Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Jamie

Sanctuary is love.

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Today has been all about love! We threw a big party in the greenhouse for Valentine’s Day with the help of decorations and enrichment donated by Lisa S., Carol M., and volunteer Patti—plus delicious food donated by Anne R. and Patti, including some tasty buckwheat waffles with walnuts and carrots. They smelled delicious! Patti excluded the sugar and salt from the recipe, but the chimpanzees didn’t mind one bit. They wolfed them down!

Here’s some photos from the set-up:
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During the party, Foxie started to whimper a little bit. Jamie swooped in and comforted her and even shared a waffle piece with her. Now that is love! Jamie is the boss of the group, and in the chimp world, that means she doesn’t have to share anything if she doesn’t want to. In fact, she can take anything from anyone to assert her dominance. So for her to share something with Foxie is a true gesture of friendship.

Negra especially loved the waffles:
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Jamie loved the drinks—we had red gatorade watered down plus smoothie in little shot glasses!
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Foxie:
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Jody:
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We all appreciate your gestures of friendship and love for the chimpanzees and are blown away with how we surpassed our Share the Chimp Love goal! It warms our hearts to know that these chimpanzees mean so much to all of you that you would share your generosity with them.

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note: Patty Clark’s name should have also been included in the heart above!

 

You all have played a part in a second chance at life for these chimpanzees.

As supporter Kathleen C. put it in her sponsor-a-day message for today, “Sanctuary is love.” Just watch the video below to see how much love they had for sanctuary today!

 

 

And here’s the final Share the Chimp Love image of what love is for Negra

Love is for Negra

Today is for chimp love

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Today we celebrate love, not only in it’s countless beautiful forms, but also for what it makes possible. And making this day even more special, a day of sanctuary love was sponsored for the chimpanzees by both Kathleen Corby and Secrette Miller.

I don’t think I could ever sum up all the love we have in our hearts for the chimpanzees and the gratitude we have that they are able to live the lives they do. Kathleen shared this heartfelt message which definitely speaks for us all:

“I love Missy, Annie, Negra, Burrito, Jamie, Jody and Foxie. Why not celebrate their life in Sanctuary on The Day of LOVE?! I cannot fathom what their lives must have been like during the decades before they arrived at CSNW. I have great respect and admiration for what they had to overcome and for who they are today. May love and generosity fill every day of their lives. And may the Cle Elum Seven always serve as an example of the importance that all captive chimpanzees deserve the right to live a life full of good health, comfort and care, choices, friendships, and LOVE. Sanctuary is love. Let’s all celebrate our CSNW Love today!”

Kathleen and Secrette, thank you so much for sponsoring such a special day for the chimpanzees and for all that you both do to give them a life full of love. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Speaking of love, we’ve received a lot of it over the past two weeks during our Share the Chimp Love campaign. So much, that we increased our goal! Joan and Pat Borders, who gave us a generous $2,500 gift early on in the fundraising made another $1,000 gift, and yesterday we received a $1,000 gift from the Armstrong Family as well, pushing us well beyond our original goal of $12,000. Now we have just $209 to go to reach our new goal of $14,000 on the 14th! Many thanks to EVERYONE who has donated! For those who haven’t, there’s still time!  You can make a gift for a loved one, yourself, or just to celebrate love.

For inspiration, here are some photos of the chimps celebrating love:

Annie and Missy:

annie lovingly gazing at missy

Negra:

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Burrito:

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Jody:

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Foxie and Dora:

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Jamie:

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Be sure to check the blog later today to see the chimpanzees’ 2015 Valentine’s Day celebration!

When Jamie says it’s time to walk

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Jamie is a walking machine. All day long, she asks – OK, demands – for her caregivers to put on some cowboy boots and join her on patrol of her two-acre enclosure. How does a chimpanzee who doesn’t know sign language make such a complex demand? Part of it is that we just know Jamie well – over the years, we’ve figured out what she likes through a lot of trial and error and we’ve settled into a routine. But as you can see in this video, she also makes herself understood through a lot of pointing, gesturing, and stomping. And if you’ve ever visited another country and were forced to communicate through gesture (and maybe some stomping as frustration set in), you know that you can actually communicate a lot of information that way.

Jamie doesn’t care if we’re in the middle of something else, like cleaning enclosures or washing toys, when she asks.  When she wants to walk, we’re expected to drop everything and comply. But hey, you can’t say no to the boss…

The Meaning of Sanctuary

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Like many of you who read Diana’s blog yesterday, I was moved to tears thinking about all of the captive chimpanzees who have spent most or all of their lives in biomedical research and who have never known a life of sanctuary. Instead, their only perspective of life thus far is from behind metal bars, with no autonomy, no hope. And her post got me to thinking about what it means to provide sanctuary for Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy and Negra and what it possibly means to each one of them.

Webster’s dictionary defines sanctuary as “a place where someone or something is protected or given shelter” and “the protection that is provided by a safe place.” To me, that definition just doesn’t seem to convey the whole meaning of what I think the word sanctuary means.

I certainly agree that sanctuary means a “safe” place where someone is protected. But, I also think sanctuary means so much more than just that. To provide sanctuary also means to provide a place where each and every chimpanzee can feel the sun on their face and grass beneath their feet. It means providing opportunity for each of them to make choices on behalf of themselves, like whether or not to go outdoors or stay inside and nap or to play a game of chase or pass the troll with human caregivers. It also means providing a space in which there are no expectations of any of them other than for them to be themselves; essentially providing a place where they call the shots. And sanctuary means providing a home where they can feel hope, love and a place they consider their true home. This is what providing sanctuary means to me.

For Annie, sanctuary means being able to share the same space with her best friend Missy and fresh green grass.
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Sanctuary for Burrito probably means access to fresh food!
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Sanctuary for Foxie means she can finally care for her “babies”
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For Jamie, sanctuary probably has a lot to do with walks around Young’s Hill and boots.
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Sanctuary for Jody probably has something to do with foraging for plants on Young’s Hill.
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For Missy, sanctuary means having the space to run, jump, swing, tight-rope walk and use every form of locomotion possible.
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Peanuts, blankets and naps are what Negra seems to enjoy the most about sanctuary.
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And finally, for me, sanctuary means that we humans are here for these chimpanzees, they are not here for us. I look forward to the day when all chimpanzees currently in captivity are retired to a true sanctuary.

Go Hawks!

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We’re always looking for a reason to celebrate and throw a party here at the sanctuary. What better reason for a party than to join fans in cheering on the Seattle Seahawks for Super Bowl XLIX today?

So, how exactly do we throw a Super Bowl Party for chimpanzees you may ask? Well, nothing says a party like green and blue streamers, blankets and toys. Throw in some Seahawks cups, plates, napkins, a football, 12th man socks, t-shirt and arm sleeves. And finally, to top it off (and quite possibly the best part if you ask Burrito) we set up a lunch forage in the Playroom, consisting mostly of green colored foods (lettuce, green peppers, cucumbers and potatoes) and blue drinks (watered down gatorade).

Here are photos from the set up:
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Be sure to watch the video at the end of the blog to see who ended up drinking these!
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And now, the chimpanzees enjoying the party.

Here’s Jamie
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Missy
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Missy and Jamie
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Jody
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Burrito (with Missy in the background)
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Annie
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Foxie during the party.
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Foxie after the party. She may have partied a little too hard.
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Negra
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Who drank most of the drinks from the blue and green cups? Watch the video to find out….did you guess right?

GO HAWKS!

A beautiful day

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There’s just something about a warm, sunny day in the middle of winter that makes you appreciate the great outdoors a little bit more. Last Monday, as people all over the Pacific Northwest were putting on shorts and flip flops and laying out in the sun, the chimps were enjoying the day in their own way.

Jamie, Foxie, and Dora the Explorer:

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Missy and Annie:

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Foxie:

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Missy:

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The Boss

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One of the most satisfying things about working at a sanctuary is having the opportunity to give the chimpanzees what they need after decades of deprivation. As a species, chimpanzees need the company of other chimpanzees, good food, fresh air and sunshine, and space to roam. We work hard everyday to meet these needs. But caring for a group of chimpanzees means more than caring for a species; it means caring for unique individuals, all with their own individual needs. Their own personalities, their own interests, their own likes and dislikes. Catering to the needs of each individual chimpanzee we care for is an extremely rewarding challenge.

The individual at the sanctuary who demands the most of us is Jamie. She demands our attention, our patience, our creativity, our respect. Jamie is the self-appointed leader of the group, and she takes this position very seriously. Jamie needs to be respected in the same way that she needs food to eat and air to breathe. She is determined and focused, and she makes what she wants a reality.

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It is almost impossible for me to imagine Jamie in the research lab, where for decades she was forced to submit to humans against her will. For someone with so much fire inside her, that had to be torture. These days, Jamie wouldn’t think of letting herself be bossed around. She is finally home – a place where she calls the shots.

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As Jamie’s caregivers, it’s our job to give her the opportunity to be who she is and get what she needs. Jamie has no qualms about letting us know what she wants from us, and when we are succeeding or failing. It is our honor to submit to her will.

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