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Archive for October, 2011

The Great Pumpkin

Monday, October 31st, 2011

As Diana mentioned in a blog post from earlier, Jamie and I share a birthday today! I can’t think of a better way to spend my Hallo-birthday than by throwing a party for Jamie and the rest of the Cle Elum Seven!

We have a lot of folks to thank for making today’s party a huge success. Robbi & Dick Brown and Tamela donated a lot of fun new toys and decorations, and volunteers Steph and Katelyn brought some new things with them today as well. We also want to thank Deborah G., Barbara B., Jessica K., Tamela, and Jeani G. for donating towards Jamie’s big celebration today! And of course we can’t forget all of Jamie’s Chimpanzee Pals: Cherie Breaux & Robert Bochnik; Kathy Carlson; Candy Crannell; GFWC Cascade Woman’s Club; Debbie Kray; Pam Lehnert & Marc Warner; KC McCarthy; Jackie Mulanax & Brad McNeice; Debra Redwine; Pam Reid; Kathleen Roan; Tony Silvia; Nicole Sturn; and Jackson Walkden-Brown.

Steph and Katelyn brought with them a giant pumpkin, with Jamie’s named carved in it (and the “J” was made into a boot!) The following photos are of the Great Pumpkin (as I’ve decided to call it).

Jamie with her pumpkin:

Jody was the first to dig in:

Negra joined in:

Missy asking Jody if she can share, Jody giving her a reassuring kiss:

Jody and Foxie (Missy in the background):

At one point Burrito was working on the pumpkin all by himself:

So much happened today that I’m pretty sure there will be more Hallo-birthday photos and videos posted tomorrow!

Tags: animal protection, Animal Welfare, Burrito, chimp enrichment, chimpanzee, chimpanzee retirement, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Cle Elum 7, Cle Elum Seven, csnw, enrichment, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, Negra, party, Sanctuary
Posted in Burrito, Food, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, Negra, party, Sanctuary, Thanks | 15 Comments »

Happy Halloween Birthday

Monday, October 31st, 2011

Today is not only Halloween and Jamie’s honorary birthday, but it is also caregiver Debbie’s birthday. And in just three days it will be caregiver Elizabeth’s birthday. Send a donation “treat” for Jamie or her caregivers and your name will be on the blog later today – so get your donation in soon!

Halloween parties are so much fun at the sanctuary – just ask Jamie.

Tags: chimp, chimpanzee, halloween, Jamie, northwest, Sanctuary
Posted in Jamie, party | 6 Comments »

Today’s choices

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

Today the day started out kinda rainy and so the chimps stayed in the front rooms while we cleaned the playroom. I caught an unusual duo wrestling—Negra and Annie! Annie does not always play with folks other than her best friend Missy, and Negra doesn’t play as often as the other chimps. So it was really awesome to see the two of them engaging in so much fun. I wasn’t able to get a lot of good video of it, but I did catch a brief snippet.

Later in the day the sun was out and Young’s Hill was the place to be. Everyone but Negra came out at one point, and even after Burrito went back inside the other girls hung out for a bit longer. It was great to see five chimps out on the hill all at once. In the last piece of this video, you’ll be able to see all five in the same shot.

Tomorrow we’re celebrating Jamie’s birthday on Halloween. It’s not too late to donate to make her party really great!

Tags: Animal Welfare, Annie, chimpanzee, chimpanzee retirement, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Cle Elum 7, Cle Elum Seven, csnw, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, Negra, Play, primate protection, Sanctuary, young's hill
Posted in Annie, Foxie, Jamie, Jody, Missy, Negra, Play, Sanctuary, Young's Hill | 4 Comments »

Foxie’s Day Out

Saturday, October 29th, 2011

Do not adjust your screens, these are photos of Foxie all over the hill today!

Here she is on top of a climbing structure on the hill – a first for Foxie! It’s the climbing structure closest to the raceway. She went up there to retrieve a troll doll initially but went back several times during the day.

Foxie carefully bringing her trolls back down from the structure:

The crew that put the concrete on the treat rock had a bit leftover, so they made a replica of Mt St. Helens. Foxie’s touring by the site here:

Missy (left) was pretty excited to have Foxie on the hill.

Foxie put one of her troll dolls on her back as she walked around a bit:

Tags: chimp, chimpanzee, csnw, Foxie, northwest, Sanctuary, troll dollls, young's hill
Posted in Foxie, Missy, Sanctuary, Trolls, Young's Hill | 16 Comments »

Foxie’s troll pet

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Chimpanzees definitely don’t make good pets, but troll dolls do!

Tags: Animal Welfare, chimp, chimp enrichment, chimp rescue, chimp sanctuary, chimpanzee retirement, chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Cle Elum, Cle Elum 7, Cle Elum Seven, csnw, Foxie, Sanctuary, young's hill
Posted in enrichment, Foxie, Sanctuary, Trolls, Young's Hill | 9 Comments »

Burrito on the hill

Wednesday, October 26th, 2011

Like Foxie, Burrito hasn’t spent much time out on the hill since the first few days out. Although we don’t want to push anyone out there and want the chimps to go out in their own time and on their own terms, I found myself on a mission the last few days to encourage him out there… and what did the trick? Lettuce? no. Peanuts? nope. Dried Apples? nope, try again. It was chow (biscuits that are often given to captive primates to ensure proper nutrients. It’s a lot like dog food, but for whatever reason, the chimps really like it). Mr. B is pretty predictable sometimes.

Tags: Burrito, chimpanzee, chimpanzee rescue, chimpanzee retirement, chimpanzee sanctuary, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Cle Elum 7, Cle Elum Seven, csnw, enrichment, northwest, Play, Sanctuary, young's hill
Posted in Burrito, enrichment, Food, Sanctuary, Young's Hill | 9 Comments »

Happy Birthday Pam Lehnert!

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

Today is Pam Lehnert’s birthday and her friend Jill honored Pam with a Sponsor-a-Day as a birthday gift. Since Pam bought this chair for Jamie (and the other chimps, of course), I’m bring back the first photo we got of Jamie sitting in her hand chair.

I really don’t know what I would do without Pam’s help with our event fundraisers, so I try to celebrate Pam Lehnert everyday, particularly leading up to the auction.

Happy day to you Pam! And thank you Jill for sponsoring this day!

Tags: chimp, chimpanzee, csnw, northwest, pam lehnert, Sanctuary, sponsor-, sponsor-a-day
Posted in enrichment, Jamie, sponsor-a-day | 7 Comments »

Greeting

Monday, October 24th, 2011

Chimpanzees give each other really sweet greetings after they’ve been separated for some amount of time. Jody spent all afternoon on the hill yesterday by herself, and when she started heading back Annie was getting pretty excited. I didn’t catch a very long video, but I did get a quick snippet of Annie’s sweet greeting with Jody. I wanted to include some explanations of Annie’s greeting behaviors, so you may have to watch the video twice!

Typically less-dominant individuals greet more-dominant members of a group. Although Jody isn’t the leader, she is more dominant than Annie (although Annie is definitely asserting herself and has much more confidence these days than she did when they first arrived). In the video, you’ll see Annie bipedally (up on her feet) swagger with her hair standing on end (pilo erect). These behaviors are indicative of a high arousal state, basically meaning she’s excited. Then you’ll see her crouch down and run toward Jody. The crouching down is a sign of submission, and it shows Annie’s respect for Jody. When she contacts Jody she gives her a hug and simultaneously offers an open mouth kiss (it’s hard to see, but that is what she’s doing!) And finally as they head back into the greenhouse together, Annie dabs Jody’s back.

Even though this all occurred in just 15 seconds or so, there’s a lot of communication going on! Chimpanzees are really amazing and complex beings.

Tags: Animal Welfare, Annie, bipedal swagger, breathy pant, chimpanzee, chimpanzee retirement, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Cle Elum 7, Cle Elum Seven, crouch, csnw, dab, greeting, hug, Jody, open mouth kiss, pant grunt, primate protection, Sanctuary, young's hill
Posted in Annie, Chimpanzee Behavior, Jody, Sanctuary, Young's Hill | 12 Comments »

Peek-a-boo

Sunday, October 23rd, 2011

Tags: Animal Welfare, chimpanzee, chimpanzee retirement, Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, Cle Elum 7, Cle Elum Seven, csnw, Jamie, primate protection, Sanctuary
Posted in Jamie, Sanctuary | 9 Comments »

Just because she can

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

Jamie is someone to be admired for a few different reasons. She has, in many ways, overcome her terrible past, and she has established herself as the leader of the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees. She is strong and knows what she wants. She seems to have a pretty good grasp of both chimpanzee and human behavior and uses this knowledge to her advantage whenever she can. And she doesn’t back down from a challenge, whether it comes from outside or it’s a personal challenge of her own inspiration.

Today, for example, Jamie had one of her favorite boots in the world, given to her practically off of his own feet by the Gallagher Fence representative. She carried the boot with her all day, even when she went out for her adventures on Young’s Hill. At one point, she spotted a piece of kale harvested from the garden (she’s been loving this kale!) that we had put on the treat rock. She got the piece of kale, but decided she wanted to climb the treat rock while holding the kale and her boot. A challenge!

She started on the south side of the rock

That proved difficult, so she scaled the rock from the front

She made it to the top and ate her kale

Then went right back down again

Tags: chimp, chimpanzee, cowboy boots, csnw, determination, enrichment, Jamie, northwest, Sanctuary, young's hill
Posted in enrichment, Jamie, Sanctuary, Young's Hill | 8 Comments »

Welcome to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest's blog! The sanctuary is currently home to seven chimpanzees released from biomedical research. This group, the Cle Elum Seven, arrived at the sanctuary on June 13, 2008. We post photos, stories, videos and more to this blog almost everyday, so visit often! Also, visit us on social networking sites (see links below).