Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Sanctuary

Caregiver Jackie Buckner is up for adoption

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OK, Jackie’s not literally up for adoption, but she could use your support to make her job a whole lot easier. Both Jackie and Elizabeth started as volunteers – in Jackie’s case, years before the chimps even arrived at the sanctuary! When we were able to bump up Jackie’s hours to full-time several months ago, we incorporated an office day into her schedule. This has been a huge benefit to the organization, and I’m personally thrilled, relieved and thankful that she’s able to help out with the auction this year!

Jackie really needs two pieces of equipment to be able to help with all of the auction donation record-keeping: a scanner plus copier and an external hard drive. I spent a good deal of time searching for the best of both of these that will fit her needs and just added them to our amazon wishlist this morning.

So, who’s able to adopt Jackie by purchasing these needed items? I can guarantee she will send you a very special thank you note!

Don’t you think her desk would look much better with some electronic equipment on it?

jackie's desk

Hanging out with humans

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Yesterday was an office day for me, but I stopped by the chimp house for a bit to take care of some things and to see the chimps. I noticed through the kitchen window into the chimp area that J.B. was playing with someone, which is certainly not an uncommon occurrence, but then I noticed who he was playing with- Annie! So, I quickly grabbed the camera and shot a short clip of it. She seems to really getting the hang of playing with her caregivers lately!

The chimps’ stuff

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We leave out a lot of toys, blankets and other stuff for the chimps each day, and they pick what they want out of it. It’s interesting to me that there are such individual variations in what the chimps’ choose to hold on to for the day, or sometimes just a moment. I often think of the years and years before they came to the sanctuary when they had nothing.

Here’s Annie staking claim to a couple of clean blankets:

Annie's blankets

and enjoying her spoils:

annie lying on blankets in greenhouse

Jody with a new piece of enrichment – woven and coiled jute from new Canadian friends:

jody with jute

Burrito usually chooses things he can put in his mouth:

burrito toy in mouth in the greenhouse

Burrito toy in mouth upside

and here’s Negra lying in her nest of blankets – Jody’s not the only chimpanzee who does the yoga “happy baby” pose:

Negra happy baby pose

More on the new Annie

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The other night, J.B. gave a talk at Central Washington University about the changes we have seen in the Cle Elum Seven since they arrived from the lab in Pennsylvania almost 3 years ago. It’s amazing to think about how far the ghostly beings that arrived here have come since the start of their sanctuary life. J.B.’s talk focused mostly on Burrito, Negra, and Foxie, however, Annie is another great example of how sanctuary can pull someone out of their shell. As J.B. mentioned back in January, Annie used to never play with anyone other than Missy, but lately she’s been playing with other folks more frequently, including her human friends. Connie, who is training to be a volunteer caregiver, got her very first hand tickle the other day– and guess who it was from- Annie! Every time I think about Negra being playful and more extroverted than usual, or Burrito hanging out in the greenhouse, or Foxie nesting with blankets, or Annie playing with new friends, I just have to smile from ear to ear at the testimony that is to sanctuary life. It’s such a joy to watch these chimps change- and to think about what’s to come!