Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Jody

The Explorers Club

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Everyday, Jamie goes on walks around the perimeter of Young’s Hill. Her day is not complete until she surveys the boundaries, checks to see what the neighbors horses are doing, and pokes a stick into a ground squirrel nest or two. From the top of the hill, she can view the entire canyon and even the mountains in the distance.

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Missy often tags along with Jamie for her daily walks, but she tends to get distracted halfway through. Jamie is too slow, too methodical. Missy can only walk for so long before she needs to climb something and jump off it.

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I consider Annie an involuntary member of the explorer’s club. She’s just along for the ride because she can’t let her best friend Missy out of her sight.

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Jody loves to pick and eat wild plants. There’s a great patch of prickly lettuce and mustard at the top of the hill, and that’s all the motivation that Jody needs.

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Young’s Hill is only two acres, but the top of the hill can seem like a world away from the safety and security of the building so not everyone is comfortable spending a lot of time up there. Foxie, Burrito, and Negra all tend to stay in the lower half of the enclosure. But we’ve already seen them push the boundaries of their comfort zones this year, so maybe one day we’ll find all seven of them looking down on us from the top of Young’s Hill.

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Thank you so much, Paige!

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Today was sponsored by Paige Powell in honor of the staff and volunteers here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest! Paige, this is such a kind and generous thing to do.  I am pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say the honor is all ours.  And we couldn’t give the chimpanzees all that they so deserve if it were not for the care and support of so many amazing people such as yourself.  Thank you so much, Paige, from the humans and chimpanzees alike!

And here is the beautiful cover girl herself, Jody, who was featured in an article on the front page of yesterday’s New York Times! Learn more here!

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Foxie and the garter snake

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Chimps are very investigative, defensive, and at times aggressive. Combine all these characteristics and add a small garter snake into the equation and you get a whole group of chimps ready to attack an intruder! This morning a garter snake made its way into the greenhouse and the chimps were on high alert. Everyone took a second to peer at it, but most kept their distance. Foxie, however, showed a lot of bravery and was doing her best to protect her home by trying to attack the snake (but without touching it).

The chimps encounter snakes every now and then. They’re very careful not too get too close to something that raises so much alarm, which is a smart instinct. Thankfully, garter snakes are completely harmless so there’s nothing to really worry about if they do touch it. In fact after filming this attack, I closed off the greenhouse and picked up the snake (who was still alive) and took him to a nice garden area that I thought he’d pretty happy about. I apparently don’t have a huge fear of snakes because I was holding him for awhile, talking to volunteers Patti and Connie about how we were going to set up today’s lunch forage, when they said “will you just put that snake down already?!” Like I said, harmless 🙂

The snakes seem to be good at “playing dead” so as not to actually get killed. At the end of the video you’ll see that Jamie was fairly convinced Foxie had taken care of the problem, and then left it alone. I was glad to be able to rescue it and find that he was not at all harmed.

Jody: A Dichotomy

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When I’m describing Jody’s personality to new chimp house volunteers, I often say that she’s a totally endearing combination of vulnerable and intimidating. If she thinks you have wronged her in some way, she will not hesitate to tell you so with a mouthful of water in your face. If she’s feeling feisty or on edge, she might try to poke you with her long fingernails. At the same time, if there’s tension in the group and she’s feeling unsure, she often seeks reassurance from her caregivers. And first thing every morning she approaches us and greets us warmly with several seconds of intense, prolonged eye contact. No matter her mood, she has a face I never tire of looking at.

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Celebrating Freedom

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The Cle Elum Seven are celebrating freedom today! Not long ago, they spent their holidays in lab cages. Today they foraged on Young’s Hill, lounged in the warm greenhouse, and played with friends.

We kicked off the day with a party in the greenhouse this morning. Volunteer caregivers Denice and Patti brought food and decorations. Fruit smoothie was set out in tiny plastic shot glasses, and we put out paper trays of apples, grapes, berries, and melon.

Burrito:

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Negra:

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Jody:

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Annie:

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Missy:

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Jamie:

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Later we served a special holiday lunch of vegan hot dogs, dill pickles, and bell peppers stuffed with pasta salad. We do our best to keep the chimpanzees healthy by limiting their diet almost entirely to fresh produce, but we thought we’d splurge a little today.

Everyone gathered as Patti got ready to serve:

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Foxie:

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Negra:

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Annie:

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Missy:

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Burrito:

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Thanks again to Jody Maxey for thinking of the chimps and sponsoring today. Happy 4th, everyone!

Help others Take Action – share Eyes on Apes!

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CSNW is a really unique place. We have seven amazing beings under our care, whom as you know are of utmost importance around here and truly run the show! Well, Jamie does anyway 😉 And we love to share stories about each of their personalities and their day-to-day lives.

For instance, today has been a continuation of the heat wave that has hit Cle Elum, but before the hot afternoon sun came around we did a breakfast forage on the hill which everyone loved. Here’s Foxie enjoying a piece of grapefruit:

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After we cleaned the playroom, Denice and I filled a kiddie pool with cool water, and harvested some black currents we have growing in the garden. We spread the currents around as a forage and also dropped some into the water. Jody and Jamie especially loved it!

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CSNW is also pretty big on education and advocacy. Eyes on Apes is our advocacy group and we really want to help make a difference for apes everywhere. The Cle Elum Seven truly serve as ambassadors for the life that all chimpanzees in captivity deserve, and for their wild counterparts who need our help to protect their habitat. This is only something we can achieve with your help! If you haven’t joined the Take Action e-mail list, do that today! Share our Facebook page, and re-tweet our plea for more followers on Twitter.

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Thank you, Jenna!

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Today was sponsored by one of our wonderful supporters in Canada, Jenna Miles! It thrills and amazes me that these very special beings have gone from spending decades suffering in biomedical research, unknown to most, to living in sanctuary and being loved and cared for by so many people around the world. Thank you so much for thinking of the chimpanzees, Jenna!  Negra (left) and Jody (right) send pant hoots, along with everyone else.

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