Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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csnw

Jody: A Dichotomy

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When I’m describing Jody’s personality to new chimp house volunteers, I often say that she’s a totally endearing combination of vulnerable and intimidating. If she thinks you have wronged her in some way, she will not hesitate to tell you so with a mouthful of water in your face. If she’s feeling feisty or on edge, she might try to poke you with her long fingernails. At the same time, if there’s tension in the group and she’s feeling unsure, she often seeks reassurance from her caregivers. And first thing every morning she approaches us and greets us warmly with several seconds of intense, prolonged eye contact. No matter her mood, she has a face I never tire of looking at.

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Help others Take Action – share Eyes on Apes!

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CSNW is a really unique place. We have seven amazing beings under our care, whom as you know are of utmost importance around here and truly run the show! Well, Jamie does anyway 😉 And we love to share stories about each of their personalities and their day-to-day lives.

For instance, today has been a continuation of the heat wave that has hit Cle Elum, but before the hot afternoon sun came around we did a breakfast forage on the hill which everyone loved. Here’s Foxie enjoying a piece of grapefruit:

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After we cleaned the playroom, Denice and I filled a kiddie pool with cool water, and harvested some black currents we have growing in the garden. We spread the currents around as a forage and also dropped some into the water. Jody and Jamie especially loved it!

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CSNW is also pretty big on education and advocacy. Eyes on Apes is our advocacy group and we really want to help make a difference for apes everywhere. The Cle Elum Seven truly serve as ambassadors for the life that all chimpanzees in captivity deserve, and for their wild counterparts who need our help to protect their habitat. This is only something we can achieve with your help! If you haven’t joined the Take Action e-mail list, do that today! Share our Facebook page, and re-tweet our plea for more followers on Twitter.

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Thank you, Jenna!

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Today was sponsored by one of our wonderful supporters in Canada, Jenna Miles! It thrills and amazes me that these very special beings have gone from spending decades suffering in biomedical research, unknown to most, to living in sanctuary and being loved and cared for by so many people around the world. Thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees, Jenna!  Negra (left) and Jody (right) send pant hoots, along with everyone else.

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Olympic Games, New Products, and an Evening Stroll

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This is a blog post full of information! Today is the beginning of a heat wave in our area, and we decided to keep things open longer tonight so the chimps could enjoy the cooling-off period of the evening. Most of the chimpanzees followed their normal routine and went to bed after dinner, but Jamie and Missy took advantage of the extra time on the hill. I just got back from my second evening walk around the hill with Jamie. Missy joined us for the first one.

jamie missy diana walking around young's hill

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Hey – did you know that the The Roslyn Olympics are only three weeks away!? If you are within a 3-hour radius of Roslyn, WA, you need to attend this event. It’s a combination of the Troll Olympics and ARRF Animal Rescue‘s Doggie Olympics – it really is fun for the whole family. In fact, it might the highlight of your summer. This year, you could even win a visit to the sanctuary following the games! The video below explains what the Roslyn Games are all about:

 

The other news of the day is that we have some new stuff in our merchandise store! We just got some brand-new items from Hydro Flask – water bottles and travel mugs / thermoses with flip-top lids.

18 oz hydro flask

24 oz hydro flask water bottles

I am getting ready for the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest booth at Seattle’s PrideFest on Sunday and have been making some special love buttons, so I thought I’d add those to the store too!

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I hope everyone has a great weekend! Don’t forget to RSVP for the Roslyn Olympics and buy some stuff in our store – it helps the chimps!

 

Happy Birthday, Ellen!

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Today was sponsored by Margaret Lunnum in honor of her mother, Ellen’s, birthday.  Margaret shared the following sentiments for her mother:  “I would like to thank my mom, Ellen, who turns 90 today for putting up with me for 66 years. She has been my best listener and advice giver. She counts my four legged and two winged critters as her grandchildren. She also appreciates my interest in and love for the Cle Elum Seven.”  Margaret and Ellen, thank you so much for sharing such a special day with the chimpanzees!  Have a wonderful day, Ellen!

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Big Step

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A big step forward for chimpanzees today. The NIH has decided to accept most of the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations proposed in January that include the retirement of the vast majority of chimpanzees supported by the federal government. Read the NIH press release here and the full report here.

Jody before and today

It is unfortunate that the NIH plans to hold fifty chimpanzees for possible continued research, as recommended by the IOM. We don’t see fifty as a generic number – we know that each of those fifty chimpanzees is an individual who should live out the rest of their life in sanctuary, but, overall, today represents  a leap forward for chimpanzees.  There will be no immediate breeding within that group of fifty and the NIH will revisit whether they believe it’s necessary to maintain that group in five years. The NIH also did not accept the  recommendation to provide 1,000 square of space per chimp for those chimpanzees who do remain in research – the NIH will be gathering more information on that recommendation.

Foxie and her dolls

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Foxie is usually never without a troll doll or Dora the Explorer doll. But there’s been some occasions where she differs from the usual and pick dolls or enrichment that are entirely different, and sometimes—shockingly—she’s been seen walking around Young’s Hill without any doll along for the ride. As endearing as Foxie’s doll love is, I think it’s really good to see her varying a bit in her choices for enrichment.

Sometimes she picks a troll AND a Dora:

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Sometimes it’s something totally different (in this case, a “My Little Pony” pink horse head)

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Sometimes we can’t be for sure if she’s carrying one or not… but she sure looks good with that beautiful forest background!

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And sometimes she’s interested in enjoying the sunshine with her chimpanzee friends and leaves the dolls to wait for her inside:

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