Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

run

Hurry up and play

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Missy tends to speed up in the winter. I think she knows she won’t be able to stay outside as long so she has to cram all of her activities into ten-minute bursts.

Yesterday, she ran outside and immediately started to climb all of the structures.

web Missy climb tree post YH IMG_0927

Then she jumped off of them.

web Missy jump off platform YH IMG_0942

web Missy jump off platform YH IMG_0944

While climbing a structure at the top of the hill, she noticed something.

web Missy climb structure YH IMG_0948

web Missy get ice from tire Yh IMG_0957

web Missy get ice from tire YH IMG_0962

Ice is somewhat of a delicacy for chimps and Missy is good at finding it.

web Missty eat ice under structure YH IMG_0967

web Missy run eat ice YH IMG_0968

web Missy eat ice YH IMG_0982

web Missy eat ice YH IMG_0977

Of course, wherever there’s a Missy, there’s an Annie close behind, trying to catch up.

web Annie run eat ice YH IMG_0991

 

 

Race for the Apes was so much fun!

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Our first ever 5K fundraiser was a blast. Big, big thank you to volunteers April Graham and Laura Heggs for organizing the Ellensburg event – you did a terrific job! After expenses, the event raised $5,530 for the sanctuary!

Here are a few photos to prove how much fun it was:

Volunteers Seana (who was also the raffle sponsor), Connie and Emily working on registration under race organizer April’s direction, with our new Director of Development, Michael, looking on:
registration table

 

The start of the great chalk messaging courtesy of volunteer Stephanie:

chalk welcome

 

Board member Jessica (right) and partner Lisa donned tutus in honor of Jamie:

Lisa and Jessica in tutus

 

Race organizer April of AlignFit leading a stretching class prior to the start of the run:

April's stretching class

 

the runners approaching the start line:

approaching start line

 

and they’re off!

beginning of race

 

About 15 minutes later, the “troll strollers” (walkers) began:

walkers starting

 

in just 21 minutes, 37 seconds, the first runner, Kurtis, crossed the finish line:

Kurtis crossing the finish line

 

two minutes, eight seconds later, the fastest woman in the race, Keri, crossed the finish:

 

Event organizer Laura Heggs, running to the finish after clearing up some signs from the course:

Laura running to the finish

 

One of the glitter-bombed “trollphy” awards:

glitter bombed troll doll

 

This is just a small sampling of the photos from the event. Visit the full gallery and purchase your favorites – proceeds from sales go to the chimps!

Thanks to sponsors Gorilla Screen Printing for the discount on the great t-shirts, Zing Bars for delicious post-running nutrition (the coconut chocolate bars are amaZING!) and AlignFit for the stretching class. Individual donors, like Ape Ally Adrienne Armstrong, made a huge difference in the success of the fundraiser. See all sponsors and donors  here.

Our volunteers are always top-notch and dove right in to the new event.

And the participants were terrific!

We can’t wait to do it again!

Room to run

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Watching Missy run uphill amazes me. I’m not sure how it looks on video, but the volunteers that helped build the enclosure can tell you that just walking up that hill will wear you out. It’s just another sign of the chimps’ inherent strength, and their desire to experience the simple joys in life.

Jamie running

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Missy isn’t the only one who’s getting plenty of running in on the hill. It’s so awesome seeing the chimps getting to really run a relatively long distance for perhaps the first time in their lives. They are getting so much exercise!

Run, Missy, Run!

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One of my favorite things so far about Young’s Hill is watching Missy run at full speed. She is like a spring that was coiled up for decades, just waiting to be released. Every time she goes outside, she runs up and down the hill, for no apparent reason other than for the joy of it.

I was surprised by how moved I was when I first noticed that I could actually hear her running…the sound of her hands and feet pounding the ground and her heavy, rhythmic breathing with each stride.

We were talking today about how it seems like Missy is eager for the other chimps to become as comfortable as she is on the hill so that she will have someone to play with out there. Many of the other chimps are still in the cautious exploration stage, but not Missy. She waited 36 years for a chance to run, and now she’s ready for the most epic game of chase ever.