chimp enrichment
Karen’s Honorary Birthday Party
We love you, Karen! 🙂
Missy’s Birthday
Today we celebrated Missy’s 35th Birthday. What a great day! We set the party up first thing this morning and scattered tons of gift bags of goodies from Dick and Robbi, and set up a forage of oranges, peaches, carrots, frozen cantaloupe, and “night bags” (or “breakfast bags”, if you will) of sunflower seeds, which were hidden inside the gift bags. The chimps loved the party and were in excellent moods for the duration of the day!
If you are friends with Missy or any of the Cle Elum Seven chimps on Facebook, you might have seen posts this morning about another birthday fundraiser. It’s not too late to participate- send us a $35 donation and I’ll email a special gift to you and a friend (be sure to put your friend’s email in the gift note section of the donation form). She’s celebrating with her friends, why don’t you celebrate with a friend as well?!
Negra enjoying her “breakfast bag”:
Burrito and Foxie enjoying some frozen cantaloupe:
Jamie, in true spirit of a party:
Here’s a peek at the party:
Keeping busy
This is what greeted me when I arrived at the chimp house this morning:
For at least ten minutes, her concentration was so acute that she couldn’t be distracted. Jamie is so busy these days that it’s almost impossible to imagine how she occupied her time during her decades in laboratories with nothing to play with or explore. What a different world this must be for her!
Argh!
In case you haven’t heard through all of the chimps’ Facebook status updates (yes, each chimp has their own FB page, which can be found through this link), thanks to volunteer Stephanie Perciful, the chimps had a pirate-themed party yesterday. What an awesome idea! Stephanie did an awesome job (as usual) collecting pirate-themed enrichment for the chimps, so the playroom was covered in buried treasures (e.g. gold beaded necklaces) and skulls and crossbones. Thanks, Steph!
Incidental Enrichment
As you probably saw from yesterday’s blog post, the chimps not only have a new clear view, but also love hanging out on the window sills in the outdoor area! Who new?! There were moments yesterday when there was at least one chimp sitting in each window sill. It looked like a CSNW version of Hollywood Squares. Intentional enrichment is great, but incidental enrichment is even better!
Yesterday in honor of Neil
Yesterday, August 2nd, was a Sponsor a Day in honor of Neil Welch who “loves the intelligence and beauty of the chimpanzees.” Thank you, Neil and thank you Tanya for honoring Neil by dedicating a day of sanctuary for the Cle Elum Seven chimpanzees!
Here’s a special photo of the beautiful and intelligent Jody investigating the long laces on a sandal: