When your boss orders you to stop cleaning and start playing, you make time!
Archives for January 2019
Happy Birthday, Meg!
A day of sanctuary was sponsored by the chimps (and humans!) good friend, Meg Lunnum! Meg shared this message about her gift:
“It is my birthday again! I want to say I am SO EXCITED about contemplating new chimpanzees coming to the sanctuary. That is where I dedicate my birthday. More Chimps!!!!!! And cows, and monkeys and whatever else needs rescuing.”
Meg, thank you so much for all you do for the chimpanzees, for all you contribute to their lives and their home, and their future family! We hope you have the best birthday yet! Happiest of days to you from all of us here!
Annie, Missy and Foxie
Burrito and Negra:
Jamie:
Jody (Burrito, background):
Continued construction progress
We have a lot of people to thank for helping us work on this important stage. As you may already know, staff caregivers operate the chimpanzees’ current doors using a remote controlled pneumatic lever system. In our new Phase 1 chimpanzee area, we will be using a hydraulic door operating system. As you can watch in the above video, we got to see the first door in motion this morning!
To get this first door up and moving, Ozzie from Spencer Fluid Power donated a hydraulic power unit to the sanctuary. Gary and his team from Sage Mechanical donated and installed all of our hydraulic pipe, fittings and covers. The actual doors were given to us last winter by Central Washington University before the former Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute building was demolished. Here’s JB’s post about it from February 2018. We are so grateful to all the members of our community who have been so willing to donate their time and money to helping with this exciting expansion project. We can’t wait to Bring them Home!
Morning Exercise
When Anna opened the door to Young’s Hill this morning, the chimpanzees couldn’t get out there fast enough. It’s a crisp, sunny morning – the perfect weather for exploring outside with your friends.
Foxie, Annie (kissing Foxie’s hand), and Missy:
Negra, who usually prefers the warmth of her nest, got out and found a little snow to eat:
Annie soaked up the sun:
Missy:
Jody took in the view from her favorite spot:
Foxie’s priority was to lick as much frost as she could get her tongue on:
Burrito:
Jamie (with Annie in foreground):
The beauty of a mid-winter’s day
It was glorious this morning. Glittery, frost covered fields under cerulean skies, hawk cries sailing through the air and beautiful chimpanzees with sunlit hearts.
Foxie, Dora and Annie. Guh! My heart!….
Burrito mid foot stomp, Foxie and Annie:
Beautiful Jody soaking in the sun as she watches over her family:
Burrito back to sit near Jody:
Best Kind of Sundays
Negra was really into the weather today and who could blame her. It’s 51 degrees outside in January! Seriously, these chimps spent all day in the Greenhouse or on Young’s Hill, so it was a quiet and content chimp house today…
Negra out on Young’s Hill this morning:
Later Neggie found some snow/ice and set up shop on a comfy platform with a great view:
Foxie decided to keep Neggie company:
And I think Neggie didn’t mind:
Negra and Foxie’s view this morning:
Meanwhile, Missy (left) and Annie (right) were having an epic game of chase, as Foxie observed on the side lines:
Jody came out to enjoy the sun:
Burrito and Foxie also foraged for some snow/ice:
A Subtle Hint from Jamie
Last week, you may recall that I had a difficult time choosing a subject for a blog post. Well, here’s an explanation of one of the reasons why.
The enrichment theme for that day was “reading day” and Jamie took that to heart.
She seemed particularly enamored with a Dwell magazine. I even saw her gather up the magazine when she was moving from the front rooms to the playroom.
We see the chimpanzees carry blankets from one space to another and their favorite things (dolls for Foxie, boots for Jamie, wooden or plastic objects for Burrito), but it was the first time I’ve seen a chimpanzee so deliberately take a magazine that wasn’t smeared with peanut butter into a new space.
I didn’t get a sense that it was any particular page that she was interested in, as she carefully and thoroughly looked through the entire magazine:
Included in the reading day was a large catalog full of all sorts of products. When I went into the playroom in the evening to spot clean one last time, I found the catalog on the catwalk opened to this page:
Did boot-loving Jamie purposely leave the catalog for me to find, hinting at a future gift idea?
