Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

jamieween

Jamieween 2025!

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October 31st is Jamieween!

The spookiest day of the year. A day for costumes, sweet treats, baked goods, skeletons, cool weather, pumpkins, and to celebrate chimpanzee, Jamie, on her birthday!

Jamie turns 48 years old today! Some days I can’t believe she is 48 because Jamie just seems timeless.

Jamie is bossy, assertive, dominant, smart, silly, and confident. Jamieween is one of our biggest days of the year, because Jamie truly runs this place. The least we can do is celebrate her in a big way each and every year!

Today, caregivers Kelsi and Katelyn planned a jam-packed party for Jamie’s birthday. There were ice treats galore (shaped like eyeballs and brains), special blood orange blended drinks, pasta with sauce, baked apples, baked potatoes, carved pumpkins, and pomegranates…. I’m also probably forgetting something else, but it’s getting late and I got to get home before the goblins come out.

I know blog readers are going to ask… which member of Jamie’s group stole the pumpkin? The answer is anticlimactic…. no one. The pumpkin is still out on Young’s Hill as I type this. Although I did see that someone messed with it a little, as the pumpkin looks like it’s been through something. Maybe tomorrow someone will take the pumpkin!

Enjoy today’s 11 minute video! You may see a costume or two and some SPOOKY footage.

Happy Halloween! Happy Jamieween! 

Fall Into The Season

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The mornings are becoming foggier.

The grass is growing with a golden hue.

And the days are becoming shorter and nights becoming darker.

As the ravens begin to claim their roost in the barn on the gloomy days, the signs of Fall is here with one of the biggest celebrations at CSNW on the horizon…

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And a quick photo of Terry for good measure for this blog!

Happy Jamieween!

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It was a day filled with boots, books, food, friends, and long walks with rag dolls come to life—a chilly but otherwise perfectly spooky day to celebrate the birth of our favorite now-47-year-old trickster, Jamie.

Happy Jamieween, everyone! Can you guess who the pumpkin thief was this year?

Don’t forget that today is the last day for you to vote for our 2025 CSNW Calendar Cover Photo! Voting ends at 11:59pm PT tonight—be sure to click here to vote for your favorite!

Jamieween also means that our annual Comfort & Joy Quid Pro Throw online auction is LIVE! Register for the auction and you will be invited to join us on November 6th for a live zoom event of Lucky’s birthday event! Place bids on one-of-a-kind items for yourself (or a loved one- who says it’s too early for holiday shopping?) AND bid on items to gift the chimps! The event will run through November 20th and we will be adding new items throughout, so be sure to keep checking back. Happy bidding!

A Few of Her Favorite Things…

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No one ever has to guess what makes Jamie happy.  Or unhappy, for that matter!  But today, we’re talking about what brings Jamie joy.  What tickles her fancy.  What makes her giddy.  What stops her in her tracks.  What gets her realllllly excited!

Grab bags

Food puzzles

Pears

Walks on the hill

Leeks

Grooming caregivers

Big, comfy, expertly crafted nests

Mummies

Books and magazines

Bonobos

Aaaaaaand…..  BOOTS, BOOTS and more BOOTS!

Jamie is not Jamie without a boot nearby, in a nest, under her chin, or in her pelvic pocket.

Cowboy boots, knee high boots, shiny black boots, fuzzy boots, sparkly boots, leather boots, ankle boots, high heel boots, hiking boots, rubber boots, thigh high psychedelic boots…you get the picture.  Jamie is a fan of the boot!

And guess what’s just around the corning?  Possibly our biggest and most anticipated celebration of the year!  It’s Jamieween, naturally!  An opportunity for you, dear reader, to make Jamie’s birthday extra special.  We are busy adding some of Jamie’s most favorite things to our wish lists, which of course includes boots!  (Bear with us while we populate the wish lists – we will be adding things throughout the week!)

So, mark your calendars!  Carve your pumpkin!  Pick out your costume!  Stockpile some candy!  Cue your favorite spooky movie!  Get ready for JAMIEWEEN!

Stay Spooky

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Though October has passed and we have begun November, it doesn’t mean we can’t still be in the Spooky Season! Yesterday you saw how Jamie and friends celebrated her 45th birthday. As promised in yesterday’s blog, here is how Lucky’s group celebrated Jamieween!

Willy B and a plate full of pomegranates!

Gordo enjoying his pomegranates!

And a pumpkin top!

Honey B munching on a hazelnut!

Mave taking a sip of sparkling cider!

Cy snacking on one of the pumpkins!

Lucky taking her turn snacking!

Cy and Lucky enjoying their goodies from the party!

Yesterday, when Jody was plotting her heist of the Jamieween pumpkin with a wadge full of pomegranate!

Can you spot Nutmeg’s spy?

Stay Spooky, everybody!

Jamieween 2022

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This year’s iteration of Jamieween was a joyful success!

With the help of our amazing supporters, we caregivers prepared a feast and party to celebrate The Boss’s honorary birthday. The staff collected some video clips and photographs of the event to share with you all. Please be aware that we also recorded the highlights of the other group’s party but haven’t had time to sort through all the files yet. We hope to share additional content from today’s event very soon!

Some of the plentiful treats and toys we served and delivered to the chimps today:

Burrito:

Jamie:

Jody (with the prized pumpkin):

Jamie turned 45 years old this year, but the decades haven’t slowed her down one bit. Yesterday, for the first time in her life, she courageously shimmied her way up into the canopy of a real, living tree. This chimpanzee’s confidence, intelligence and curiosity truly know no bounds, and we’re honored to care for her in her sanctuary home.

Here are some of my favorite photos of Jamie from the past year:

Jamieween 2021!

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Jamieween is finally here! Today we celebrated the one and only Jamie’s 44th Birthday, as well as Halloween! Today was full of scarecrows, pumpkins, pomegranates, shrunken apple heads, birthday gifts for Jamie, and much much more! The chimpanzees here had quite the celebration today. Enrichment Coordinator, Chad did such a good job planning all of this for them. A huge thank you to everyone who bought items for today off of our wish list! Everything really added to the celebration today. Also, thank you to all of the care staff who helped get these great videos and photos!

I hope that Jamie and the rest of the chimpanzees here enjoyed themselves today. I know we all enjoyed watching them. Back in the day my time as an intern here only breached the surface of who Jamie is and I’m getting to know her so much better. I’m still leaning some Jamie language, but its a fun ride and it is a privilege to be able to help care for her. She is definitely a special chimpanzee.

Jamie’s group had a 2 part celebration that began in their Greenhouse. Willy B enjoyed time in the Courtyard with his scarecrow while Mave and Honey B celebrated inside. The Lucky Six enjoyed their pumpkins and Halloween bags full of things like nuts and cabbage.

Shrunken apple heads!

Jamie enjoying her pumpkin bags next to her new book.

Jamie gathering as many as she can.

Missy taking over after Jamie moved on.

Annie investigating the scarecrow.

Missy enjoying her pomegranate next to the scarecrow.

Burrito with his corn on Young’s Hill.

Foxie with her pomegranate.

Foxie made sure her doll got to enjoy the forage.

Negra found lots of Brussels sprouts.

Jody trying to carry as much as she can to enjoy her food back in the Greenhouse.

Jamie found three pomegranates!

Terry enjoying the celebration.

Lucky found some goodies.

Cy taking a break from reading.

Dora with her forage finds.

Gordo and Dora.

Rayne took hers to the Greenhouse.

Mave and Willy B are excited about pumpkins!

Mave and her pumpkin.

Honey B enjoying her stash.

Willy B found some pumpkin bags before making his way to the scarecrow.

Willy B ready to dive into the pumpkin head!

 

And…….Burrito ended up being the Great Pumpkin Thief this year! As you can see in the video he brought it down from a platform on Young’s Hill, but it rolled away. It ended up rolling into the fence and we had to bring everyone inside so we could get it unstuck. After spot cleaning the seven’s playroom we put it back inside to see who would grab it. Jody really wanted it and tried several times, but Burrito was the winner this year.