Today marks the two month anniversary of the opening of Young’s Hill. Coincidentally it was also volunteer Katelyn’s birthday, so we did have a small party for the chimps. It was only later that I realized we could have also considered it the anniversary party! Here’s some (hopefully) never before seen pictures of the first day on Young’s Hill. I can’t believe it has already been two months! In just that short amount of time we’ve seen the chimps grow more and more comfortable on the hill, and I expect that when next summer rolls around (and all the snow is gone!) they will stay for hours and hours basking in the sun and looking up at the open sky. I watched the KOMO news story again today, and it still warms my heart. It was such an amazing, emotional, and remarkable day.
Animal Welfare
Brandon Wood Rocks!
In case you haven’t heard, in the world of chimps, Brandon Wood rocks!
Brandon is 11 and has been working hard on behalf of chimpanzees. He’s been very busy sending letters to congress and to the president, telling them about the importance of the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act, and has even been fundraising for the Cle Elum Seven! His dedication, passion and diligence is something to really look up to. I know I do!!
So, as a way to honor him and all that he has done, and is doing, we had a surprise party for the chimps today. Volunteer Connie initiated the plan and brought a few “rock star-style” party decorations and then, volunteers Stephanie and Katelyn went on the hunt in Seattle and found all kinds of rockin’ decor, including a guitar pinata- because we think Brandon “rocks”! In addition, I secretly contacted Brandon’s mom, Deanna, to find out some of Brandon’s favorite foods and snacks so we could have them for the party and make the day as special as possible.
To get the chimps geared up for a party, we started things out by having a snow cone/cup forage in the greenhouse.
Deanna told me that one of Brandon’s favorite things is pumpkin pie. We don’t give the chimps dairy or sugar, so we were presented with a challenge, but it didn’t stop us! We pureed pumpkin, soy milk, tofu, and cinnamon and baked it inside mini pumpkins. I think it worked out pretty well!
Deanna told me that another favorite of Brandon’s is ants-on-a-log, and that he also really enjoys tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots. Can you guess what we served the chimps for lunch?
Thank you so much for all you do, Brandon! In our eyes, you really are a rock star!
Snow day
iEnrich
Today is sort of rainy out, so we wanted to enrich the chimpanzees with some indoor activity. Sometimes we play the TV for them, which some folks seem to really enjoy. We also know that the chimps like to watch themselves in mirrors, so I thought they might be interested in “Photo Booth,” which is an App on the iPad (and it’s also on most Mac computers) where you can take pictures of yourself. Foxie and Burrito seemed to think it was pretty cool, and I’m glad we were able to come up with some fun rainy day enrichment.
Security
Foxie seems to be getting more and more comfortable on the hill each day. Today, I saw her climb up each of the climbing structures, including one that is fairly far away, and she even played a little bit of chase with Missy. She always has her trolls out there with her, though, which I think of as a security thing. She often lets them ride on her back while she walks around to explore, but as you’ll see below, sometimes there just isn’t enough room for all those “babies” on her back.
A rarity
I’m pretty sure our camera was experiencing cuteness overload on Halloween. The following is a clip of some more of that cuteness I caught just before letting the chimps into the Playroom for their party. Jody and Negra rarely play, and certainly not with each other, so not only was it super cute, but it was a rare sight to see too!