Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Sanctuary

A nest with a view

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The other day, someone made a beautiful nest by one of the upstairs windows with a mix of blankets and timothy hay. I am guessing this was Missy’s. She is a nesting perfectionist and often builds the walls so high that she disappears into them. Many chimps will lay directly on the floor and build the nest around them, but Missy makes sure hers has a nice cushioned bottom.

What always amazes me about chimp nests is that everything is so interwoven that you can almost pick them up whole. This, of course, comes from the instinct to weave branches together securely to keep from falling out of the trees at night. Jamie often builds her nests next to the caging, and she will take the ends of the blankets and weave them through the wire mesh. Her nests take a lot of time to deconstruct!

12-8-09 Nice nest_MG_4899

$900 to go for the cageless view

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We’re more than halfway to a new chimp-proof glass window. Anna Kircher kicked it off with the challenge pledge of $1000 and $600 more was pledged almost immediately. Thank you Anna for initiating this gift and to all who responded so quickly. Replacing one of the windows that currently has a safety cage over it with clear chimp-proof glass will make a significant difference in the lives of the chimps. And we only need $900 more! Please see Anna’s original post and the responses so far: https://chimpsnw.org/?p=3082

Thank you!!

Challenge gift for a new window!

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Anna K. is pledging to give $1000 towards a new chimp proof window if we can raise the remaining $1500 to cover the costs of installation. Come on blog readers!! All of us staff will tell you what a huge difference the window makes. It lets in so much more light and the chimps absolutely love it. There are a lot of windows in the playroom with caging that we could replace with clear chimp-proof glass. Imagine seeing Negra looking out at the valley without having to look through bars.

Share Anna’s challenge (below) with others and let’s see how quickly we can give the chimps another view!

From Anna:

Ok – I’m thinking grandly here. But sometimes if you have high aspirations, the universe surprises you by coming through! 🙂

One of the b-i-i-i-g things on CSNW’s wish list is another chimp-proof window. And it’s so heartwarming to see how much the chimps are enjoying the one they have – wouldn’t it be great if they could have another?!

It costs about $2500 total to acquire all the parts/materials/labor to install a chimp-proof window. I’d be willing to seed the pot with $1000. I’m wondering if there might be 15 folks out there each willing to throw in $100?

Any takers? Could we gather enough money by Christmas to collectively give the chimps another window this winter? If you’re interested in participating, please reply here in the blog or contact me off-line at kirchera at hotmail dot com.

Kudos and cyber-hugs will be freely distributed to partners in this venture – I’ve got my fingers crossed for another cage-less view of the world for the chimps!!

Foxie snuggles up

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For those of you who know her, you’ll be pleased to see this cryptic picture of Foxie (which I had to snap it quickly in case she got up!). She’s got her head on a blanket in a nest she built the other day after dinner. If you’re just meeting Foxie, she is a special girl who generally avoids cozying up with blankets. All of the chimps here at CSNW make nests of some sort (and nesting is definitely a hard-wired behavior!) but Foxie’s are usually circles of plastic toys. It’s very heartwarming for the humans when, once in a while, Foxie uses a soft blanket to nest with. Of course she can choose to nest with whatever she likes, but hopefully this means that she is getting more comfortable here. The chimps have been here for a year and a half, but they’re still recovering and changing after years and years in medical research, and everyone has their own pace. It’s an honor to help them get comfortable!

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Through The Looking Glass

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Today was a really nice day, so I was able to give the chimps access to their Outdoor Enclosure and their Front Rooms while Elizabeth and I cleaned the Playroom. Almost everyone was playing outside at some point, and they were very interested in playing with us through the new glass window. This has been such a wonderful addition to the sanctuary. It must be SO nice to look out and not see bars! And they’ve created a very fun (and distracting!) new game to boot!