Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

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Keeping things interesting

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We’ve always considered Young’s Hill a work in progress. This was partly out of necessity, because it started as an empty horse pasture and it would have taken a lot of time and money to build everything at once. But it was also in part by design, because life in captivity can be boring, and adding even a few plants or a simple climbing structure to the hill each year keeps things interesting for the chimps.

The structure we built last weekend is a big hit.

Annie:

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Foxie:

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Jody has been sampling the new bamboo plants, but it seems they are best enjoyed while relaxing in the greenhouse, so each day she breaks off a new cane and hauls it downhill. Yet another reason why we need to keep planting more…

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Special Visitors and New Stuff for the Chimps

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Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest has held several online auctions over the last few years, filled with fun items to bid on. Some of the coolest and most popular items have been donated by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day (this year he gave a personally-signed guitar to the Summer Biddin’ online auction).

The Armstrong family has been following the lives of the Cle Elum Seven for a while (proving something that doesn’t need proof: Burrito is irresistible), and Billie Joe’s wife Adrienne, who also owns Atomic Garden in Oakland, and her sister-in-law Jessy have visited the sanctuary a few times – always wanting to directly help out while they are here!

This past weekend, Adrienne, Jessy, Billie Joe, and Jessy’s husband / Adrienne’s brother Steve, owner of Familia Skateshop in Minnesota, all came out for a visit and to lend a hand. Susan Holmes McKagan, Billie Joe and Adrienne’s friend and model, fashion designer, and wife to bassist Duff  McKagan also came out for the afternoon on Saturday.

We learned a few things over the two days they were here, including the fact that chimpanzees love Billie Joe. Jamie was extremely excited when he was willing to run with her around the hill, and invited him to do so several times. She didn’t even insist on him wearing cowboy boots:

walking around the hill

Billie Joe Armstrong running with Jamie

Billie Joe and Jamie taking off

And a few of the chimps listened while he played an acoustic guitar. Here’s Negra lending an ear:

Negra listens to Billie Joe Armstrong

 

Adrienne brought some rare brown-haired troll dolls, which Foxie immediately adopted

Foxie with new brown haired troll doll

and brought on a walk around the hill with Adrienne and Susan:

Adrienne Armstrong and Susan Holmes McKeagan walking with Foxie

 

The main task for the weekend was putting up a new structure on the hill that consisted of two tall log posts and a few metal bars that were to be installed between them for the chimps to climb on and swing from.

JB, Steve, and Billie Joe constructing

JB testing the bar structure

 

Not surprisingly, Jamie and Missy were the first to inspect and play on the structure after a forage was put out for everyone to enjoy:

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Missy on new bar structure

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The chimps didn’t have all the fun, though. The humans did a little “chimping around” during their breaks from manual labor:

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Billie Joe Armstrong walking across the shaky bridge

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The new bar structure is really neat, and there’s no doubt that the chimpanzees are going to enjoy it, but I was equally excited that Adrienne and Jessy got the holiday tree from last year planted on the hill:

holiday tree on Young's Hill

The tree has been living in a pot in the greenhouse since last December, and the chimps, especially Jody, have been periodically snacking on it:

Jody biting tree

Jody eating tree bit

I’m really curious how that little bedraggled tree will do on the hill – I have high hopes!

 

As a well-deserved thank you for all the Armstrongs have done for the chimpanzees, both this weekend and in the past with their donations, they got to watch the chimpanzees enjoy the fruits of their labor from the observation deck looking out onto Young’s Hill:

watching the chimps

 

What an awesome weekend for everyone!

 

Startling Adventures

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If you’ve been following along for a while, you know that Jamie loves her walks around Young’s Hill. She’s definitely not the only one, though.

The other night I was walking around the hill with Jamie (me on the outside of the electric fence, of course) for what was probably the fifth or sixth time after dinner, and I heard something rapidly approaching us from behind. I will admit to being a bit startled. The evenings are usually very quiet and serene around here, and I was sure all of the other chimpanzees had gone to bed.

My temporary flight or fight reaction quickly turned to pure happiness when I whipped around to see who or what was rushing at us from behind. Apparently, from her nest in the loft of the playroom, Missy noticed that Jamie was on another walk, and she must have jumped out of bed and ran at full speed to catch up to us.

 

Missy is behind Jamie in the following two photos:

Missy and Jamie on the hill

Missy behind Jamie on the hill

How fun to be able to jump out of bed to go on an adventure! I could genuinely feel Missy’s joy in surprising us.

Sometimes I forget the stark contrast between the lives the chimpanzees have now compared to where they came from. How many times would Missy have longed to get out of bed to run around when she was living in the few square feet of a laboratory cage?

Freedom is relative, and the chimps’ freedom at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is definitely not absolute, but their existence is worlds apart from what it was the first few decades of their lives. You can read about Missy’s past here.

And we have you – those who support the sanctuary – to thank for that. So, on behalf of Missy and her sense of adventure –  Thank You!

 

What goes up must come down

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If you ever climbed trees as a kid, you might remember that going up is the easy part…

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…getting back down is an entirely different challenge.

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Foxie seemed unprepared for the latter when she climbed to the roof of Carlene’s Tower with her Dora doll to check out the view. It took her a few minutes to formulate a plan and work up the courage to get herself and Dora back down safely.

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I found myself holding my breath as she made a few different attempts to lower herself to the platform below.

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But she is a chimpanzee after all, so both she and Dora returned from their sightseeing excursion without incident.

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7.5 Nail-Biting Hours Left

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Today is a big day for eight sanctuaries across North America who are participating in Great Apes Giving Day, including Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

Negra Great Apes Giving Day

There’s a bit of cash riding on how well the sanctuaries do with our fundraising efforts, so the next seven and a half hours could induce some nail biting.

The good news is that, whichever sanctuaries end up with the cash prizes, everyone wins because people are giving to all of the sanctuaries and more people are learning about the good work we all do! Plus, in the small sanctuaries category (that’s us), each sanctuary will win at least $1,000!

If you haven’t been closely following today, you may have missed some exciting moments on our page, like when we reached third place in both the most individual donations raised and the most dollars raised so far (BIG NOTE ON THIS: this could all change in a second, but, as it stands, we’re right now in place to win up to $10,000 in money given by sponsors on top of the individual donations we raise).

You may have also missed the $1,000 matching grant that was made by Karen and Don Young and was quickly matched. We have already almost doubled our goal of raising $5,000. This is exciting stuff! If anyone else wants to make a matching donation, get in touch ([email protected]).

Please do follow along, maybe bite some nails, and definitely donate and share our page so we can make the most of this unique day for Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, and Negra – and for the future of the sanctuary!

Burrito Great Apes Giving Day

Big thanks to everyone who has donated, and for those who have set up their own pages to fundraise for the seven!

Great Apes Giving Day – one week away!

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We could really use the help of you devoted blog readers to reach our goal of raising $5,000 for the first ever Great Apes Giving Day on October 14th.

This 24-hour online event, sponsored by the Arcus Foundation, the Greenbaum Foundation and our friends at the the Anti-American Vivisection Society, is aimed at raising awareness and funds for several North American sanctuaries caring for great apes. It’s a pretty cool idea, and we are happy to be participating!

With the friendly competition among the sanctuaries, we are a little nervous because we are one of the smallest and the newest sanctuary participating in the day, but it’s true that our loyal supporters have the biggest hearts!

There are three main ways that you can participate:

  • Make a donation. Your donation today or any day before the 14th will be counted toward our total on giving day. Or you can wait to make your donation on the 14th, which will increase our chances of winning cash prizes (golden tickets) given out each hour. Learn all about prizes and the rules for the day here. If you’d like to make a matching challenge donation to make things more exciting, let us know in the comments below, or email [email protected]. A donation of $100 pays for a month of blog posts – that’s a pretty good deal when you think about 30 days worth of videos and photos and stories of your chimpanzee family, isn’t it? Imagine if every blog reader donated $100!
  • Create your own fundraising page and fundraise for the sanctuary! It’s pretty easy to set up a page (take a look at these tips to get started), and we would be happy to help by answering questions, providing photos, and whatever else you need. Create your page today and start letting your potentials donors know about it!
  • Share the CSNW fundraising page and encourage others to donate. Spread the word via email and social media so more people know about the day and Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s participation in this online fundraising event!

Mark your calendars now for October 14th and check our page that day to see how close we are to our goal of raising $5,000!

Thank you, as always, for your support and dedication to Foxie, Annie, Jody, Missy, Jamie, Burrito, and Negra!

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