Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

csnw

Welcoming in the New Year

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We are all continuously so amazed by how generous our supporters are—truly, you all keep this sanctuary running! We are able to give Jamie, Foxie, Burrito, Missy, Annie, Negra, and Jody a cozy warm home, good healthy food, long-lasting friendships with caregivers, and an endless supply of trolls, boots, and other enrichment directly because of YOU.

This year, our family of staff and supporters has grown stronger and our hearts have only gotten bigger from how grateful we are to see these seven special beings live their lives without the fear of being in confined biomedical lab cages—not knowing what would happen next.

Now, you can see in their eyes they trust us. They trust us. It truly amazes me after all they’ve been through, that they not only forgive humans, but learn to build friendships with confidence, trust us with their most prized possessions, and even help us out when needed. It’s because of your support that we can maintain these important relationships with these chimpanzees and provide them with hope, love, home, and sanctuary.

Our goal for year-end giving of individual donations was fairly optimistic, but we’re getting closer and closer every minute that we creep toward welcoming 2015. As I write this, we are just $1,512 short of our goal for year-end giving! In just a few short hours, you can help us make it to our goal for this year (or surpass it!)

Dora and friends got dressed up for the New Year’s Eve bash:
Dora the Explorer on NYE

Everyone enjoyed a sparkling apple cider forage, especially Jamie:
jamie drink cider

jamie drink cider

jamie drink cider

jamie drink cider

Missy had her own technique:
missy drink cider

Everyone else was busy collecting the nuts and coconut flakes we scattered around like confetti:

Foxie:
foxie

Annie:
annie

Jody:
jody forage

Negra:
negra forage

negra forage

Cheers to you and yours, and Happy New Year from all of us at
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest!

Monthly favorites

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Earlier this year, we phased out the individual Facebook pages for each chimp in favor of consolidating posts to our main CSNW Facebook page, with the promise that we would post our favorite photos of each chimp every month. Sometimes they are photos we haven’t posted to the blog before, and sometimes they are repeats, but ones that are definitely worth repeating! This month I selected some that haven’t been posted on the blog or Facebook before. I also wanted to thank everyone for their support during this busy month, and all year long!

You don’t have to be on Facebook to see our posts there — here’s the one from today:

Post by Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

Happy Birthday, Tracy Headley!

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Tracy Headley sponsored today with this message, “I celebrate my friends at CSNW on my 50th birthday.”

Tracy is an impressive supporter of the sanctuary. You may recognize her name because she has sponsored several days, has had days sponsored in her honor, is a Chimpanzee Pal to more than one of the chimpanzees, and donates literally whenever we have any kind of donation opportunity, including sponsoring the HOOT! gala.

Tracy is clearly an incredibly giving person and a friend to all of the primates at the sanctuary. I was so excited when she and her husband Bruce signed up for a Summer Visitor day this past summer and got to see Foxie’s birthday party – – because there’s not much that tops seeing a party thrown for the chimpanzees.

Here’s a photo of Foxie from that day as she scrapes every bit of watermelon out of its skin:

Foxie's face in watermelon

and here’s a bonus photo of Burrito, who’s always up for a party:

Burrito eating apples

Thank you for all of your generous support, Tracy, including sponsoring today.

Foxie, Burrito, and crew wish you the best of all birthdays today and we hope you are throwing yourself a big party!

I know Tracy would want everyone to know that we need only five more sponsored days to reach our goal of 50 new sponsored days before the end of the year. Help us get there by picking a day to sponsor for yourself or a loved one.

 

More Avian Visitors

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One particular day earlier this month, Jamie kept zigzagging back and forth across Young’s Hill instead of making her way all the way around the inside perimeter of the fence. There was a loud drumming sound coming from a group of pine trees on the east side of the property and whenever she heard it, she would head straight for it. But the sound always stopped when she approached. She stared at the trees for quite some time before continuing her walk around the hill again.

The area where the loud drumming sound was coming from.
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Jamie on Young’s Hill.
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I was with her on the fourth trip around the hill that day and we spotted the culprits on a dead pine snag within the group of pine trees. She didn’t seem too threatened by them, mostly just curious. She watched them as they made their way to the top of the snag and flew out of sight before continuing her perimeter patrol.

The chimpanzees have had a few new avian visitors this past summer, including Hank the hawk and Bernard the eagle. And now, we introduce you to Wanda and Wallace, a pair of pileated woodpeckers. They were the source of the loud drumming sounds.

Wanda
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Wallace (notice the red streak on his face)
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The pair. This is one of those Where’s Waldo photos except that instead of looking for Waldo, there is a second woodpecker on the trunk of the tree. Can you see it? (Hint: only the beak and lower body are visible on the second woodpecker)
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Favorite staff photos

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J.B. and I played a bit of a trick on Elizabeth, Debbie, Katelyn, and Keri recently.

I asked each of them to send me their favorite photos that they had taken, with the reasoning that I wanted to do an end-of-year “staff photo picks” blog post. Our real intention was to get them a Christmas gift with their favorite photo printed on metal. Pretty sneaky, right?

It worked beautifully – they were genuinely surprised by and (I’m pretty sure) happy with the gifts. Of course they couldn’t pick just one photo each, because they are all such great photographers!! Plus they love all of the chimps so much. So I had to narrow it down from the several photos they picked. There were a variety of factors to consider, including which photos would likely look best once printed on the metallic surface.

I figured I may as well go ahead with my cover story and share the photos on the blog so you too can enjoy them.

These are the four photos I had printed for their gifts:

Debbie’s photo (Foxie):

Debbie's fav photo

 

Keri’s photo (Annie):

Keri's fav photo

 

Elizabeth’s photo (Burrito):

Elizabeth's fav photo

 

Katelyn’s photo (Foxie):

Katelyn's fav photo

 

Just because I feel the need to have all of the chimps represented, here are a few more favorites:

 

a photo J.B. took of Missy in her element:

Missy balancing on fire hose

 

Another of Katelyn’s – this one I am guessing will always be a classic of Jamie:

Jamie looking at camera holding boot

 

This was another of Keri’s picks. I really like it because of Jody’s extreme relaxed face:

Jody with relaxed face

 

I took this one of Negra in October, but it might be my all time favorite photo of her (except for the other 15 all-time favorite photos I have of Negra, taken by various staff photographers):

Negra looking at camera with night bag

 

If you have a favorite photo of one (or more) of the Cle Elum Seven, let us know – we’d love to see what your favs are too!

 

Missy in winter light

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Today, the day after Christmas, was absolutely gorgeous! Clear skies and very little wind, which meant the chimpanzees got to spend some quality time on the hill. And a gorgeous day makes for beautiful photos of the chimpanzees.

Before taking a look at the photos below, be sure you’ve watched the video from yesterday’s holiday party. It’s our most shared video on Facebook, so you should probably check it out (and share it!) if you haven’t already.

I felt lucky to get these photos of Missy on one of my many walks around the hill today.

Missy was actually sitting still for a few minutes, seemingly taking it all in:

missy side view look away

missy side view

 

And, even more rare, she stood still for a few moments:

missy stand look left

Missy look right

Missy look camera

 

But just a few minutes – pretty soon she was off running, as per her usual pace:

missy run away

It still thrills me to witness how much Missy enjoys running, and to know that she can now run as much as she wants.

A wonderful Christmas time

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The chimps (and the humans!) have been having a really great Christmas, thanks to all our amazing supporters! We had five people sponsor the day for the chimps today, so we owe a big thank you again to Laurel H., Kathleen K., Molly W., Michael H., and Janine B.

Also a huge shout out to Lisa S. and Jayne R. for their decorations that we were able to spread across yesterday‘s and today’s parties! Carol M. sent us seven adorable chimpiñatas which we added to the decor, too. More thank-yous are in order for everyone that sent in new toys which became presents for today’s celebration, including Sharon & Larry C., Diana M., Lisa S., Jayne R., and Helen K. Here’s part of the haul in front of Santa’s sleigh:

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Volunteer Patti and supporter Anne also picked up a lot of yummy fresh produce for the party and Patti made amazing roasted pumpkins with quinoa, wild rice, and veggies.

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The day began with a small forage of tomatoes, pistachios, and shaved coconut in the tree. Negra was the first out to see what we had set up under (and in) the tree.

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Missy snagged most of the tomatoes, and went through the presents, too:

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The party then moved into the playroom, where all the food and presents from our friends near and far brought a lot of joy to the chimpanzees!

Annie:

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Jamie:

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Foxie:

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Missy:

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Negra:

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Jody:

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Burrito

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As if those photos weren’t enough, here’s a video of the festivities of the day. Thank you again to everyone who has helped bring such happiness to the chimpanzees this Christmas and every day!