Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.
Missy had such an amazing birthday party yesterday! Because we had so much to cover for her party we weren’t able to share what happen over on Dora’s side of the building! They also had a lunch forage to celebrate Missy. Please enjoy the video and photos from yesterday!
Willy B with an arm full and a mouth full of chow:
Rayne in all her pepper glory:
A very distinguished Mave:
Mave swooping in to grab tomatoes:
Gordo with a mouth full of what we think is chow:
Sweet Dora:
How lucky are we that we have so many celebrations in June!
Also, how lucky are we to have such amazing supporters?! Your comments about caregivers for Animal Sanctuary Caregiver Day will be read over and over again. We are all so grateful to have you all behind us all, providing so much encouragement and sharing your kind words.
Speaking of supporters, Paulette sponsored Honey B’s birthday today. It seemed like an extra special celebration in my view because she had more friends to share in her fun. I hope you enjoy the video, and I hope you enjoy this photo of Honey B looking into your eyes the way she looks into the eyes of her caregivers each day ;).
Today, Mave celebrated her 33rd birthday! We’re so grateful to both Paulette Wrisley and Kenneth Reiter for sponsoring this day her her honor (in addition to Melissa Reed, whose sponsor post came earlier in the day).
One of the challenges of keeping the peace in a new group is to make things exciting for them, but not too exciting. Forages have a way of bringing out the competitive spirit in some chimps, if you know what I mean (see: B., William). So the key today was to ensure that Mave got some of her favorite foods without causing any unnecessary drama. And it was a success! We kept the forage fairly low-key and then made sure that everyone got at least one coconut and one mango. Honey B brought home the award for best coconut cracker, while Willy B had to watch some of the other chimps smash theirs open before figuring it out.
While Mave loved the food, her real present was the one thing money can’t buy, which she already received just recently – Dora! It seems that Mave has always wanted a Dora of her own, and now she has one. For her own birthday, Dora may want to ask for some personal space 🙂
Happy Birthday to an amazing chimpanzee.
We love a good excuse to throw the chimpanzees a forage party. Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!
Dora:
Mave:
Burrito:
Lucky:
Rayne turned 32 today! We’re so grateful to Tobin, Monica, and Paulette for sponsoring this day in her honor. At breakfast we served mangoes, which are a rare treat around here since we can’t store or prepare them in the kitchen due to Annie’s allergy. They were a huge hit. Later, the playrooms and greenhouses were filled with Rayne’s favorite enrichment and a forage of fruit smoothie, bok choy, grape tomatoes, and young coconuts with bamboo straws.
This group is notoriously difficult to photograph, as they prefer to stick to the upper levels of their playroom and greenhouse enclosures, but we managed to catch a tiny bit of the action. Here’s the birthday girl:
Cy:
Gordo:
Terry (that coconut really sticks in your teeth!):
Dora, who after having her first sip of coconut, had to tell me and the group next door all about it:
As the party wound down, Rayne gathered some smoothie and coconut, went up to the highest nest platform in the playroom (her favorite spot), and made a nice nest.
Happy Birthday, Rayne!
We try to have fun with holidays here at the sanctuary. To state the obvious, the chimps have no idea what we’re celebrating on Christmas or New Year’s or solstice. They do, however, enjoy a good party, and holidays are a great excuse for the staff and volunteers to treat the chimps to some creative food and enrichment.
I often wonder if by now some of the chimps – particularly the Cle Elum Seven, who have spent the last 13 Christmases with us – feel any sense of anticipation when the days grow short, the trees and decorations go up, and the snow begins to fall. When Jamie sees us move the potted Christmas tree from the hallway into her greenhouse on Christmas morning, does she know that she’ll soon find a new pair of boots underneath?
The chimps made the most of this particularly snowy Christmas Eve Day by scooping up snow and plucking the tomatoey eyes from Diana’s diminutive snowman.
We had a tradition in my house when I was a kid. On Christmas Eve, we’d get to open one gift, which would always contain new pajamas and a magazine. In hindsight, I realize that this may have been a way of working us kids down from our candy- and toy-fueled delirium and into bed. Nevertheless, at 44 years old I (and now Diana) still receive pajamas and a magazine from my wonderful mom. I know that Cy has no use for pajamas but I think he’ll like the other half of this tradition.
For our chimpanzee family, there’s no Santa Claus, no elves, no reindeer, and no magical snowman. But maybe, as they watch us assembling toys in the foyer and wrapping last minute gifts, they’ll go to bed knowing that tomorrow will be a special day filled with many of the things they love most.
Merry Christmas.
This month has flown by! Can you believe there are only three days left until the chimps celebrate Christmas? The caregiver elves are working really hard to get everything ready for the highly anticipated day! Today Anna and Chad built Jamie and Honey B’s workbenches! Lucky’s group has not yet experienced a CSNW Christmas and we look forward to them opening the amazing presents everyone has donated! Every year we express our gratitude to you all for your generous donations and kind words and this year is no different! As the presents roll in, I am always in awe of how much support you all give to us! So thank you!
And as a thank you I thought I would share a little photo shoot with the ever so kind and beautiful Lucky!
And because it is the season of giving we have a few bonus photos ;).
Jamie savoring her icicle!
Gordo playing with one of his favorite enrichment items (a box!) and eating one of his favorite foods!
