I do not jest
Jody loves to nest
For chimpanzees a nest is a bed
A place to put a heavy head
It’s a joy everyday to create a spot to lay
with blankets,
paper,
or hay
Sanctuary for Jody is the best rest
It’s a literal nest fest
chimp
Christmas in July!
Help Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest by donating items from our Christmas in July wish list
The past few months have been full of parties, as we celebrated Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s five-year anniversary, Negra’s 40th birthday, Independence Day and the announcements by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Institutes of Health. Plus the Roslyn Olympics celebrating Foxie and her love of troll dolls is just two days away (check out the new Facebook page)! With so many festive parties, it almost feels like the holiday season, so we’ve decided to celebrate Christmas in July!
The CSNW team sure knows how to stretch a dollar. We want to give the chimpanzees the best, and sometimes that means living with less than ideal things for ourselves. However, we are at a point where we need some items replaced so that we can operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. Take a look at our Christmas in July wish list that the whole staff put together, and consider making our day by selecting a present to donate. With your gifts we will be able to…
Organize the kitchen in the chimp house and office in the caregiver house:
Replace our humble office chairs:
Power clean the chimp house:
And, of course, we have some items for the chimps on the wish list too…
Thank you all for your continued support. We are looking forward to our newly stocked and organized office and chimp house and we look forward to sharing before and after photos with you!
What to do with a frozen towel
Debbie and I found some frozen towels in the freezer today. It seemed like enrichment right up Missy’s alley:
Jamie also enjoyed them:
Foxie, Jamie, and Dora play
The other day I caught a pretty funny trio in a game of wrestle and chase:
Foxie and the garter snake
Chimps are very investigative, defensive, and at times aggressive. Combine all these characteristics and add a small garter snake into the equation and you get a whole group of chimps ready to attack an intruder! This morning a garter snake made its way into the greenhouse and the chimps were on high alert. Everyone took a second to peer at it, but most kept their distance. Foxie, however, showed a lot of bravery and was doing her best to protect her home by trying to attack the snake (but without touching it).
The chimps encounter snakes every now and then. They’re very careful not too get too close to something that raises so much alarm, which is a smart instinct. Thankfully, garter snakes are completely harmless so there’s nothing to really worry about if they do touch it. In fact after filming this attack, I closed off the greenhouse and picked up the snake (who was still alive) and took him to a nice garden area that I thought he’d pretty happy about. I apparently don’t have a huge fear of snakes because I was holding him for awhile, talking to volunteers Patti and Connie about how we were going to set up today’s lunch forage, when they said “will you just put that snake down already?!” Like I said, harmless 🙂
The snakes seem to be good at “playing dead” so as not to actually get killed. At the end of the video you’ll see that Jamie was fairly convinced Foxie had taken care of the problem, and then left it alone. I was glad to be able to rescue it and find that he was not at all harmed.
Too hot
Cle Elum is in the middle of a heatwave, and the high temperatures are sapping everyone’s energy (we couldn’t even convince Jamie to walk around Young’s Hill with us, and that’s usually a many-times-a-day activity). I think Burrito speaks for all of us in these photos taken in the greenhouse this afternoon.
Olympic Games, New Products, and an Evening Stroll
This is a blog post full of information! Today is the beginning of a heat wave in our area, and we decided to keep things open longer tonight so the chimps could enjoy the cooling-off period of the evening. Most of the chimpanzees followed their normal routine and went to bed after dinner, but Jamie and Missy took advantage of the extra time on the hill. I just got back from my second evening walk around the hill with Jamie. Missy joined us for the first one.
Hey – did you know that the The Roslyn Olympics are only three weeks away!? If you are within a 3-hour radius of Roslyn, WA, you need to attend this event. It’s a combination of the Troll Olympics and ARRF Animal Rescue‘s Doggie Olympics – it really is fun for the whole family. In fact, it might the highlight of your summer. This year, you could even win a visit to the sanctuary following the games! The video below explains what the Roslyn Games are all about:
The other news of the day is that we have some new stuff in our merchandise store! We just got some brand-new items from Hydro Flask – water bottles and travel mugs / thermoses with flip-top lids.
I am getting ready for the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest booth at Seattle’s PrideFest on Sunday and have been making some special love buttons, so I thought I’d add those to the store too!
I hope everyone has a great weekend! Don’t forget to RSVP for the Roslyn Olympics and buy some stuff in our store – it helps the chimps!
