Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Archives for February 2009

Sippin’ 4 the Seven

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So, we have this totally amazing and fun event coming up – a wine tasting in Roslyn, WA being organized by this cool wine and antique shop called Vintage Vine. The event, Sippin’ for the Seven, among many other things, will be the debut of the new photo slideshow – all of the great photos of the chimpanzees in a five and a half minute slideshow set to music.

In my ideal world, everyone who reads the blog would be able to come and celebrate, raise a bit of needed funds, see the slideshow and listen to stories of the chimpanzees.

This is kind of a big event for us, so anyone who lives remotely close by should definitely try to make it. Roslyn is a great town (it’s where they filmed the show Northern Exposure), and there are places to stay overnight if you’d rather not drive back home after the sippin’.

If you really can’t come, we understand (say you live in South Carolina or California, for example). You can still participate in the event by making a donation. If you donate $40 or more using this donation form: http://chimpsanctuarynw.kintera.org/Sippin, I will send you a wine glass with the CSNW logo on it and a really nice postcard.

If you own a business, you can sponsor the event and we’ll include your business in the event program – contact me for details: [email protected]

Let’s see how much fun we can all have raising funds for the Cle Elum Seven!

Morning Yoga, Troll Games

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You never know what you are going to find when you greet the chimps in the morning. For example, you might find Jamie upside down, acting as if its totally normal to begin the day upside down. 

 

Today was a beautiful day for early February so we served lunch outside. Afterwards, Foxie climbed to the top of the enclosure to where she could throw her trolls down to us.

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Playing chase with Missy

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Missy loves to play chase outside. It’s not fair for us humans, though. The outdoor enclosure is built into a hillside, so while Missy just runs from one side to the other on flat ground, we humans have to run up a hill, around the back side, and back down again. Meanwhile, we can hear Missy laughing in anticipation of our arrival. When we finally get there, Missy has already taken off again.

As fun as it is for us to play chase with the chimps, we much prefer when they play together.

A day of plenty

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This morning we put out at least 50 trolls. Many of them had almonds in their bodies as a little troll “forage.” So Foxie had a wide array of companions today! Tonight, she was the last one to come in for dinner. She came in and out of the front rooms a few times before I could close the door – each time going back out to grab just one. more. troll. I think she had six when she finally got settled!

Then, at dinner, I noticed another sign of “plenty:” Annie sitting in front of not one, not two, but THREE buckets of food! We always make sure to put out enough so that everyone can get at least one. But usually that means Jamie gets 5, a few folks get 2, and Annie gets one. Go Annie!

Those helpful opposable toes

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For dinner, Elizabeth set out a lovely forage of bowls of creamy wheat cereal (aka farina) with fresh strawberries as well as whole apples. We’ve been getting a LOT of apples lately, so Elizabeth and I decided to set out three for each chimpanzee. Missy got it just right. Those opposable toes really do come in handy when you want to keep a grip on your two back-up fruit!

Today was the first day I had seen the chimps since the big fight and I was AMAZED at how quickly injuries are healing. Chimpanzees are darn tough – phsyically and in spirit. They would have to be to be able to survive everything that they have been through in their lives. Burrito and Missy spent a lot of time grooming, and Burrito displayed a couple of times during the day. So, things seem to be returning to the status quo.

I was talking to the chimps’ friend Margie the day of the fight, and she compared the chimps’ fighting and quick making-up to how some big human families interact – screaming matches one minute and sitting down to dinner the next 🙂

Business as usual

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You’ll be glad to know that everyone is doing well, and although the chimpanzees are still trying to figure out where things stand after the fight, for the most part its business as usual around here.

This morning, Jamie kept herself occupied by playing with towels and water bottles (the loud noise you hear in the video is from Foxie hitting one of her trolls with a spoon!). She’s somehow always busy, and you can see how serious she is when she’s engaged in one of her many tasks, like pouring water from one bottle to another:

 

In the afternoon, Jamie, Foxie and Missy played outdoors. Foxie, of course, brought her trolls: