Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

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Permission

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The last couple of days we’ve been experiencing some extra snow fall, which means the chimps get to snack on some fresh snow, which they love! Elizabeth and I filled up the chimps’ sandbox with snow and added some troll dolls for some CSNW flair.

Everyone was snacking on the snow, including of course Jamie. Since she is the boss, the other chimps wanted to make sure they were okay to snack on the snow, too. That’s completely natural chimpanzee behavior, and something that is essential to their society. Jamie was fine with the other chimps enjoying the snow, there was plenty to go around, and she wasn’t feeling particularly territorial of it.

When Jody asked for Jamie’s permission, she displayed perfect reassurance behaviors. She approached with a drooped lip, making it clear that she was not being at all aggressive or threatening. Then she reached out toward Jamie as if to say “is it okay if I join?” Jamie didn’t disapprove, so Jody’s next move was to give Jamie a quick kiss on the mouth. Jamie reciprocated and gave Jody permission by giving Jody a kiss back on her brow ridge. Jody then knew it was fine with Jamie that she join in, and immediately started snacking.

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Keeping Jamie enriched

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One of the biggest challenges of this job is keeping Jamie enriched. The other chimps certainly need enrichment, too, but Jamie in particular requires a lot to keep her engaged. So I’m continually trying to find things that will be enriching for her. Kongs are a good food puzzle for the chimps because we can put nuts, peanut butter, or even mushed banana into the crevices making it tricky to get the treat out.

Recently I discovered these Kong “Genius” toys which connect together, and I thought it seemed perfect for Jamie! Thanks to Carrie M. who ordered a bunch of these Kongs for us off our Amazon wishlist recently, we were able to make several connected Kongs. Jamie of course hoarded many of them, but all the chimps were able to enjoy this puzzle. You’ll hear in the video just how happy Jamie is with all her food groans and grunts.

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Speaking of Jamie and of the wishlist, we are in desperate need of a new boot dryer! Ours broke yesterday and as you can imagine we are constantly running the dryers to get Jamie’s boots quickly dry after we wash them. Dry boots makes for a happy Jamie! Both she and I would be forever grateful to anyone that is able to purchase a new one for us. If you do grab anything from the list now or anytime in the future, send me an email at [email protected] so we can be sure to send you a thank you! (UPDATE: Thank you Patrick and Carrie for purchasing the boot dryer for us! The boss will be happy).

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Two of a Kind

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Below are a couple of photos – one of Annie and one of Missy that I took a month or so apart a while back.  How does that saying go – birds of a feather, flock together? I just love that they are in such similar poses, but on opposite sides of the ladder.

Before we get to the photos, though – we have some celebrating to do!

REASON TO CELEBRATE #1: Your donations, your generosity, your love got us to $12,590 in our Share the Chimp Love fundraising. THANK YOU to every single person who donated and set up fundraising pages. Check out the Share the Chimp Love page to see who barely came in ahead in the 2014 Interim Co-Director fundraising competition (in truth, I may have been the only co-director who was really in competition). $2,590 over our goal is certainly something to celebrate!

REASON TO CELEBRATE #2: Grapes for Apes, our wine tasting in Kirkland at Northwest Cellars tomorrow, sold out! Even if you can’t attend, you can buy both red and white wine with the beautiful Jody label that Lori Kiers designed. Learn how on the Grapes for Apes event page.

Here’s the label:

Jody wine label

I’m really looking forward to seeing the Grapes for Apes crowd and also kicking off ticket sales for Hoot!, our May 3rd Seattle gala. Check this page tomorrow to buy your Hoot! tickets or get them in person at Grapes for Apes. We decided to have tables of ten at a reduced price this year for the gala, so you should definitely think about inviting nine people and getting a whole table.

REASON TO CELEBRATE #3: In just a few weeks we will be installing a back-up generator, thanks to NAVS and Karen and Don Young!

2014 is looking pretty good for the Cle Elum Seven.

Without further ado, here are BFFs Annie and Missy demonstrating “birds of a feather” :

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Missy sit platform

 

Competition for Love

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The February Share the Chimp Love campaign is almost over – we’re counting down in hours rather than days now!

As of this minute, you have helped raise $11,246 for the chimpanzees! That’s a lot of chimp love!

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You may not know that there is a bit of a competition going on between the Interim Co-Directors. I am just a bit ahead of J.B. right now, but it’s anyone’s game at this point because J.B. is trailing by just $110.

Perhaps you’d like to even things out by donating on J.B.’s page, or (better yet) strengthen my lead by making a donation on my page. Either way, your donations will help us care for the real directors of the sanctuary – Jamie, Jody, Negra, Missy, Burrito, Foxie, and Annie.

These last two months have been full of wonderful acts of generosity and support for the sanctuary. Seeing the Share the Chimp Love campaign surpass our $10,000 goal and watching other people – board members, staff, volunteers, and donors – fundraise on behalf of the chimps has been inspiring.

As we say on the campaign page, it takes about $30,000 per month just for the very basics to run the sanctuary. We do not receive any governmental support, so all of the money raised comes from private donations by individuals, foundations, and organizations. We partake in a variety of activities to raise the money needed to care for the chimpanzees including grant-writing, auctions, and special events, and it’s really true that every dollar helps. So, thank you so much for helping!

Speaking of special events, I hope to see all of you local folks at the Grapes for Apes wine tasting on Saturday to celebrate the Share the Chimp Love success. You can share the Grapes for Apes event on Facebook with your friends, even if you’re unable to attend.

And I hope even some non-local folks will consider making a trip out to Seattle to attend the Hoot! gala on May 3rd. Invitations are going in the mail very soon. It’s going to be so much fun!

More ways to follow us

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If you are on Facebook, you’ve probably seen a few pictures posted from our new Instagram account. If you have Instagram, please start following us @chimpsanctuary! Today, I posted this picture, with the caption “Guess who?” And I’d like to pose that question to our blog readers as well. So, go ahead and guess! After you figure it out, I will post more pictures of that chimp later today!

UPDATE: It’s Burrito 🙂 Scroll down to see his pretty cute face.

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If you aren’t on Facebook or Instagram, but you regularly read the blog, you might have noticed on the right hand sidebar that there’s a new link to a page called News on Apes. This is simply a feed of news stories (with links to the original articles) all in one place for any issue apes are facing in the news. If something noteworthy comes out on chimps in entertainment or biomedical research, or conservation issues for wild gorillas, chimps, and orangutans—we will post it there. Subscribe to get an email notification any time we post a link to a new article, to stay updated on what is going on with apes around the world.

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What Jamie Wants

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It seems as though the weather has been constant snow for the past couple of days here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. While this certainly makes for a beautiful landscape and, of course, tasty chimpanzee treats, I do think the chimpanzees might be experiencing a little bit of chimp house fever. It’s not that they physically can’t go out; the door to Young’s Hill has been open daily. But the snow just keeps piling up and, well, what kind of choice is that?! So it falls on us, the caregivers, to come up with ever more enriching entertainment for our chimpanzee friends. Some ideas are a hit and others a miss but I have had moderate success recently.

Yesterday, I put a bucket on my head in an attempt to entertain Foxie & Burrito. Neither of them seemed very impressed but Missy suddenly jumped up from her nest in the loft and ran full speed right over to where I was standing. She vigorously head-nodded to solicit a game of chase from my bucket wearing self. I happily complied!

Today, Jamie was adamantly demanding something from the kitchen. Usually this means she’d like one of her boots, sometimes it leads to a walk around the hill and other times to a grooming session. Today, no matter what boot I held up for her inspection she seemed frustrated. Finally, I grabbed the entire bin of boots, brought it out and set it down next to the caging. Apparently this was satisfactory. I guess some days you just need all the boots for your nest.

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