Party

Missy Chimpanzee’s 39th Birthday

August 23, 2014 by Diana

Today was Missy-centered. The theme was tomatoes, slinky toys, tomatoes, socks, tomatoes, cattails, tomatoes, socks, and kongs with peanuts in them – all favs of Missy.

At our HOOT! gala in May, one of the more interesting items we auctioned off during the live auction was a photography session at the sanctuary with professional photographers Dean Rutz and Karen Ducey. There were two lucky winning bidders, and one of the winners cashed in their session this morning – we can’t wait to share a few of their photos with you!

In the meantime, here are some that the staff took today of the birthday girl, a flashback to one of my favorite videos of Missy, and a few photos of the other chimpanzees enjoying Missy’s birthday.

Missy spent the day, as usual, in action and elusive to the camera.

In the photo below, Missy is climbing one of the tallest structures on the hill during the breakfast forage, which included a lot of – you guessed it – tomatoes!

Here she is at the top with a mouthful:

Later, we handed out cattails. Missy decided to take hers inside:

Missy escaping the watchful eye of the camera, climbing to the bridge in the playroom to enjoy her cattail:

Missy in a nest playing with a slinky on the catwalk of the playroom:

MIssy removing a kong from a sock:

We put the kongs in socks for the nighttime enrichment in homage to Missy’s own invention, and one of my favorite videos of Missy, taken in 2010 (see below):

The other chimpanzees also had a great time with all of the birthday festivities today.

Jamie explored some new enrichment in the greenhouse:

Jamie cleaning some plastic glasses with a sock:

Negra foraged on the hill for breakfast:

And Annie, proudly, got the tomato piñata during the playroom forage:

I posted a little video on Facebook of Missy playing what looks a lot like a thumb war with Negra while they lay next to each other on the catwalk. All in all, it was a pretty great 39th birthday for one of the most athletic, full-of-life chimpanzee people that I’ve ever met. We love you, Missy!

Let’s Get It Started

August 11, 2014 by Lisa

Even though the chimpanzees enjoyed a fabulous day long celebration last Friday for Foxie’s birthday, they’re not done partying just yet. Life in the sanctuary today was sponsored in honor of supporter Erin Yuhas’ birthday. Erin also donated some fun enrichment items and decorations for today’s affair. Thank you, again, Erin for your generous gift! The chimpanzees seemed to thoroughly enjoy their breakfast forage in the greenhouse this morning.

Jamie was quite content to forage her breakfast:

And to relax in the cool playroom after a successful party:

Annie and Foxie took particular advantage of the chow forage included in breakfast. Here is Annie:

And Foxie:

Foxie also continues to enjoy the new troll dolls she has recently received:

Burrito tried to carry as much food as he could all at once:

Missy found one good spot and stuck pretty close to it:

While Jody was a woman about town this morning. She enjoyed the forage from the top of the greenhouse to platforms below and afterwards relaxed with a good book.

Negra, who has just recently started showing an interest in enrichment items, took a definite shine to the donated stuffed monkey in these pictures. She carried it around with her for most of the day, bringing it to meals and napping with it in between.

Happy Birthday, Foxie!

August 8, 2014 by J.B.

It’s hard to believe, but Foxie turned 38 today. Though she may have grown another year older, she showed that she has no plans to start acting her age any time soon. As soon as we walked in the door in the morning, she began spinning and pirouetting and chasing us from one part of the building to another while passing her troll dolls back and forth.

To celebrate her big day, we served all of Foxie’s favorite foods (fruit, fruit, and more fruit!) and gave her a few dozen new troll and Dora the Explorer dolls. The chimps really enjoyed the birthday party – we tried to capture the look of sheer joy on their faces, but they would not stop inhaling watermelon long enough to be photographed.

Luckily we got some video of the party as well:

Many thanks to all who have donated in honor of Foxie’s birthday! Here’s to many more birthdays to come!

Happy 4th!

July 4, 2014 by J.B.

Volunteers Patti, Lynn, and Andrew put together a great feast for the chimps’ 4th of July celebration. It all started with a lunch forage on the hill. Then for dinner, they had corn, potato salad, watermelon, and Field Roast veggie dogs in the greenhouse. Throw in a couple of pinatas and some inappropriately dressed troll dolls and you’ve got a real 4th of July party! You should have heard the food squeaking and screaming as we were setting up the forage in the greenhouse.

Burrito:

Jody:

Missy:

Annie:

Foxie and her new trolls:

Negra:

Jamie:

Happy Birthday, Negra!

June 13, 2014 by J.B.

The Queen of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest turns 41 today, and as you might have guessed, we threw a party – an English tea party, to be precise. Volunteers Patti and Steph even cut the crusts off the sandwiches. Negra enjoyed a forage on the hill this morning before the weather turned bad, and then she was treated to a greenhouse full of extra straw and blankets for nesting. The menu for today contained all of Negra’s favorites: bread, lettuce, nuts, avocado, and sweet potato, among many others. She even got night bags at every meal.

We do a lot of celebrating around here, but nothing means as much to us as Negra’s birthday, and no one deserves to be spoiled more than her. She is, after all, the Queen.

Happy Birthday, Neggie.

Jody’s Big Day

May 11, 2014 by Lisa

In celebration of Jody’s birthday we set up a fabulous breakfast party in the greenhouse and on Young’s Hill. The weather proved amenable with gorgeous skies and little to no wind, the spread was provided by volunteer, Patti, and the party set up was made possible by the hard work of volunteers, Sandra & Katie (in addition to Patti, of course!). Breakfast consisted of pears, watermelon, and pineapple along with the fruit smoothie, all set out in grande style in the greenhouse for the chimpanzees to enjoy. We also showered flowers (lilacs & roses) on Young’s Hill, along with chow, watermelon and lettuce for an exciting forage. What better way to honor Jody than with flowers? Not only are they as beautiful as she is but they are also an edible, delectable treat for the chimpanzees! Special thanks to Terra Bella Flowers for donating the roses the chimpanzees relished today.

I had a difficult time choosing photos today, there were so many great ones. Here is the scene from the party in the greenhouse:

Missy

Jamie

Negra

Foxie

Annie

Burrito

You don’t see much of Jody in the greenhouse and that’s because she was busy making out like a bandit in the flower forage.

After such an engaging breakfast a little down time is in order.

May your Mother’s Day be full of joy and light in the company of those you love whether in spirit or in life. Happy birthday, Jody Chimpanzee!

Cinco de Mayo Party

May 5, 2014 by Lisa

We like a good excuse for streamers, pinatas, and forages here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary NW. Today was no exception and, although we were mostly winging it, it appears to have done the trick quite nicely according to the chimpanzees. In particular, they seemed to be especially pleased by the whole lemon and lime forage provided by caregiver Elizabeth! Here they are enjoying a colorful greenhouse breakfast for Cinco de Mayo.

Foxie: