Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Foxie loves playing chase with her caregivers. To start a game, she passes one of her dolls to us and then runs or spins away. As she waits for us to catch up, she takes a big gulp of water from the fountain and holds it in her mouth. Is it because all that running makes her thirsty? Perhaps. Does she think it’s funny to keep her caregivers guessing as to whether she’ll swallow that mouthful of water or spit it in our faces? Definitely.
Listen to these two laughing…
Arlene and Michael Okun, supporters of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest for the last several years, are celebrating their anniversary today and have chosen to include sponsoring a day of sanctuary as part of their celebration.
They included this very touching message, which I think everyone should take a moment to read before you head into the rest of your day or your weekend:
We have so much to be thankful for, and as we count our blessings we include CSNW among them. Thank you for the outstanding work that you do. We would like to share our special day with the chimps. We wish them and all of you what I think we all would like: to be well, to feel safe, to feel loved, to have good company, to be happy, and to find joy in every day.
What a beautiful message, Arlene and Michael!
It is what we wish for everyone reading this too. A big happy anniversary to you both!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!
A day of sanctuary was sponsored for the chimpanzees and Sarah Sweeney today by Brynn Edwards! Brynn shared this message for Sarah:
“This is to celebrate Sarah’s birthday! She is one of the most generous people and all she wanted for her birthday is to help these chimps. Thank you Sarah!”
Sarah, thank you so much for wanting to celebrate the chimpanzees for your own birthday! We are so grateful to both you and Brynn for choosing to share your generosity with the chimps and for being part of filling their lives with love, comfort, joy and care. Have a beautiful day and we hope it’s the best birthday yet!
One of my favorite series of photos of these two friends, Burrito and Foxie:
Today the chimps started out arguing and fighting and ripping and hooting, a little more than usual. But whatever family business they had to work out seems to have been resolved and they’ve spent the afternoon lounging about and engaging in a variety of goofy and endearing shenanigans.
Jamie has a routine of building a nest in one of the front rooms and napping/supervising the humans as we clean the playroom. Even while at rest, she usually has a project or a plan in progress…
and today she chose this:
Jamie is very creative and often likes to repurpose her enrichment:
(Happy Jamie flailing about):
Viola! From sock to ankle bandana:
Later in the afternoon, Foxie joined Jamie nesting in the playroom. Here is a good example of different nesting styles – Foxie doesn’t like to use blankets, whereas Jamie gets pretty creative:
With these two, it isn’t long before wrestling ensues:
And here it is folks, the ever-elusive Jamie play face!!:
Foxie is the one person who can really get Jamie to cut loose. But Jamie takes everything pretty seriously (she is the boss after all) so even when she is in full play mode, we don’t often catch a play face. So we need that in a closeup:
Foxie laughing as Jamie play bites her hand:
And last, but certainly not least, I leave you with this guy:
They say there’s a ghost that haunts the playroom at CSNW…
By the way, if you’re wondering about Negra – she is feeling much better today and has regained her appetite and her energy. We’re going to keep her separated from the group for at least one more day to make sure she stays off her foot as much as possible. I’m sure they’re all looking forward to being reunited.
