Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

valentine's day

Fall in love with Annie

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We are creating and sharing videos of all of the chimpanzees in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day!
 

Starting with beautiful Annie:
 

 

Learn more about how to participate in the Share the Chimp Love fundraising or how to become a Chimpanzee Pal.

 

And if the above video didn’t quite convince you to become Annie’s newest Pal, here are a few photos from today of Annie making the most of winter by enjoying the snow and icicles served indoors:

 

and the biggest snow forage imaginable (aka the outdoors right now):

 

Seriously, how could you NOT fall in love?!
 

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Celebrating Valentine’s Day Chimp Style

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How did the chimpanzees celebrate Valentine’s Day? Well, with a party of course!

Volunteer caregivers Patti and Debbie prepared today’s breakfast smoothie and enrichment along with the help of staff member Elizabeth.

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After we finished cleaning the Playroom (one of the chimps’ indoor enclosures), we laid out blankets in the shape of hearts on the floor and placed pomegranate seeds and organic red roses inside. We also hung three pink, heart-shaped pinatas with nuts inside and scattered the Valentine-themed cups and treat boxes (with nuts hidden inside) throughout the enclosure. Unfortunately, I accidentally erased all of the photos of the setup, so you’ll have to use your imagination for that or see if you can spot some of it in the following video taken today.

And here are a few photo highlights from today as well. Unfortunately, the setup photos weren’t the only ones I erased by accident; I also erased photos of Negra, Jody and Missy enjoying the party.

Jamie
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Burrito
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Annie
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Foxie
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Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! And if you haven’t already, it’s not too late to Share the Love for the Cle Elum Seven! This Share the Chimp Love fundraiser will provide funds for the direct care of the chimpanzees now and will help with our plans for the future.

Negra Share the Love pic

Be Still My Heart

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It’s appropriate to get really mushy because it’s Valentine’s Day tomorrow, right?

I am going to share something I love about each of the chimpanzees below, but first I need to get mushy about you – Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest supporters.

First, a confession: fundraising has not been my life’s ambition. I’ve met people who I might call “born fundraisers,” and I can definitively say that they posses qualities that I  simply do not.

However, the more I do this fundraising thing, the more I appreciate what a unique and special position I am in. I get to make dreams come true – dreams for the chimpanzees, and dreams for donors who support the chimpanzees. We are all very much in this together, with the same goals for the future, and I feel that connection when I talk to those who support the sanctuary.

Not many people have a job that is so fulfilling, and very few people have a job with so much positive feedback. Katelyn and I were talking about this in the office the other day – we regularly have people call or email to not only make a donation, but also to say that they love the work we are doing and appreciate us sharing stories of the chimpanzees, allowing them to feel connected to the chimps as the individuals who they are.

Thank you for being supportive and for sharing your love with the chimpanzees – and with the humans too!

Speaking of which… as I write this, we are just $1,797 away from reaching our $12,000 goal for the Share the Chimp Love fundraiser, which ends at the end of the day tomorrow. UPDATE: big thanks to Julie L. for donating exactly $1,797 after this post was published!

If you are feeling the love, but haven’t yet made a donation, you can share that love now on this page.  You can choose to spread the love even further by donating in honor of someone else for Valentine’s Day, or just make a donation for the love of Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, and Negra.

Below are just some of the things that I love about each of the chimpanzees at the sanctuary.

It would be so fun for me if you also shared what you love about Annie, Burrito, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, and Negra in the comments!

 

I love ANNIE’s serenity:

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and her bird noises!

 

I love when BURRITO’s “chimpanzeeness” really comes through (for the full explanation of the video below, see this blog post from 2013 when it was originally published):

 

I love FOXIE’S “happy toes” (video from 2010):

 

I love JAMIE’s brave leadership:

 

I love JODY’ nesting skills:

 

I love MISSY’s ability to entertain herself:

 

I love NEGRA’s playful moments (video from 2011):

 

Thank you again for being a part of Sharing the Chimp Love!

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Today is for loved ones

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Very appropriately for the day before Valentine’s Day, today’s day of sanctuary was sponsored by two caring people in honor of loved ones.

 

Doris Wunch is honoring her husband, William Goodman, with this sponsor-a-day message: “This Friday, February 13, is my husbands birthday. As a animal lover, he will be honored to share his day with these fun loving chimpanzees as they enjoy their freedom in the beautiful northwest.”

 

Virginia Ray sponsored the day in honor of her mother with this message, “In memory of my Mom who raised me to have a great love of all creatures.”

 

It’s very touching for the humans at the sanctuary to learn more about donors and their loved ones through the Sponsor-a-Day program and to be able to share wonderful people and touching messages with our supporters. And these messages of love are also helping to provide for the care of the chimpanzees.

On our social media sites this week leading up to Valentine’s Day, we’ve been sharing “Love is…” images. With these loving messages for today’s day of sanctuary from Doris and Virginia, it only seemed fitting to share them in this post

 

William, we wish you the happiest of birthdays filled with the things you love, and Virginia, we hope you will have many memories of your mother today remembering what made her the happiest in life. Thank you for being a part of the chimpanzees’ happiness.

 

Lovie is for Annie

 

Love is for Burriot

 

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Love is for Jamie

 

Love is for Jody

 

Love is for Missy

We will post Negra’s message on our social media sites tomorrow – you can view our public Facebook page even if you’re not signed up with your own Facebook account.

 

Still time to get chocolate for your sweetie!

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Just two more days to make a donation of $40 or more and in return receive a unique and delicious (believe me, I’ve sampled one) organic vegan Sjaak’s chocolate bar with a special label celebrating Annie and Missy’s love. Use our Valentine’s Donation form and give a Valentine’s gift to the chimps and your loved one!

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