This Labor Day, the Cle Elum Seven are celebrating by not laboring at all.
csnw
Missing Chimpanzee
We take safety very seriously here at the sanctuary and recognize that humans make mistakes, so we have checks and double checks as a routine part of entering enclosures. We never enter a chimpanzee space unless we have verified that the chimpanzees are secured in another part of the sanctuary, so part of our safety protocols require that at least two people check that all of the chimpanzees have been positively identified outside of the area we are going to enter and that the doors and locks are secure.
If the chimpanzees cooperate, we do all of the full cleaning in the first part of the day, but we also spot clean the playroom (the largest part of the chimps’ indoor area) while the chimpanzees are having dinner.
One day last week, I was serving the chimpanzees their dinner in the greenhouse and Anna was operating doors. She successfully closed off the playroom in order to spot clean and came up to make sure all of the chimpanzees were out of the playroom. Normally, this is one of the easiest checks of the day, because the chimpanzees are lined up ready for their evening meal, so it’s easy to identify everyone and then check doors. This day, however, we could not find Foxie.
We checked in the front rooms, in the greenhouse, and scanned Young’s Hill. Nothing. I then climbed the ladder to see into the loft of the playroom, but she wasn’t there either. All of the other chimpanzees had been served their food, and Foxie was just missing. This never happens. I admit we started to panic just a little. We checked all of the areas again. No Foxie. Finally, we see a figure way off in the distance on the hill coming toward us.
Foxie sauntered through the grass and slowly made her way into the greenhouse as though she didn’t have a care in the world.
Today, as I was taking photos of Foxie carrying a Dora the Explorer doll on her back, it occurred to me that Foxie has chosen the perfect mascot and symbol of her new life at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
Go Foxie. Go explore. We’ll save dinner for you.
P.S. Among the 80+ other items, there is a photo print of Foxie on canvas that is part of our Summer Biddin’ online auction. Get your bids in quick – bidding ends at 4:00pm PT tomorrow!
The Boss Lets Her Hair Down
Jamie is so serious all the time that seeing her play is kind of like seeing your no-nonsense boss let loose at the office Christmas party: a little strange, but ultimately a total joy.
Wild Chimpanzees
Don’t tell Missy and Annie that they fall into the “elderly” category for chimpanzees. Just watch today’s video!
All of the chimps REALLY enjoyed the cooler weather this morning and were out and about. I took about four zillion photos, but when I was going through them, I realized I needed to highlight the video clips of Annie and Missy’s Olympic-worthy antics.
Missy the Disco Queen – Part II
As Anna mentioned in her blog post yesterday, the chimps and humans spent the entire day celebrating Missy and her 41st birthday (along with the birthdays of a couple of our wonderful friends and supporters, Deb and Martha)!
As you may be aware, Missy is mad about tomatoes. She seems to never tire of them and I think she’d be happy to eat nothing else. And because she and her best friend, Annie, love to incorporate socks and ’80’s style headbands into their play sessions, what better way to kick off the celebration than with an ’80’s Disco Party theme complete with disco ball pinatas (graciously made by volunteer caregiver, Patti) and cherry tomatoes in socks, along with a breakfast forage!
As promised, here are photos from Missy’s day (and I hope you all like lots of photos, folks!)
Jody was able to get one of the cherry tomato socks (that’s Burrito to the right who was emitting low moans of joy over his handfuls of breakfast treats – I just now realized it’s the only shot we got of him, but rest assured he was happy!):
Foxie:
Annie (notice all the socks hanging on the firehose – Missy got every single one!):
The party continued with a watermelon bowl lunch forage on Young’s Hill:
The birthday lady quickly found one and headed for a quiet spot to take in the view and enjoy her lunch in peace:
Annie also chose to enjoy her watermelon bowl in solitude:
Jody found two and quickly headed back to enjoy them in the comfort of the greenhouse:
Foxie found they were the perfect size to just put her whole face in:
Jamie took the approach of dumping out the bowls and then using them to collect copious amounts of chow to bring inside and enjoy:
And the piece de resistance? Queen Neggie:
Back inside the greenhouse, Negra headed to her favorite sunny corner which overlooks her beloved valley:
A heart full of thanks to all the staff, volunteers and supporters who made this special day of celebration for Missy and her friends possible!
Celebrating each of the chimp’s birthdays and the amazing individuals they are is always a joyous and fun occasion. And as I shared with Missy’s Pals yesterday, the reasons for celebration and gratitude go far beyond a specific date. In Missy’s case, it’s hard not to recall the thought that she almost didn’t make it sanctuary. Diana shared this story in a previous blog post though I failed to locate it. But in preparation for the chimps’ transfer to CSNW they all went through physicals at which time Missy was found to have uterine fibroids and was given a hysterectomy. Missy came through the surgery just fine, but during her transport afterward, she suddenly crashed. It took a lot to bring her back. After 30 years of torture and torment, she was so close to never knowing anything different. It makes my heart shake and shudder just to stand on the edge of this thought. And yet it’s a reality for so many chimps, particularly those who never made it to sanctuary or are still awaiting their turn.
Since arriving to her sanctuary home Missy has shown us she is someone who greets life by opening the door and running into it, arms wide open. With every leap, twist, swing, jump, sprint and full out run she puts her history further behind her, defying her age and claiming a life full of joy, adventure, comfort and love. None of which would be possible without you.
Please know it’s not my intention to end this fabulous celebration on a downer. It’s my hope to share with you how truly amazing each day in sanctuary is for the chimps. And to express our profound gratitude to you for ensuring that every day is one of the celebration of freedoms in all shapes and sizes for each of the chimps, in their own way and choosing. Safe in the knowledge that they are home, respected, valued and loved for the individuals they are.
And to our Disco Queen, Happy, Happy Birthday, Missy, we love you so much!! For all your days forward may your heart and soul sing out loud. And may there be tomatoes. So many tomatoes.
Happy Birthday Martha and Missy!
Today is full of celebration! We are so excited to have another day of sanctuary sponsored by Susie Winston in honor of her partner, Martha Faulkner, and Missy chimpanzee for their birthdays! Martha is an amazing friend to the chimps (and the humans!) and is also a valued member of our wonderful Board of Directors. We’re thrilled to be celebrating her special day along with Missy’s. And Missy is a special and greatly beloved chimpanzee woman who defies age more with each passing leap, run, jump and sprint and we couldn’t be more delighted.
Susie shared this lovely message about today: “Martha is the best partner and most generous person ever. All she wanted for her birthday is a donation for the chimps. Love that Woman!”
Susie, thank you so much for celebrating Martha in such a compassionate and generous way! We are so fortunate to have you both in our chimp family!
Martha, we are so grateful to you for all that you do for the chimps to ensure that for all their days forward their lives are filled with comfort, joy, security, and love. We wish you and your generous heart the happiest of days!
One of today’s birthday women, Missy. We love you, Missy, Happy Birthday!!:
Missy and her beloved friend, Annie:
And Martha’s chimpanzee pals, Burrito:
and Jody:
The first of today’s parties was pretty exciting and preparations are underway for party #2! Be sure to check back later today for a look at the festivities! And thank you so much to all of you who make it possible to celebrate each of the chimpanzees for the amazing individuals they are.
No blog post today, sorry
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is a pretty small operation. On any given day, there are one or two staff members working in the chimp house (one of the two staff members is designated the Lead Caregiver for the day; this is the person who operates doors, unlocks enclosures, posts to the blog, and generally calls the shots for the day), along with a couple of volunteers usually, and maybe a couple more staff members working in the office in the house on the sanctuary property. Occasionally someone’s out sick or we don’t have any volunteers scheduled, so there are just two of us to run the chimp house for the day. Considering how high-maintenance — and messy — these chimps can be, it’s quite a job for two people.
The first four or five hours of the day are spent scrubbing the chimp house top to bottom, with periodic breaks for walks around Young’s Hill with Jamie at her frequent request. After cleaning is wrapped up, the chimps have lunch, and this is usually when the Lead Caregiver starts thinking about what to post to the blog. Sometimes we’ll have captured photos or video of a great play session or some interesting behavior earlier in the day that we can’t wait to share, in which case we just sit down at the computer and get started. But sometimes the morning has been so busy that we don’t have time to think about the blog until early afternoon. In that case, we grab a camera and take a stroll around the chimp house to see if the chimps are doing anything interesting. When we write our blog posts, our goal is to share a story about something that happened during the day, or to share new information about one of the chimpanzees, or to share general information about chimp behavior. Sometimes after walking around with the camera for awhile you end up with a handful of decent but unrelated photos and then wonder how you’re going to make an engaging blog post out of them, or what you can write that hasn’t already been written a dozen times over the last eight years. It can sometimes be a little stressful when it’s already 2:30 and the chimps want your attention, and enrichment still has to be prepared, and dinner has to be made, and you have no idea what you’re going to post to the blog.
Today we were a little short-staffed in the chimp house. Staff caregiver Keri is out of town, so it was just me and volunteer caregiver-in-training Yuri getting things done this morning. By the time I had a moment to grab the camera and see what I could capture, most of the chimps had settled down for their post-lunch naps in nice, private places.
I was able to get a handful of decent photos…
…but I couldn’t think how I was going to tie them together into a blog post worth your time. While I was ruminating, Burrito was insistent that we should be playing tug of war. I was running out of time to think of something for the blog, but in the end I decided to put down the camera and play with Burrito. I knew you guys would understand.
