating all of that work.  The Buckshire Seven arrive in 28 days. It’s hard to believe that in less than one month all of these images that I saw in my mind will be a reality! It will be so great to fill the website with photos and videos of the chimpanzees and be able to tell stories about them everyday. Stay tuned – it’s only a short wait now.

Diana

Missy & Annie

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J.B. and I had our second visit with the Buckshire Seven this past weekend. On our last visit, there were two chimpanzees who were rather aloof and mostly stayed in the background – Missy and Annie. This visit was quite the opposite.

After we were there for a bit and we had given out some kale (which Missy loves) and dried fruit, Missy engaged in a lot of play with us – stomping her feet and slapping her hands against the old tire that hangs in her cage. Once Annie saw Missy playing, she joined in too. It wasn’t long before they were playing with each other – their foreheads pressed together and their arms wrapped around each other, then separating and slapping each others hands, arms and shoulders. It feels really good to “transfer” play sessions this way, and I think it’s always a subconscious goal of mine to help foster play between chimpanzees. As I was watching Annie and Missy play I was imagining them in their new home in Cle Elum; I was picturing them on a platform in front of one of the windows laughing that breathy chimpanzee laugh and tickling each other.