Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimp enrichment

Missy’s Birthday

by

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?!

Missy:

Negra enjoying her “breakfast bag”:

Burrito and Foxie enjoying some frozen cantaloupe:

Jamie, in true spirit of a party:

Missy eating a carrot:

Here’s a peek at the party:

Keeping busy

by

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!

by

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

by

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!

Jamie:

Jody:

Foxie:

Missy:

Burrito:

Yesterday in honor of Neil

by

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:

Jody with sandal in playroom

Chimps’ Choice

by

Once again, last month’s Chimps’ Choice– acidophilus and gummy vitamins- was a huge success! We did, however, receive a few packages that did not have names on them, so if you sent some, please send me an email ([email protected]) and let me know so I can be sure to send you all bumper stickers!

For this month’s Chimps’ Choice, we are requesting seeds for the chimps’ garden (which is looking incredible this year, by the way!) We don’t want people to go to the trouble of going out and buying them, so maybe you have some laying around your house? Or maybe you could stop by your local nursery to see if they would be willing to donate some for the chimps? Get creative! Though not at all comprehensive, I’ve made a list of fruits and veggies we can grow in this area that the chimps like, just to give you an idea:

Carrots
Corn
Cucumbers
Kale
Greens
Bell Peppers (red, orange, yellow, and unique colors are best- Foxie refuses green!)
Onions
Green onions
Leeks
Radishes
Beets
Broccoli
Cabbage
Cherry Tomatoes
Sunflowers (or any edible flowers)

There are lots of other veggies that can be grown here that I probably haven’t thought of, so if you come across something that your are unsure is suitable for our area, send me an email and I’ll let you know.

Despite this cold summer weather, this year’s garden is still managing to be quite successful. We have a couple of new features that are both practical and add an interesting aspect to the chimps’ view– beautiful wooden compost boxes and a pea/bean teepee trellis. The teepee will soon have tons of beans and peas growing up the sides, along with beautiful mammoth sunflowers. BIG thanks to Dakotta from the High Mountain Sustainable Project for his amazing artistic skills! He rocks!! 🙂

Burrito eating squash from last years’ garden: