Longtime supporter Monica Best created the holiday Love a Chimpanzee Day many years ago to celebrate chimpanzees far and wide. This year we celebrated with fresh tropical fruit and fun enrichment items like sand, brand new blankets and fun novel socks.
love a chimpanzee day
Love a Chimpanzee Day 2024
Earlier today, Diana posted about the history of Love A Chimpanzee Day and how it came to be. With the day marked on the calendars, it was time to start planning. Luckily enough, Monica already had an idea in mind. With the theme chosen, caregiver Ellen began planning an prepping.
Today’s theme was a flashback to the 80s! With that theme in mind, Ellen thought of the idea to have the party influenced by the ever so popular rollerskating rink! And first task was to think of the menu. Today’s menu was based on foods you can find at a roller rink. There were boxes of popcorn and plates of “nachos.” The nacho chips were made from the crumbs of the chimpanzees’ chow biscuits, topped with “nacho cheese sauce” made from roasted bell peppers and tomatoes, with a side of guacamole!
Be sure to watch the video to see how the chimps thought of the festivities!
Also, today is the first day for to be able to support us during the GiveBIG campaign! Though you can begin donating for our nonprofit in GiveBIG, the main event, so to speak, is May 7-8! There are two pages in which you can support us! The first is the sanctuary’s GiveBIG page, which can be found here! You can also support Monica Best’s and Diana’s campaign page for the sanctuary! Monica and Diana created their own campaign to support Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest for their birthdays. So mark you calendars to donate to our campaign page before May 8th! Or you can donate to Monica and Diana’s page in honor of their birthdays! (Just make sure you leave them a birthday message! Monica’s is today and Diana’s is one week from today’s) Help us reach our goal this year to continue to provide the best care that we can to these amazing residents of ours!
And, as always, here are some bonus photos from today’s festivities!
Gordo
Jamie
Rayne
Terry
Burrito
Today is in honor of Monica and Love a Chimpanzee Day!
Join us in celebrating Love a Chimpanzee Day by honoring this day with a donation of any size on what also happens to be the first day of early giving for GiveBIG!
Donate specifically in honor of Monica (leave a birthday note for her) on our joint birthday fundraising page or on our general GiveBIG page – all funds, which are very much needed right now, go directly towards all the costs associated with providing the individualized care we give at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
It all started in 2010 when donor Monica declared April 23rd (her birthday) to be Love a Chimpanzee Day and sponsored the day in memory of her cat Ozzie.
Monica sent a care package of toys for the (then) seven chimpanzees, and you can see the video of them enjoying that day here.
It’s difficult to avoid the nostalgia that watching that video, and thinking of other Love a Chimpanzee Days in the past, brings up. One favorite memory for Monica was from the 2011 Love a Chimpanzee Day when Burrito so graciously posed with a photo of Duran Duran, Monica’s favorite band.
So much has changed at the sanctuary in the ensuing years. It wasn’t until the fall of 2011 that Young’s Hill, the outdoor area for Jamie’s group, came to fruition.
Then there was adding additional land to the sanctuary property, bringing the total to over 110 acres, followed by welcoming four bovine friends to our little family to help us keep the pasture grass under control.
The last six years have been the busiest in terms of construction and expansion.
Back in 2010, we couldn’t have envisioned what the sanctuary would look like today. Or the joy, delight, excitement, love, laughter (and, let’s be real here, worry, stress, and sleepless nights) that the group of nine chimpanzees (three plus six) from Wildlife Waystation would introduce into our lives, nor the incredible volunteer and staff caregivers who would join the team and the amazing supporters who would add their valuable insight, encouragement, and donations – making all of this possible.
We couldn’t have predicted that it would be so many years before we were faced with the loss of a sanctuary resident or that it would be beautiful and loyal Jody and gentle giant Nutmeg who we would say goodbye to within a year.
Throughout it all, Monica has been with us, donating towards every conceivable fundraiser and providing support that goes well beyond monetary gifts.
Thank you, Monica! Happy birthday and happy Love a Chimpanzee Day 2024!!
Don’t forget to donate in honor of Monica on our joint birthday fundraising page or on our general GiveBIG page for early giving during Washington State’s days of giving!
Love a Chimpanzee Day 2023 Party!
Thank you again to Monica for going above and beyond for the chimpanzees and making Love a Chimpanzee Day an annual celebration for her friends. You can keep the celebration going by making a donation on our GiveBIG page! BIG thanks to those who have already made a gift towards our goal. We really appreciate your thoughtfulness.
Here are a few photos from the party that Grace and Sabrina helped obtain for the blog. I like the series of three below of Missy maneuvering on the fire hose with her two coconuts!
Foxie:
Annie:
Burrito:
Negra:
Here are two creepy photos I took from the window of the Marmot Mountain Playroom while we were setting out a pre-party party of kale and popcorn. Creepy because neither J.B. nor Chad knew I was there taking photos of them:
The Celebration
We had our hands full this afternoon with the virtual tour for the Chimps in Need Campaign, but Anna somehow managed to snap a few photos of the Seven enjoying their Love a Chimpanzee Day celebration.
Don’t forget – you can help us welcome six more chimpanzees to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest this year by donating on Monica and Diana’s GiveBig fundraising page or the sanctuary’s main GiveBig page.
Missy:
Jody (with banana leaves):
Annie:
Negra:
Burrito:
Foxie:
Jamie:
Party for Love a Chimpanzee Day
We put the emphasis on delicious fresh food for Love a Chimpanzee Day 2011, brought to the chimps by Monica, who sponsored a day and sent some extra cash and goodies for us to throw a party. (Find out how you can sponsor a day by visiting our donate page or contacting us).
Here is the forage before spreading it out (and a few non-food treats for the chimps):
Here’s Negra traveling with a perfectly ripe avocado – a favorite among all of the chimpanzees:
Here’s Foxie picking peas out of the “garden” that volunteer Connie created in the sandbox
Negra even opened a present!
Annie seemed fond of this new doll:
Foxie did not seem fond of the same doll, though she did seem to enjoy taking it apart – it’s all part of the fun:
It was a beautiful sunny day in Cle Elum and all of the chimps really enjoyed the goodies today. Dinner ended with lots of nuts for Negra and figs. Little do they know they’ll be having another party tomorrow!
