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Young's Hill Strengthens Bonds Between Chimpanzees

It's been fascinating watching the chimpanzees explore Young's Hill over the past month. Some, like Jamie and Missy, were comfortable right away and have spent hours running around and getting the most out of their new two acres. It's not surprising that these two turn to each other if they need back-up.

Despite everyone running out on the first day, which Seattle's KOMO 4 team captured so well, not all of the chimps were immediately comfortable on the hill. Though Foxie walked around the entire perimeter of the fence the first day, she was reluctant to go out after that. It's been especially touching to see Jamie encourage Foxie to go farther and to watch Foxie employ Missy's playfulness to help her gain confidence.

Young's Hill has been a huge project for the sanctuary and a big change for the chimpanzees. We couldn't have done this without the help and support of so many!

Watch Jonathan Houser's video that was shown at the Out of the Box auction for more footage of the chimps' first steps onto the hill. And continue to follow their progress on our blog. 

Unfortunately, the story of the chimps' release onto the hill did not air on Nightline or Good Morning America as announced earlier this month. Steve Jobs died the day the story was scheduled to air, and both shows changed their programming to cover this news. We hope the story will still make it to the national airwaves and we will let you know when it does.

Auction Success

October 7th marked the largest and most successful fundraising event for Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest to date. Out of the Box 2011 raised over $147,000 for the sanctuary! View photos of the Seattle event, taken by Karen Ducey, on our event page.

The Fund-a-Need project this year, building an on-site medical clinic, raised an amazing $52,588 thanks to a $20,000 pledge from Karen and Don Young, a $5,000 challenge from Kathy Cochran, and many other generous donors. A few people pitched in some extra donations towards this project, including Candy C. who sent in exactly what we needed to reach our $20,000 goal for the online auction.  

Thanks so much to auction sponsors (see their logos with links to their businesses below), volunteers, auction item and dessert dash donors and of course Out of the Box attendees and participants in the online auction. You are directly helping improve the lives of chimpanzees.

Trick or Treat for Jamie

We celebrate Jamie's birthday on Halloween. Jamie is the leader of the Cle Elum Seven and the frequent star of blog posts because she is always front and center and frequently demanding attention. We don't give the chimpanzees candy, but her day will be filled with treats. Consider giving Jamie a treat of your own by making a donation in her honor towards the Halloween party and we'll thank you on the blog post that day.

Seattle Event

Join Director of Outreach Diana Goodrich and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's director of public and government affairs Elizabeth Kucinich in Seattle this Wednesday to learn more about how you can help chimpanzees living in laboratories. Find out how the the federal deficit could be cut by ending invasive experiments on chimpanzees. Please bring your friends!

For more information and to RSVP, visit PCRM's website.

Get Your Negra Sweatshirt

We have the perfect pullover hoodie for you! It's the coziest sweatshirt you'll ever own and features an image of Negra with her face turned towards the sun. You want this hoodie now and your friends want you to buy some for them too.

Some sizes and colors of the new Burrito t-shirts are still available, so get them while you can.

Be on the lookout for our 2012 calendars, which are coming soon. We're also working on the Sanctuary Year Three book!