Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Senator Cantwell introduces GAPA companion bill

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

If you receive our e-newsletter you found out some sad news this morning – at least four of the 202 chimpanzees living at the Alamogordo Primate Facility who are slated to be transferred to Texas and made available for biomedical testing are children of the Cle Elum Seven.

We were able to determine this thanks to Project Release and Restitution and the information they have available on their website.

Learn more about this transfer of 202 chimpanzees from our July 16th blog post and view today’s newsletter with details of whose children are among the group: August e-newsletter.

There is hope for these and all chimpanzees in biomedical research in the United States, however. Today, Washington State Senator Maria Cantwell introduced a companion bill to the Great Ape Protection Act, first introduced in the House of Representatives as HR 1326. Passing GAPA would mandate that federally-funded chimpanzees be retired to sanctuary and would outlaw the use of chimpanzees in painful and invasive biomedical research.

Learn more about GAPA and how you can help from the Seattle Times editorial co-written by Executive Director Sarah Baeckler and from the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine.

This is a crucial time for chimpanzees and we have the power to help them. Thanks to everyone who is speaking out for them.

Seattle Weekly web awards

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is a finalist for a Seattle Weekly Best of the Web Award! We’re in the category of “Best Use of a Blog to Make Bank.” We’ll find out at an invite-only party on June 17th if we won.

Our friends at PAWS won the award for Best Online Presence – Nonprofit. Congrats to them and fingers crossed for us!

seattle weekly best of web logo

Annie & Missy photo on Discover blog

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

Yesterday, Candy alerted me to Sheril Kirshenbaum’s Discover blog asking for photos of kisses. Sheril has a new book coming out soon called The Science of Kissing, which features chimpanzees in a few chapters.

I submitted J.B.’s photo of Annie kissing Missy that we have available in our online store. Sheril liked it so much, she posted it to her blog today with links to our website to find out more about the sanctuary. Check out the blog post, feel free to leave a comment, and browse all of the kissing photos (Praire Dog Snog is pretty cute).

Ultimate goal reached! $1,800 to reach $50,000

Friday, May 28th, 2010

We’ve reached the $45,000 goal!!! We will replace one more window if we reach $50,000 – only $1,800 more to get there. That will allow us to replace a grand total of seven windows – one for each chimpanzee! Two windows from LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, One from Anna Kircher’s generous match and you blog readers, and hopefully four from the 2nd Anniversary Fundraising.

The remaining windows we will keep as they are so that we can open them for air circulation. We are waiting for our welders to fit us in to their schedule. As soon as that happens, we’ll start installing the first three picture windows!

The idea behind our 2nd Anniversary Fundraising was to raise crucial funds for our operating expenses before doing any more projects, so any additional funds raised will go towards these operating expenses. Let’s see how far we can go!

A big thank you to recent donors who helped put us over the top:

*Karen and Don Young for their amazing $7500 match. They really allowed us to reach that goal so much faster!

* Frank Milette of Magnetic & Penetrant Services Co., Inc. Frank is volunteer Cari Parker’s boss. Remember that big roll of pink paper? Cari saw the paper at work, thought of Jamie, and asked her boss if she could bring it to the sanctuary. As a thank you for letting her give the chimps the paper, Cari shared a photo of Jamie in her giant pink nest and a link to our website, and Frank immediately wrote a very generous $1,000 check!

*Barbara Bakeletz (Barb in Ohio) who donated $875 to get us to the $40,000 goal.

* Volunteer Stephanie Perciful, who raised $700 through the Pet First Aid Class she and her husband Tim taught last week. Thanks to all who attended the training and donated!

* Tamela Burgess has been “feeding the banana” for months by working really hard to produce amazing and sought-after jewelry for her Etsy store. Her total raised so far is over $1,500!

*A special thanks also to our monthly donors, who keep us going whether we are having a special fundraising drive or not.

*I don’t want to leave anyone out! There have been so many donors over the last two months, and I will be updating our donor list soon to reflect all of these wonderful folks. Everyone who has given any amount since March 17th has contributed towards the 2nd Anniversary Fundraising. Our success is thanks to all of you.

We’ve come a long way, baby!

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

In November 2008, volunteer Dakotta, of the High Mountain Sustainable Project, and myself came out to build the sanctuary compost boxes in preparation for a garden in the future.

The ground around the perimeter fence is nothing but fill dirt. But, in spring of 2009, we got serious and 96 wheelbarrow loads of compost, manure and top soil later…

And man o’ man, was last year’s garden successful!

But it just keeps getting better! This year, we’ve built up the trails around the beds so that the soil stays nice and warm. We are also in the process of tearing down the straw compost boxes and replacing them with wooden ones.

We’ve also added more beds around the south side of the building so that the chimps can get a closer view of what’s growing in their garden!

Royal City’s Cloudview Ecofarms have donated tons of starts for this years garden, including broccoli, kale, cabbage, onions, and lettuce.

Because of all of our hard work this year, I am now officially calling myself, Dakotta, JB, and volunteer Denice the “Garden Committee”. With the help of all these individuals, we’ve landscaped the area around the chimps’ outdoor area, which will soon also include more garden beds of fast-growing veggies, like carrots, lettuce, kale, etc…

Can’t wait to show you all the finished product! We’ve come a LONG, LONG way, baby!! Thanks so much Dakotta, JB, Denice, the awesome folks at Cloudview Ecofarms, and everyone one else that has contributed. You guys are awesome and are helping us provide the chimps with fresh (and enriching) food!

Watch KONG 6/16 or KING 5 tonight!

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Footage filmed a few weeks ago at the sanctuary about a story focused on the Great Ape Protection Act will air on Seattle’s KONG 6 tonight at 10pm and KING 5 tonight at 11pm. Tune in! We hear the teasers for the story were shown on the stations this morning.

*Note – I messed up! The program is airing on KING 5 and it’s affiliate station, KONG 6/16 in Seattle. Originally, I posted it was airing on KOMO 4, also a great station, but not affiliated with KING 5. Sorry!

Fundraising Update – OMG! $10,000 in 1 week

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

This week was really incredible in terms of donations towards our 2nd Anniversary Fundraising. We received a $5,000 grant from the Tony Stewart Foundation (share this page with all of your race-loving friends) and over $5,000 in individual donations!! This means  we have only $17,332 to raise by June 13th to reach our ultimate goal of $45,000 and three more chimp-proof windows. We are getting so close! Don’t slow down now!

There are two new supporter fundraising pages:

Jeani Goodrich (no relation to me) has a Firstgiving page set up. With every $25 donation, she’ll send you something special, starting with wood-burned pins made by Diane Frederick of Fredericks Firegraphics (see the Foxie pin to the left.)

Donate now to get your pick of chimpanzee for the pin.




Cindy Marks has set up an Etsy store to sell handmade  bracelets with the chimps’ names on them. All net proceeds will go to the sanctuary. Each bracelet includes a picture card of the chimpanzee you select. Most bracelets include African wedding beads to honor their heritage.

She has created a very sweet BFF Missy and Annie bracelet (see photo at left) with intertwined strands representing Annie and Missy’s devotion to each other.

Shop now and check back often for new designs!

And don’t forget these other ways that you can donate to the sanctuary while supporting those who are raising funds:

You can also make a direct donation to the sanctuary. 45 days to go…. we can reach our goal with your help! Thank you, everyone!

Learn Pet First Aid, help the Cle Elum Seven

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

Volunteer Stephanie Perciful’s husband Tim has a cool opportunity for you. Tim is a certified instructor through the American Safety & Health Institute (endorsed by the ASPCA) to teach Pet First Aid. He’s been teaching this class for a couple of years and has a ton of experience in the field.

He and Stephanie are offering a pet first aid class on May 25th with all of the proceeds going to the sanctuary’s 2nd Anniversary Fundraising.

This invaluable class teaches, through demonstrations and hands-on training:

- How to restrain a sick or injured animal.
- How to check a pulse on a dog or cat.
- Pet CPR
- Bandaging & Splinting
- Various common pet illnesses or conditions.
- What to do in poison emergencies.
- What to put in a pet first aid kit & pet disaster kit.
- Disaster preparedness for your pet.
- And more

The class is intended for anyone who is interested in learning how to care for their pet during an emergency.

Date: Sunday, May 23, 2010 (corrected date)
Time: 9am – 3pm
Location: King County Fire District #44 near Auburn & Black Diamond
Cost: $50 (100% of the proceeds go to the chimps!)

Because this class is hands-on, space is very limited, so email tim@learnpetfirstaid.com today to reserve your place. And be sure to share with others who may be interested.  Download the flyer by clicking here: pfaChimpFlyer-1. And spread far and wide by inviting your friends on Facebook.

Peace and earthquakes

Monday, March 29th, 2010

A little while ago I was out in the greenhouse and snapped this picture of Jamie sleeping. I love seeing the chimps asleep – they look so peaceful. And it’s especially great to see Jamie looking peaceful since she’s always so serious and busy!

jamie sleeps

About 10 minutes later, I was sitting at my computer and the chimp house shook dramatically. Earthquake! Jackie and I looked at each other at the same time that the chimps all started alarm calling. We went to make sure everyone was ok (and the building as well) and to give the chimps some reassurance.  Everyone’s fine! But the chimps were rattled and I don’t think Jamie will be taking another nap this afternoon!