Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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Comedy Night fundraiser – get your tickets!

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BUY TICKETS NOW

The latest nonprofit comedy night to benefit the sanctuary, Stand-up! for Chimps, is only two weeks away!! We’re going to have some pretty spectacular raffle prizes, and we expect to have the photo slide show DVDs available for sale for the first time that night! So, bring yourself, your friends, your seeds for Spring planting at the chimp house, your checkbook, and have some laughs!

Mini details: Tuesday, May 5th, Comedy Underground in Seattle, 8:00pm

Visit the Events page for full details. And, did I mention: BUY TICKETS NOW!

See you there!

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Foxie nesting!! and Jamie’s new method for carrying trolls

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Foxie was genuinely nesting with a blanket this morning

Foxie nesting with green blanket

and even lied down on it ever-so-briefly!

Foxie lying down on green blanket

She was really happy about her new speedo troll doll with yellow hair from yesterday.  I tied a yellow scarf to the troll and gave it (him?) back to Foxie – this occurred right before the nesting.

Jamie seemed pretty intent on getting the troll and scarf, so I gave Jamie a substitute, which she decided to wear by tying the scarf around her torso, baby-sling style:

Jamie wearing troll

And the party continues

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Here are a few still shots from yesterday

I had to take one “before” shot of the cornbread peeps and the Passover Harrosset on Matzah (hope I got that right!). We really can’t thank the volunteers and supporters enough for making Easter, and everyday, such a treat for the Cle Elum Seven and the CSNW staff too!

Easter bucket, cornbread peep, celery with pnut butter, matzoh with harosset

One of the many, many things that I like about chimps is they like what they like – they aren’t as influenced by human hang-ups and ideas about what’s “snack” food and what’s “just a vegetable”. Thanks to a donation from a far, we bought some fresh produce Easter morning that the chimps don’t get frequently – cucumbers, green onions, sweet potatoes and coconuts. Jody and Missy were competing for who could grab as many green onions as they could.

Missy eating a green onion

And here is a man and his treasured coconut

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The party seemed to be still going on this morning… Foxie was eating a coconut when we arrived (quite happily), and Missy and Annie did not even consider coming in for breakfast. After breakfast, Jamie donned an Easter bonnet (or perhaps more of a Spring gardening hat) briefly:

Jamie day after Easter wearing hat

Fun with trolls

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I was thinking today about how incredibly playful Foxie is. She is the most playful adult chimpanzee I have ever known. She doesn’t seem to have non-playful days, ever. When she’s not playing with Jamie, Jody, Missy or Burrito, she play games of catch-the-troll with her caregivers. And if we’re busy? Well, she just invents her own troll games, like this one this morning…

Foxie playing in the mirror

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Today I discovered a new game with Foxie. I was having difficulty throwing her troll doll back to her (some days my aim is just off), so I put it in a sock and tossed it up, my thought being that she would have more to grab on to. It worked like a charm, and Foxie actually really liked the sock! She almost immediately flung it over her neck, walked down the stairs and began playing with it in front of the mirror. I am sure other chimpanzees have done this before, but it was the first time I have personally seen a chimp play in front of a mirror. She was so enamored with her own reflection playing, that she completely ignored Missy’s attempts to get her attention. For the rest of the day, Foxie carried around the sock, sometimes in her hand, sometimes over her shoulders, and once on the top of her head. Every once in a while she would go back to the mirror and play.

Stand-Up for Chimps – so fun!

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Thanks to everyone who came out to the Nonprofit Comedy Night that helped raise money for the Cle Elum Seven, and thank you to the comedians who donated their time to entertain us. I had a great time! Based on the laughter, I would hazard to say that everyone had a great time. It was nice to see people who had only “spoken” through the blog and the forum meet each other in person. And it was so nice for me to meet some new supporters. The raffle was a lot of fun and the slideshow was cool to see on the big screen. Thanks goes to Margaret for getting prints of Jamie’s artwork as well as cards she made together for us to sell that night – both were a hit! We’ll have to do it again!

Keith at the mike (not doing stand-up, just thanking folks) with Burrito on the screen behind.
Keith (not doing stand-up, just thanking folks) with Burrito on the screen behind.
Comedian with another photo of Burrito from the slideshow on screen.
Comedian with another photo of Burrito from the slideshow on screen.