Today was a busy, fun, crazy, happy day here at CSNW! We celebrated sweet and sassy Foxie’s 47th birthday- can you believe it?
She makes 47 look pretty darn great. 🙂
And we’d like to give our heartfelt thanks to Paulette Wrisley for sponsoring Foxie’s special day of celebration! It means so much to us to be able to honor Foxie, and each of the chimpanzees, for the amazingly special individuals they are.
We kicked off the celebrations with a delicious smoothie for the birthday girl, who loves smoothies and holds her own cup every morning. She got new dolls throughout the day, enjoyed a pre-party party, and then had a forage on Young’s Hill complete with Pineapple Bowls (!) full of yummy fruit, bok choy, cucumber, and cabbage. Despite the weather being quite warm, everyone went out on the Hill and was able to grab at least one pineapple bowl. Cy’s group also enjoyed pineapple bowls with lots of fresh goodies! Be sure to check out the video for more.
If you are new to following us, Foxie was born on August 8th, 1976 at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research. According to our records her mother, Winny, passed away at the Alamogordo Primate Facility in 2013. Foxie was used in hepatitis vaccine research and as a breeder while living in the lab. She had four babies- all of whom were taken from her when they were very, very young. In the wild, chimpanzees rely heavily on their mothers for many years and live with them through their adolescence. The practice of taking infants from their mothers in laboratories has long-term harmful impacts on both the mother and the offspring- I, personally, cannot imagine this sort of trauma.
When she came to sanctuary, she adopted a doll within the first month here. This single doll has turned into quite a collection and she has one, if not two, babies with her all the time. She enjoys games of troll toss and will often give one of her caregivers a doll to ‘babysit’ for her. She lets us know when she’s ready to have them back by blowing raspberries in the loft of the playroom by the human kitchen. 🙂 When she really gets going and is playing chase with a caregiver, she is known to do these amazing spins across the floor from one end of the room to the other. Or she will climb up the caging and flip so she hangs upside down. After all she has been through, her resiliency and silly nature is truly awe-inspiring.
Foxie is a sweet, spunky, forgiving, and absolutely precious soul who I feel lucky to know. Happy birthday, Fox. <3
Photos from the day:
Foxie allowed a mini photo-shoot in the front rooms this morning:
Negra scored a pineapple bowl during the forage:
Jamie, looking as regal as ever:
Jamie, winning the ‘How-Many-Pineapples-Can-I-Carry-At-Once’ Award:
Annie looking very sweet during the pre-party party in their greenhouse:
And on the hill:
Burrito decided to enjoy his pineapple bowl on Young’s Hill:
Burrito also enjoyed the Gatorade pools:
Birthday girl enjoying her pineapple bowl on Young’s Hill:
And a fresh green onion:
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