Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Missy

In memory of Bryan Riner

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by The Riner family in memory of Bryan Riner. Bryan had great love and respect for the chimpanzees and his family has graciously continued to share that compassion in his honor. His wife, daughter and son shared this message about today:

“In memory of Bryan Riner, a wonderful, compassionate husband and father who respected all beings (especially the Cle Elum 7), from Judy, Marin, and Dax.” 

Judy, Marin and Dax, thank you so much for your long-time friendship of the chimpanzees and for including them in your memories and celebration of Bryan. Our thoughts are with you all today and we will be thinking of Bryan and all the good his wonderful spirit continues to do in the world.

Missy, in all her glorious “Missy-ness”:

Annie and Missy top of Twister

Happy Summer Solstice!

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We have a wonderful surprise day of sanctuary today sponsored by Dylan Most, who just wanted to give a little love to the chimps and celebrate the first day of summer!

Dylan, what a lovely gift! Thank you so much for thinking of the chimps and all of us here at the sanctuary. It’s hard to believe it’s summer! But the easeful, peaceful and joyful days are welcome by us all and it’s so wonderful to see the chimps relishing it all. We are grateful to your kind heart for helping to make theirs lives as beautiful as possible.

Be it your summer or winter, all of us are wishing all of you a beautiful solstice! And happy summer to all our northern hemisphere folks!

Jody:

Foxie:

Negra:

Annie:

Jamie:

Missy:

Burrito:

We wish we were as cool as Missy

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Missy is beautiful, kind, joyful, goofy, serious, independent, self-assured, and the most loyal of friends you could hope for; she’ll back you up no questions asked. Well, if you’re a chimp friend that is. When the humans have been deemed to have “wronged” one of her family members she is often the first to let us know and she will hurl her tiny self onto the caging in front of you with shocking force while repeatedly kicking it and threat barking in your face with all her might.

One of my favorite memories of Missy is a time when I was trying to serve her something and Jamie decided she didn’t want that to happen and let me know by hitting the caging and threat barking at me. Given that Jamie is the dominant chimp in this society, it’s her right to do so. Even though Missy had her hand out in anticipation, she immediately backed Jamie up and joined in threat barking at me, seemingly incensed that I had tried to do something so egregious. The second Jamie walked away though, Missy immediately asked for the item again (and gestured to be quick about it!) until Jamie caught sight of us and the whole scene played out again. Missy is brilliant at chimpanzee politics.

On nights that Jamie chooses to have the door to Young’s Hill remain open she will often seemingly employ Missy to guard the door while she goes inside to retrieve something she wants. Missy doesn’t usually have any interest in the door remaining open or not and is typically ready for bed, but don’t think you are going to close that door with her standing guard in the boss’s absence.

Honestly, Missy’s a bit of a thug. And we couldn’t love her more.

In other news, one of our volunteers, Jake, discovered the hit of the summer to come! It’s hot today and we were lamenting not having any ice to run through the chimps’ snow cone machine. The chimps have access to water all day, but we occasionally offer ice snacks to help keep them cool and hydrated. So Jake brilliantly decided to experiment with running frozen grapes and a touch of strawberries through the machine and it was an immense hit with chimps and humans alike! They literally melt in your mouth. Go immediately and buy yourselves snow cone machines and grapes to freeze!

Behold:

The Celebration Continues!

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Every once in awhile I feel like everything around me stills for just a few seconds and I find myself standing still in eye of the love storm that surrounds these chimpanzees. It’s a feeling to behold and I can’t help but imagine if all living beings, us humans included, could feel so much love and respect what a different place this world, this life, might be. It’s inspiring and hopeful and makes one’s heart ache with gratitude that these amazing chimpanzees get to experience this as their every day life now.

As we celebrate this special day of the chimps’ 9th year since arriving to their sanctuary home AND Queen Negra’s birthday, our second day of sanctuary sponsorship comes from our dear friend, Kathleen Corby, with this beautiful message:

“Happy 44th Birthday to Negra and Happy 9 Years of Hope, Love, Home, Sanctuary to CSNW! To Negra, I wish you a day filled with warm sunshine to nap in, soft fuzzy blankets to nest with, and Nut Bags galore bursting full of your favorite snacks! Please know I love you dearly and I will never forget the day I had the privilege to meet you — my heart melted with pure joy upon seeing your beautiful face. Happy Birthday to you dear girl! I love you. To everyone at CSNW, I wish you the happiest of celebrations on this important day. I will be celebrating with you in my heart. Thank you for all you have done and all you continue do to provide Negra, Missy, Annie, Jamie, Foxie, Jody and Burrito with the best of everything possible. Much love, Kathleen”

Kathleen, from our hearts, thank you for being part of this chimp family and this amazing day of celebration. You are here in spirit, thought and heart every day and I have no doubt the chimpanzees feel that on some level.

Happy Anniversary, Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy and Negra! We love you all so very much!

Annie:

Burrito:

Foxie:

Jamie:

Jody:

Jody with forage haul

Missy:

And Happiest of Happy to you on this birthday, Queen Negra! Negra says, *Clap, Clap!!* “Let’s get this party started!”:

Happy Birthday, Lorraine!

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Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored in honor of Lorraine Lofton for her birthday by her son and daughter, Max and Coral Nafziger! Lorraine was one of the amazing volunteers who helped make our annual Hoot! Gala such a wonderful success!

Lorraine, happiest of birthdays to you from all of us at CSNW! Thank you so much for all you do to help us ensure a bright and secure future for these seven amazing chimpanzees, as well as any future family members. The gift of your time and compassion is so greatly appreciated.

Max and Coral, thank you for celebrating your mom on her special day with a gift for the chimpanzees! We are grateful to your family for helping us care for this chimp family!

Have a beautiful day, Lorraine!

Missy:

Jody:

jody smelling rose

Annie: