Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
As promised, but a tad bit late, we have the video of the ten chimps ringing in the New Year! I have to be fully honest, I did not realize how big of a year 2020 was. It totally slipped my mind that we were celebrating a decade! Whoops! Anyhoo, I hope you all enjoy the video and some photos of Burrito!
Burrito had a play date with Jamie, Jody, and Foxie. Foxie and Burrito immediately started grooming one another and continued for a few hours. It was a very sweet moment.
Our apologies again! We are still having trouble loading the video from the chimpanzee’s New Year celebration the other day due to an internet outage. (I’m currently posting this blog via my personal hotspot from my phone.) I personally blame the current snowy weather.
In the meantime, please enjoy these photos taken around the sanctuary.
Burrito had a playdate with both Jamie and Jody on this snowy day. He decided to spend most of his time inside grooming with Jody:
Of course, that was only when he wasn’t busy asking his caregivers for snowy treats:
Jamie, on the other hand, decided this snowy weather was the perfect weather to wrap herself up in blankets with her current favorite cowboy boot:
On the other side of the Chimp House, Honey B and Mave found today’s snowy conditions to also be perfect for grooming:
Thank you all for being so patient as we try to find a way to share the New Year Celebration video! We hope that tomorrow is the day the internet will be a top strength to share it with all of you.
Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had a fun New Year’s Eve, filled with people you love. We had an exciting forage to celebrate the new year. As tradition, the chimps had black-eyed peas, sparkling cider, baked squash, and pomegranates. Willy B seemed to really like the black-eyed peas. I prepared a small video, but typical, the internet is being funky. I hope that tomorrow will be better! In the meantime, please enjoy these photos.
The sun came out and I think everyone including Honey B enjoyed a little bit of Vitamin D:
Jamie:
I really like this one of Missy:
Foxie cleaning her plate:
Nathalie Garcia-Russell has started the chimpanzees’ New Year off with the gift of a day of sanctuary in honor of all primates!
Thank you so much, Nathalie! We so appreciate your generous heart and the difference your gift makes in the lives of the chimps and cattle here! All of us here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest wish you, and all our fellow primates, the happiest and most fulfilling of years ahead. Happy New Year!
Jamie:
Mave:
Negra:
Reflecting on 2019, this year has been a huge year and also a bit wild and crazy. We had so many highs and some lows too. I have been reflecting on this year a lot. The most amazing things have happened, like, the arrival of three new chimpanzees Mave, Willy B, and Honey B, we have a new building, we started introductions for the chimps, there was the most epic hug between Burrito and Mave, the potential for new relationships, and still so much more growth here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. CSNW has been waiting so long to bring more chimps home and we did it! I get emotional thinking about it. This alone is a massive accomplishment. So much good change has happened around here, even if it means it’s a tad bit more chaotic. 🙂
With those highs, sadly, came lows. I will say the big fight was one of the scariest moments in my career so far. I think back and I am so grateful for the staff I work with and the people I work for. Without this team of selfless and caring people this would have been an even more difficult process to go through. As you have read in previous blogs, any one of us would drop everything and run out the door for anyone for these chimps. Burrito’s recovery process has been long and incredibly exhausting. But Burrito is alive, he is getting back to his normal self, and that is all we care about! I so badly wanted new relationships for Burrito. And to see him almost have it was so amazing and devastating when it was all over. But, what I want most for Burrito is for his health and wellness. He may not get to make new friends, but we can all remember that hug. He has some very fierce lady friends to help keep him company.
So, I am excited for this new year. I think 2020 will have a lot in store for us! There will be growth, there will be fun, and mischief to be had. We are still getting to know the three and I hope with another year they will allow us to get to know them more and further our relationships with them. We hope to continue finding ways to make their lives better and find more choices for the ten chimpanzees’ future.
Cheers to the New Year!
Lounge into the New Year with Mave:
It was a crazy Christmas in the chimp house! We had two huge parties, one in the Mezzanine and one in the Playroom. Don’t worry, we had a party for Burrito too. Their parties were filled with cider, stuffed squash, green beans, and new toys. Honey B LOVED her new broom, Foxie was so excited for her new dolls, and Jamie could not wait to make a nest with her new boots and books! This was Honey B, Mave, and Willy B’s first Christmas at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. And I have to say I think they approved!
We have so many amazing donors and supporters. Thank you so much for helping make these 10 amazing chimpanzee’s Christmas feel so special. Happy Holidays everyone!
Jody:
Foxie:
Honey B:
Hi, everybody! My name is Chad and I wanted to very briefly introduce myself today. I promise I will follow up with a more thorough post in the upcoming days (I’m considering this my first practice blog post and not my first official post until I take some photos of my own).
I am currently training to be a staff member here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest and will be taking over the reins for Anna, our amazing Chimp House Manager, as she prepares to take maternity leave soon! We should all congratulate Anna for this amazing news!
We should also take this time to congratulate Burrito for being so incredibly strong and patient through his entire recovery process. I know the other caregivers here say it almost everyday, but I can’t help myself in saying it as well. Everyday Burrito continues to recover and act more and more like his old playful, goofy self. So much so today that we decided to give him access to the Greenhouse earlier this afternoon.
As you can see, he was incredible happy to be able to go to an old familiar place, even being sure to bring his sweet potato and pomegranate from lunch with him:
Bonus photo of Jamie grabbing a quick drink from her toy watering can:
