Foxie

New Doll, Same Snow

February 18, 2021 by Kelsi 8 Comments

I mean wow! Foxie cannot thank you all enough for the stack of Strawberry Shortcake Dolls. She is rich in dolls! Now, she won’t get them all right away, but we did give her a new one. To say she was happy would be an understatement. She was holding her new doll close to her chest, flipping her around, and passing Strawberry Shortcake back and forth with her caregivers. It’s nice when something so simple can bring someone so much joy.

I hope everyone is staying safe and warm out there. Maybe these portraits of Foxie and Jamie can warm up your day.

A Little Bit of Everything

February 10, 2021 by Kelsi 8 Comments

Today’s blog has many themes. For starters, it’s Nutmeg’s 6th Birthday! Chad served up some extra grain for all the cattle for his special day, though Betsy was pretty sure it was just her day. Nutmeg is still a big sweet mama’s boy. Happy 6th Birthday Nutmeg, we are so lucky to have you here!

I literally squealed when Chad shared this photo of Nutmeg. I mean, look how dapper he looks and that curl on the top of his head is killing me!

The excitement keeps going! We are looking for artists for a contest! This is such a neat opportunity! The sanctuary is collaborating with the students at CWU, Primate Awareness Network and our local art gallery, Gallery One. One design will be selected and there will be a cash prize too! I almost forgot to mention, the chosen design will be printed on limited edition sway and be sold to benefit the chimps! There will also be a people’s choice award. Check out the Gallery One’s website for more details and peruse our blog if you need inspiration! Or maybe these portraits will awaken your creativity! I am so excited to see what people will create and how they will capture the chimp’s personalities!

Burrito is really enjoying this orange ball right now.

Foxie has the most piercing eyes.

Jamie.

Honey B.

Willy B.

Our wish-list is getting quite full. We have added our day to day items, future items for our new building, and lots of dolls for Foxie! We are trying to get as many of her favorite dolls as possible because they are getting harder to find lately!

The Doll Thief Strikes Again!

February 6, 2021 by Kelsi 5 Comments

The doll thief is back! While we did a deep clean on chimps playroom, Foxie and Jamie decided to play. Jamie has been in a great mood and as many of us know Foxie always tends to get the silly side out of Jamie. This play session may seem similar to last Friday, though not quite as epic as Jamie lifting Foxie up, but still pretty great!

After the play session was over, Foxie needed to rest.

And for those who need a daily dose of Burrito, here he is enjoying his bags of chow :).

Play is in Session

January 27, 2021 by Kelsi 6 Comments

The chimps are always having these amazing play sessions in the front rooms while we clean their playroom. Yesterday was a particularly silly day as you can see from the video and photos. It’s always a good day when you see boss lady Jamie letting her hair down to play with her friends, Burrito and Foxie. The day continued to be goofy with this guy! There is nothing better than an upside-down Burrito and hearing him laugh.

It snowed quite a bit last night. So today was all about snow, napping, and yelling at the neighbors.

Jody melting our hearts since 1975 <3.

Negra with her snow snacks.

Goodbye 2020 and Good Riddance

December 30, 2020 by Kelsi

As the year is winding down, I think all of us are ready to say goodbye to 2020 and embark on a more hopeful 2021! To say we all want to kick 2020 to the curb would be an understatement! 2019 at CSNW was such an exciting and scary year. The introduction of the two chimp groups is something we unintentionally do not discuss unless asked. It was, to be honest, a little traumatizing. When 2020 came around we all couldn’t wait to move on. Burrito was on the mend and we were looking forward to the future. But 2020 brought a pandemic. Sadly, due to covid, we couldn’t have our amazing volunteers come to help us. We strapped on our PPE and tried to carry on, but the hardest part I think we’ve all dealt with and are still dealing with as care staff is the stress of protecting the chimps from COVID-19. For me personally, it comes in waves. I know we have to trust in PPE, but it doesn’t make it not scary. We have all made sacrifices and have lost time with our loved ones, but their welfare is so much more important! We all seem to be managing well enough with our new normal and healing from our old wounds from 2019. Then, the rattlesnake incident happened. Burrito, as we have all said a thousand times, is truly an amazing individual! He has never let life get him down. He always survives and only gets stronger, though if you ask me, he can stop having almost near-death experiences at any time. But his spirit is inspiring! He might be what has got me through this year. Burrito has an appetite for life and has also never seemed happier! So not to dwell too much, but our year and some hasn’t been the best. BUT, through all of our adversities, we have SO much to look forward to!

We are looking forward to the future! We are so close to having the new playrooms finished! Six new chimps will come here to call CSNW home, which means there are going to be more social opportunities for Honey B, Mave, and Willy B, even though that sounds a little scary to us too :). Chimp relationships are so much more important. Though we cherish our moments with the chimps, their relationships with each other are far more important. And of course, we have Burrito!

The other thing that got us through 2020 was all of you. Our supporters and donors. When it felt like the world had lost humanity I always looked to the CSNW supporters. And we know the chimps helped you all through these difficult times through the blogs. However, you all helped us through our trying times. Your faith, support, and kindness has helped us get through 2019, 2020, and will help us through 2021 and years to come. Thank you for your support through donations, but also through your loving and kind words. You all will never know how much you kept us going during these trying times.

Okay, that is enough feelings for one day. We all know it’s been a crazy year so let’s all put 2020 behind us and watch some chimps play and look at their portraits below! Cheers to a new year!

Foxie.

Jamie.

Annie play biting Burrito.

Annie.

Neggie.

Snow and Unicorn Blankets

December 16, 2020 by Kelsi

What a day! We just want to say goodnight from a very busy chimp house. Again, I can’t wait to write up a blog about Jamie I have in my head, but alas it will have to wait another week. I thought I would share a sweet moment with Honey B. Most nights when we close up the chimp house on phase 1 Honey B, Willy B, and Mave will already be nestled into bed. They usually like to go to bed early, whereas I am not sure Jamie even sleeps. But the past few nights as I am about to lock up the 3’s side, Honey B has been up and it almost looks like she was waiting for something. So, I have been offering her a few extra blankets before I turn the lights off. Once she has the blanket she throws it on her back or quickly drapes it behind her and makes a bed, meanwhile pant hooting goodnight.

If today had a theme, besides being busy, it would be the chimps love snow! Though by late February I think we will all be over it. But eating snow never gets old!

Even Willy B is starting to come around to this snow thing.

There was still snow on the ground, but enough had melted for everyone to go explore outside. Even NEGRA! I suspect she was trying to catch a quick glimpse of the neighbors in the chute or see the construction going on.

Burrito stayed back at first to be the look-out but eventually joined everyone out on the Hill.

Burrito or Sasquatch, I guess I will let you all decide.

Missy zipped around the Hill as per usual!

Little Foxie followed Jody, Missy, and Annie out on the Hill, but it got a little too cold for her so she turned around.

After venturing on Young’s Hill everyone agreed with Foxie and spent some time inside.

Negra wrapped herself up in an early Christmas present and did one of her favorite food puzzles, peanut butter magazines. I mean who doesn’t need a colorful unicorn blanket! I do have to make a confession though. This was my intention of putting the unicorn blanket on the wish list. I wanted to see Negra wrapped in a cozy, soft, and colorful unicorn blanket. There was a VERY good chance Negra was never going to see this blanket and Jody was going to shred it to pieces. But… just look at how comfy Negra looks!

Jamie had a busy day watching us clean and supervising the electricians working around the chimp house. But, that was pretty exhausting so she got cozy in a big nest she built and took a well-deserved nap!

All in all we day a great day, but I think we humans are going to curl up in our nests now. Goodnight!

Up Close and Personal

December 9, 2020 by Kelsi

I had a whole blog post in my head (How to be Cool like Jamie), but today was the rare occasion that Mave, yes Mave, decided to let take some photos of her this morning. Many of you might know that Mave often does not want her picture taken or can be hard to capture in the moment. However, this morning as I was taking a few quick photos of Willy B, Mave sat down and stared at the camera phone. I asked her if I could take a few, normally I get a finger poke towards the camera and I take that as a no. But Mave just looked into the camera and let me take some close up shots. The rest of the day had the same theme. Jamie wanted her pictures taken or tolerated the camera being around. I wasn’t able to get everyone, really it was just Honey B, Willy B, Mave, and Jamie, but the ones I got are pretty good. The chimps were all in extremely playful moods today too. It was hard to choose a blog topic because I was even able to film some great play sessions! But I will save that for another blog! For today please enjoy some up close and personal photos.

This is what Mave’s pokey fingers look like.