Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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sweet eats and sweet annie

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Hey! Tomorrow is the last day of the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale (what a cool concept, right?)  You can help Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest by heading to the Tacoma bake sale located at King’s Books, 218 St Helens Ave, Tacoma, WA 98402. Find out more on the Facebook event page, which includes photos of some of the yummy baked goods you can buy. If you want to bake something as well as purchasing baked goods, feel free to drop in with your goodies at the book store tomorrow (Sunday) at noon. In addition to the baked goods, 35 copies of the vegan baked goods recipe book is up for sale. All proceeds support the sanctuary, so indulge!

Tacoma vegan bake sale flyer

 

Speaking of sweetness, if you saw our April e-news last week, you learned a little bit more about beautiful Annie. However, if you’re somewhat new to the sanctuary and the blog, you might not be aware that Annie has a habit of making bird noises (check out the video in the “Annie-isms” blog post from 2010 to hear her chirps). She has a particular technique for producing these sounds that involves holding both hands over her face. She was relaxing in the greenhouse this afternoon making her bird sounds and I snapped a few photos.

 

Annie involved her feet in the chirping today:

Annie hand over mouth bird noises

 

She may have just been having fun with her lips in this photo:

Annie hand over face bird noises

 

I think she’s generally quite pleased with herself after a good bird call (chimpanzees don’t smile the same way that humans do, but Annie often looks like she has a grin on her face from our human perspective):

Annie pleased

Delicate Jamie

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Sometimes Jamie can be quite destructive, with her great displays that show her domination, and her investigations of enrichment. So in contrast, I really love how delicate she looks with this small cherry tomato in these pictures from the other day. (I also really love the amazingly vibrant green grass in the background!)

The Queen of Relaxation

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If Negra is the Queen of the Cle Elum Seven, Jody is the Queen of Nest Building and Relaxation.

Jody is hands down the best nest builder I know. She is definitely an artist about it, and will often use as many as 20-30 blankets. We put out tons of new straw and alfalfa hay in the greenhouse yesterday, so Jody forewent the blankets and made herself an amazing nest right on the ground.

Another day in paradise

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Today is day 3 of unseasonably gorgeous weather (high 70s!) here in Cle Elum. The chimpanzees have been out on Young’s Hill for a couple of hours now and show no signs of tiring of it. (As I write this, Jody is lying on her belly in a patch of shade munching on some grass.) Here are some photos from this afternoon:

Foxie has collected several of these wine vines to bring into the greenhouse with her:

Annie brought in a blanket she found on the hill for her nest in the greenhouse:

Burrito has been watching the goings-on from his new favorite hangout by the treat rock:

3rd Annual Love a Chimpanzee Day

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Love a Chimpanzee Day is a much-beloved CSNW holiday invented by longtime supporter Monica Best. Monica sponsors April 23rd each year in memory of her cat Ozzie and in celebration of these chimpanzees and all chimpanzees. This year, she also wants the holiday to honor Emma, Karen and Don Young’s dog who recently passed away. (April 23rd also happens to be Monica’s birthday – happy birthday, Monica!)  We had our official celebration a few days early this year (check out the photos here), but we’re still going to be sure to love the chimps just a little extra today.  We may be biased, but we can’t think of a more worthy holiday.

Spending Earth Day on the Earth

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Today was Earth Day and thankfully it was an absolutely beautiful, almost summery, day for it! It’s been around 75 degrees this afternoon and very little wind (which we get a lot of around here!) so I gave the chimps Young’s Hill as early in the day as possible. We didn’t have a full-fledged party, but it’s pretty surreal to think that after decades of bars and concrete, finally the chimps truly got to celebrate Earth Day on the grass and with no bars overhead.

Missy and Annie spent some time sitting on the grass in the shade

Foxie climbed up high to enjoy the view

Jamie and volunteer caregiver Stephanie went for a little walk around the perimeter of the hill

And Burrito climbed up a climbing structure he hasn’t explored yet

It must feel so good to have blue skies overhead with no bars!