Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzee rescue

Party Central

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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!

Nearly 4 years

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If you’re a regular reader, you probably know that tomorrow is a big day for us here. It’s the 4th anniversary of the chimps’ arrival in Cle Elum and also Negra’s birthday. We’re planning a whole bunch of fun! As we get ready, we always find ourselves pausing to reflect about how far the chimps have come, and then daydreaming about how much further they will go. Check out this post from four years ago today, and this one too. There was so much excitement in the air. And then compare this with this. Breathtaking!

Blanket Play

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Today as the chimps were waiting for their lunch to be served, I caught Missy playing with a red blanketed lump, also known as Negra Chimpanzee. It stood out as particularly funny to me because, although Negra loves to wrap herself (head and all) up in a blanket, and although lots of the chimps, particularly Missy and Jamie, often play with blankets over their heads, we don’t often see Negra playing like this. I love seeing Missy bring out Negra’s playful side!

Team Dora or Team Troll?

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Foxie’s new love of Dora the Explorer continues, but that doesn’t mean she’s dropped troll dolls out of her life.

 

She spent some time with a Dora and a troll doll and a mirror today:

Foxie hold mirror and troll doll

Foxie hold troll and dora

Foxie's hand and foot with Dora

Foxie's hand holding troll doll

 

A sure sign of Foxie’s contentment is when she rubs her toes together, like in the photo below and in this video from a couple of years ago. If you’re wondering what the powdery stuff on Foxie’s feet is – it’s pollen. The pollen has been blowing off the trees like snow all week!

Foxie toe-rubbing

Foxie is a-Dora-ble

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Foxie has received so many new Dora the Explorer dolls in the last week- mostly from her great friend, Leslie Sodaro, who has been collecting for the last several weeks. We tied several together with a string, which resulted in some a-DORA-bleness.

Foxie has such great friends! On behalf of the lady herself, thanks so much to all for keeping Foxie so happy and enriched!

Rock of Ages movie

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Primate Patrol is CSNW’s advocacy program. Our goal is to provide the public with information on the plight of primates exploited in media, and alert subscribers to current issues with the use of primates in TV shows, movies, and advertisements. Sarah went undercover into a training facility in Hollywood and witnessed the trainers routinely abusing the chimpanzees. In addition to the welfare concerns with using primates in media, we also have to think in the long-term—where are they going to be sent once they are too big or too hard to handle? To learn more about these issues, check out Primate Patrol and sign up to receive alerts in your inbox. You can also Like us on Facebook!

Today I sent out the following alert, about a new movie premiering on June 15th:

Rock of Ages, a new film musical scheduled to premiere in June, stars a lot of famous human actors – and a baboon. Tom Cruise, one of the stars, stated in an interview that he requested to work with a monkey. When asked about preparing for his character, Cruise said that he thought one day “You know what? I need a monkey.” When asked to elaborate he stated, “When Stacee [Cruise’s character] is not onstage, he’s kind of sad. And I thought, ‘this guy has to have a monkey that’s his best friend.’ Adam [Rock of Ages’ director] found this baboon. He sent me the baboon’s audition tape, and I said, ‘the baboon’s name has to be Hey Man.’ Stacee Jaxx doesn’t work without Hey Man.” The baboon, Mickey, was also recently on the show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He was seen exhibiting abnormal behaviors and a fear grimace.

Please avoid contributing to the box office receipts for Rock of Ages â€“ don’t go see it! Please spread the word to your friends and encourage them to boycott this movie with you. Let them know that monkeys should not be used in TV and film media, including the reasons listed above. Thank you for speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves!

If you have Twitter, go ahead and tweet that you won’t be seeing Rock of Ages because of the baboon actor. Example tweets:

Join me – don’t go see @rockofagesmovie because of their baboon “actor.”
Stand against abuse of nonhuman primates. Don’t go see @rockofagesmovie! Please RT!
RT Please! Join @PrimatePatrol and don’t support @rockofagesmovie when it premieres June 15th.