Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimp sanctuary

Happy 4th!

by

The chimps have had a great party today! The weather has been awesome– right now, it’s 70 degrees and it’s completely wind-less (a rarity these days!). This morning, we set up a huge forage on Young’s Hill- plums, grapes, peanuts, and chow, and the highlight– frozen grapefruit bowls. Last week, I had the idea to cut grapefruit in half and freeze juice and berries inside the peel, and a few days later, volunteers Seana, Lisa and Denice went to work and made it happen! They looked so delicious! Thanks so much for pulling that one off, ladies! The chimps loved them!

Foxie:

Missy:

Jamie collected the majority, of course:

and was very dedicated to the cause:

Annie collected an enormous mouthful of chow!

Last week, we asked our blog readers what they thought we should do for the 4th of July party. We received some great ideas! One was from Sara, who suggested “Firecracker Poppers” (toilet paper rolls wrapped in tissue paper, filled with peanuts, and the ends tied with ribbon. Volunteer CJ and I made these yesterday and they turned out so cute! But I unfortunately wasn’t able to get any photos. So, volunteer Julie is here now and is going to make the chimps’ evening nightbags out of them. Thanks for the cute idea, Sara!

Elizabeth was inspired by blog commenter Annie N’s suggestion to make popsicles, so she froze juice inside Dixie Cups with little popsicle sticks. Again, the chimps were thrilled! Thanks for the idea, Annie!

Missy:

Negra was the most excited about these. While everyone else was exploring for goodies on the hill, she stayed in the greenhouse to have a party of her own– a 4th fit for a Queen!

Field Roast hot dogs have become a CSNW 4th of July tradition. Volunteer Patti brought Field Roast Frankfurters, ketchup, and mustard so we could serve them for lunch. The chimps love Field Roast! They truly savored each and every bite.

Jamie:

Negra ate the bread first

before enjoying the hot dog:

Even Burrito took the tiniest little bites of his hot dog to make it last longer! You don’t see that every day!

Along with making the Firecracker Popper Nightbags mentioned above, Volunteer Julie has also been hard at work making another frozen treat for dinner- limes cut in half and filled with red gatorade (to look like watermelon)! The “seeds” are sunflower seeds!

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Sittin’ Pretty

by

The other day, Elizabeth, Debbie and myself were in the greenhouse and we caught Foxie in a rare cross-legged moment.

And I was getting ready to post the photo, it occurred to me how frequently we catch the Cle Elum Seven chimps in non-chimp-like postures. So, here’s a collection of photos we’ve captured over the years.

Foxie:

Burrito:

Annie:

Missy (with Annie grooming her):

Close friends

by

It’s so relaxing to watch the chimps groom one another. Grooming is often used as a way to, not only help clean up your friends, but also to strengthen bonds and friendships. Foxie and Burrito have a pretty close friendship and I caught them in the middle of a very sweet grooming session this afternoon.

Party Central

by

We’ve been living it up here at the sanctuary today! In honor of our 4th Anniversary, today we’ve thrown 4 parties! (If you haven’t already, please check out the amazing retrospective video J.B. put together and posted earlier today– and grab some tissues!)

Party one: Pancakes made by volunteer Denice followed by a lettuce, peanut, and chow forage on Young’s Hill. Unfortunately, it’s been crazy windy all day so no one was too excited to go out to Young’s Hill though a few folks went out to get peanuts (and everyone went out later in the day). And the squeaks over the pancakes were out of this world!

Foxie:

Party two: New enrichment party in the greenhouse. As always, Dick and Robbi collected some great gifts for the chimps. Jamie made sure to check out each and every gift bag today.

Annie tangled herself up in a ball of yarn

Jamie checked out what everything looked like in a new set of binoculars

Party three: Margaritas in the playroom! Well, not really margaritas… it was just yellow Gatorade with lime wedges. But it looked festive!

and the chimps were happy with it!

Annie:

It’s hard to see but Jody is actually licking the bottom of the glass in this photo

Foxie

Jamie

Foxie

Jody

I love the next series of photos. Burrito went through this bag, found a toy with a mirror on it, and proceeded to “admire” how handsome he is. Can ya blame him?

Party Four: Lunch forage in the greenhouse. Mini bell peppers and grapefruit- some of Negra’s favorites!

Jody:

Jamie collected as much as possible, as usual!

And Negra’s birthday would not be complete without nightbags. We did mini nightbags after every meal today. She has been in heaven! The wind has made her want to spend most of the day relaxing in her bed in the playroom (in the one spot where we can’t get photos) but I got a sweet photo of Mr. B enjoying his.

Thanks so much to everyone for making this such a great day!

***Up until about 20 minutes ago, this was going to be the end of my blog post, but as I walked outside to close off Young’s Hill and invite the chimps in for dinner, I found Negra and Foxie out there enjoying some grass. J.B. happened to be out there and reported that when Negra came outside, Foxie greeted her with a big hug and they walked up to the lower platform together. What a wonderful ending to the day! Happy Birthday, Neg!

A colorful, crunchy lunch

by

The chimps had what only could be described as a gorgeous lunch in the greenhouse today– mini bell peppers, carrots, rhubarb and red grapefruit. Not only was it delicious, but it was colorful too.

Annie and her mini bell peppers:

The rhubarb came from volunteer Renee’s garden. She brought it out yesterday when she came out to help me in the chimps’ garden (Thanks, Renee!). I’ve never thought the chimps liked rhubarb all that much, but they seemed to enjoy it today. Here’s Missy munching on hers:

Annie:

Foxie was especially content with lunch. She kicked back with a couple of carrots

and you know you’ve done good when you catch her rubbing her troll’s belly.