Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
We had our hands full this afternoon with the virtual tour for the Chimps in Need Campaign, but Anna somehow managed to snap a few photos of the Seven enjoying their Love a Chimpanzee Day celebration.
Don’t forget – you can help us welcome six more chimpanzees to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest this year by donating on Monica and Diana’s GiveBig fundraising page or the sanctuary’s main GiveBig page.
Missy:
Jody (with banana leaves):
Annie:
Negra:
Burrito:
Foxie:
Jamie:
Supporter Monica Best named April 23rd Love a Chimpanzee Day and has sponsored this day each year since 2010 for her chimpanzee friends at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
We’re using this occasion as the official kick-off to GiveBig. Monica and I have teamed up by creating a joint fundraising page with a $5,000 matching donation!
Love a Chimpanzee Day has become an official holiday around here. So much so, that we even include the day in the annual calendar.
Monica created Love a Chimpanzee Day in honor of her cat Ozzie on her birthday during a difficult and uncertain time when she was battling cancer. She credits the chimpanzees with helping her through that time and subsequent relapses.
Like many of us, even as a kid, Monica loved and was drawn towards nonhuman animals, especially wolves. She didn’t fall for chimpanzees until she happened upon a television show that featured Carole Noon, the founder of Save the Chimps. She immediately searched for other sanctuaries on the internet and found Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.
We are SO GRATEFUL to Monica. She has been an incredible champion of chimpanzees and is always thinking of ways to make their lives happier. She’s also always thinking of ways to broaden the support of the sanctuary and encourage others to donate to help the chimpanzees she loves and chimpanzees everywhere.
We would not be in the position of being able to welcome the Lucky Six chimpanzees coming to the sanctuary later this year without her support.
Today we are celebrating with the chimps and inviting all of their fans to join a virtual tour, see the expansion in progress, and learn about the Chimps in Need campaign and all of the chimpanzees who remain at Wildlife Waystation waiting to go to their new sanctuary homes.
You can still register for this 4:00 p.m. PT virtual event here.
Even if you are unable to attend, you can help us celebrate today and the future with more chimpanzees to love by donating on Monica and Diana’s GiveBig fundraising page or the sanctuary’s main GiveBig page.
Let’s all lean on our love of chimpanzees today and celebrate all the joy they have brought to our lives.
Happy Love a Chimpanzee Day, everyone!!
This morning the chimpanzees looked absolutely heavenly with the beautiful grassy backdrop that was Young’s Hill. Being surrounded on all sides by green seems like the absolute perfect way to celebrate Earth Day don’t you think?
“The Earth is what we all have in common.”
—Wendell Berry
Happy Earth Day everyone!
We are really excited because today we put in our first online order for a Charlie’s Produce delivery that will come straight to the sanctuary! Before Covid-19, Charlie’s was our primary source for produce that we picked up at a nearby business. However, when Covid-19 hit, a lot of things changed and we had to start shopping for produce in person. In addition to the convenience for staff, Charlie’s also has an amazing assortment of fresh produce and the chimps will get to have a lot of variety in the food we serve them! On Saturday’s blog, Diana said that it never gets old to watch the chimps forage. That is so true and it never gets old watching them enjoy food that excites them!
There are a lot of different ways to donate to the sanctuary like becoming a pal to the chimps or bovines, sponsoring a day on the blog, but my personal favorite is becoming a produce patron. What is more rewarding than donating towards the thing that brings the chimps the most joy (their food!)?
Whenever I serve the chimps I feel so thankful for everyone’s donations and feel blessed to be able to hear the sounds of the chimps eating. Listening to Jody making dinosaur-like food grunts or Burrito food squeaking for sweet potatoes is simply the best. If you are ever looking to find a way to donate, become a produce patron and just imagine Foxie blowing raspberries for fruit smoothies, Honey B food grunting for a head of lettuce, Or Willy B eating his leeks like Bugs Bunny. That will always put a smile on your face.
Foxie eating her banana this morning.
Negra eating some celery.
And a carrot.
Jamie sitting on the firehose is the best and Foxie holding her carrot with her foot is pretty great too.
As much as I just talked about fresh produces, today’s real theme in the chimp house seemed to be grass. Everyone at some point was out on Young’s Hill foraging for grass!
Jody foraging for grass.
Burrito finding some shade and grass.
Missy searching high and low for some good grass.
Negra has been out morning around on the Hill a lot this spring.
Foxie doing Foxie things.
Today has just been one of those busy days. Every time I would go to get some photos of the chimpanzees, they were in spots that are extremely difficult to get photos from. And the times the Seven were exploring Young’s Hill, I was in the middle of cleaning and didn’t make in time to take many photos. I was starting to get worried that today’s blog would just be a hodge podge of random photos I was able to get. In one final attempt, I just went to check to see what was happening in the Greenhouse. And there was the grooming party of all grooming parties.
Annie grooming Jody grooming Burrito:
Jamie and Foxie grooming:
Burrito left Jody and Annie to groom with Missy:
Jamie left Foxie to groom my boots:
And Negra passed on grooming to monitor the progress of dinner being made. Priorities.
And if you’re wondering about the hodge podge of random photos, here they are as a bonus.
What are some of your favorite Sunday activities? The video highlights some of the residents of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest favorite Sunday activities.
But before anything else, the morning patrol!
Jamie couldn’t wait to do her morning patrol. She even decided her breakfast chow had to wait until she was on Young’s Hill!
Not far behind Jamie was Burrito, Missy, and Jody.
Annie decided to venture off on her own.
Missy found a perfect spot for a little solitude and to take in the morning scenery.
However, Jamie thought this was also the perfect spot to eat her chow.
I mean, who could blame Jamie? This is the perfect spot to take in all of a Spring morning’s glory.
Missy shortly left to zoom around the hill.
While Annie decided to try to spy on her neighbors: Willy B, Honey B, and Mave.
Then there is this guy. With this glance, I know my legs are about to turn to Jello, I will be soon out of breath, and make a few trips around the Hill, which was exactly the case shortly after this photo was taken.
We here all hope you had the most perfect Sunday!
In the greenhouse, there’s a small bench with a digital scale inside.
When a chimp sits on the scale, we can look up at the display panel and record their weight. This is important for overall health management as well as for dosing medications.
While the bench might seem to the chimps to be like any other bench, it is not. It is serious business.
The scale is a bonafide medical device. One does not play games with medical devices.
The most important thing to remember is that the entire body must be kept on the platform for accurate weight measurement.
Never stand on the scale.
Remain still during the entire process.
Do not, under any circumstances, taunt the scale operator.
Remain upright at all times! I can’t believe I even have to say that.
OK, I get it. You think this is funny.
Are we finished?
Right, then. As I was saying, this is a serious medical device.
