I am so happy to be sharing information about HOOT! sponsors so everyone can learn the different ways that people have discovered the sanctuary and why they have decided to contribute their financial support to seven chimpanzees living in Cle Elum.
Today is the fourth in a series of blog posts celebrating sponsors of the HOOT! 2017 Spring Fling gala.
Past posts celebrated Jennifer and David Roers, Tracy Headley, and Pam Lehnert & Marc Warner.
Today, with so much gratitude, we celebrate the extreme generosity of Darwin’s Natural Pet Products.
The format for this post is a letter from Darwin’s founder Gary Tashjian:
At Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, we’ve built our business around supporting the connection between people and animals. We’ve always been inspired by the quote from Mohandas Gandhi that “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
That’s why I was so excited to discover Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s booth at the University Street Fair in Seattle a few summers ago. Chimps (and all primates, for that matter) have a special relationship with humans, and the way we have allowed them to be treated is, I believe, inconsistent with our values. I was happy to find an organization here in the Northwest with people who not only felt the way that I did about this issue, but dedicated themselves to doing something about it. I knew that Darwin’s needed to support their efforts in some way.
After visiting the sanctuary and learning that the chimps’ diet consists primarily of fresh vegetables, I realized that Darwin’s had a unique opportunity to help support the sanctuary’s efforts, as we use fresh vegetables in our dog food recipes as well.
We reached out to Charlie’s Produce, who we work with to supply the vegetables that we use for our dog food, and asked them if they could help. Charlie’s was very supportive of our efforts, and together we put together a program that enabled us to provide an array of fresh vegetables to the chimps, at no cost to the Sanctuary.
We are very happy to be able to do our part to help these chimps enjoy a healthy diet, and to live out the rest of their lives in a safe and nurturing environment. Darwin’s is proud to be a supporter of the sanctuary’s efforts.
Gary Tashjian
Founder
Darwin’s Natural Pet Products
Big thanks to Gary and Darwin’s (and Charlie’s Produce) for the literal ton of produce for the chimps over the years and for being a Chimpanzee Champion Sponsor of HOOT! 2017!
Burrito sends his thanks too!
