Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Today I have for you a video of the chimpanzees enjoying food. Now, we all know that Burrito is pretty irresistible, especially when he’s excited about food (see exhibits A and B photos below):
But I think my favorite part of the video is Jamie’s look when she’s enjoying the last bit of smoothie from a dixie cup. See for yourself:
I really like black and white photos. I think it lends a more intimate feeling to portraits – you can really concentrate on the person’s facial features and wonder about their personalities and their pasts without the distraction of color.
We’ve been getting some great close-up photos of the chimpanzees lately plus I found a few that we hadn’t posted before, so I thought I would render some in black and white and sepia.
What do you think?
This is a close up of Annie’s eyes:
Annie:
Foxie:
Jamie (I just love this photo that Katelyn took – it’s great in color and sepia):
Jody:
Burrito:
Missy:
Last, but never least, Negra:
We haven’t really had much snow here in Central Washington this winter. This is sort of a mixed blessing for the chimps. On the one hand, the lack of snow allows them to spend more time outside during the winter, which is great. But on the other hand, snow to a chimpanzee is like an endless supply of food falling magically from the sky. And who wouldn’t want that?
Today we had the best of both worlds. We woke up to some fresh snow, which kept the chimps thoroughly enriched all morning. By afternoon, the snow was gone, and the chimps were back on the hill getting their exercise.
So that was fun. Now we’re ready for spring.
As promised, here are photos and video of today’s party. The chimps enjoyed a forage of leeks, red bananas, broccolini, sweet peppers, lettuce, and corn. We also put out cups of warm herbal tea with almond milk, party hats filled with peanuts, and pinatas stuffed with grapes, as well as a fresh bale of alfalfa (a nest you can eat!).
We’re big on recycling around here, so for today we re-purposed the Christmas tree as a “Birthday tree.” Annie and Burrito took turns picking treats from its branches:
Negra went straight for the corn, while Missy hunted for red bananas:
Foxie guzzled all the tea she could find:
Somehow, Missy got to the party hat pinata first, so all Jamie could do was scrounge for leftovers. Don’t feel sorry for her, though – she ate almost everything else:
Watch the video:
It’s fitting that the chimps enjoyed a forage in the greenhouse today, and that Jamie walked around the hill to her heart’s content. Both the greenhouse and Young’s Hill were made possible in large part by Karen and Don Young.
So Don, thank you (and Karen) for caring so much about these seven chimps. We hope you enjoyed your birthday – the chimps certainly did!
Today is certainly a very special day. You, supporters of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, helped us to really ring in 2015 in style by getting us beyond our goal of $65,000 in individual donations in the month of December. Wow!
Two people contributed to this success by making a sponsor-a-day donation and choosing this special day to sponsor. Thank you, Sherri Mudri and Diane Mattis!
Sherri’s gift message for today is “Happy New Year to the Magnificent 7!”
and volunteer Diane shared this lovely thought, “New Year’s Day is the beginning of another year for us all to celebrate what we have and think of what we can do in 2015 to make the world a better place. 2015 will be another year for the Chimps to be loved, kept safe and well and grow because of the dedication, kindness and love each person at the Sanctuary provides freely every day. Happy 2015 to the Chimps and the Humans.”
What more needs to be said?
Here are two photos to celebrate today:
This second photo is featured on the back of our 2015 calendar – hopefully many of you are hanging up your calendars today!
Today, the day after Christmas, was absolutely gorgeous! Clear skies and very little wind, which meant the chimpanzees got to spend some quality time on the hill. And a gorgeous day makes for beautiful photos of the chimpanzees.
Before taking a look at the photos below, be sure you’ve watched the video from yesterday’s holiday party. It’s our most shared video on Facebook, so you should probably check it out (and share it!) if you haven’t already.
I felt lucky to get these photos of Missy on one of my many walks around the hill today.
Missy was actually sitting still for a few minutes, seemingly taking it all in:
And, even more rare, she stood still for a few moments:
But just a few minutes – pretty soon she was off running, as per her usual pace:
It still thrills me to witness how much Missy enjoys running, and to know that she can now run as much as she wants.
Today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by Tracy Dunham in honor of Sam Simon! Tracy would like to share the following note for Sam: “Merry Christmas Sam Simon. On behalf of all the animals who have a better life because of you.”
As many of you may know, Sam Simon is an acclaimed writer, producer and director, and famously co-produced “The Simpsons.” Sam was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2012 and since that time he has poured his heart and soul into philanthropy, choosing to donate the majority of his earnings to animal welfare and fighting hunger, among other causes. He also founded The Sam Simon Foundation which rescues dogs from shelters and trains them to provide assistance to veterans and hearing impaired individuals, enhancing the lives of both dogs and humans.
In a recent interview with NBC News, Sam shared, ” I think that my passion for the animals and against animal abuse is based on the knowledge that these creatures who feel and think can’t speak for themselves and they’re dependent on us for that. And so I feel it’s my responsibility to speak for those that can’t speak for themselves.”
Tracy, thank you so much for giving the chimpanzees a special day in honor of such a special human. And Sam, if you happen to read this, we cannot thank you enough for being the inspiring and special soul you are and for all you do to give so many other beings the lives they deserve. Thank you for making the world a better place.
Jamie, chimpanzee woman extraordinaire:
You too can sponsor a day of sanctuary for someone you admire, adore, or want to celebrate (this includes sponsoring a day for yourself!). We’re so close to reaching our goal of 50 new sponsored days by the end of 2015. Learn more about the sponsor-a-day program or make a sponsor-a-day donation now.
