Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

chimpanzee retirement

Luau!

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Yesterday, we threw the chimps a Luau! Volunteer Steph and I have been planning it for a couple of months now and she went shopping and got so much cute stuff! There were 5 adorable pinatas (including a mermaid, a dolphin, a tiki man, a toucan, and a sun), a giant palm tree, fishing nets, leis, and tons of festive cups for tropical drinks. She went waaay over the top with this party– and it was perfect!

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been collecting all the Luau-like troll dolls and Doras too

Thankfully, the chimps were just as enriched as we were!

Jamie:

Burrito:

Negra:

Foxie:

Jody:

Missy:

Negra and Annie focused heavily on the peanuts in the pinatas:

Once the tropical juice was all gone, the Luau spilled out onto Young’s Hill. Jamie was so excited about the pineapple:

Foxie explored the hill and collected chow with her new Dora

Annie

Jamie

Steph also brought banana blossoms, which Jody thoroughly enjoyed but Annie found one on the hill. She looked pretty proud of herself!

Thanks so much for bringing Hawaii to the chimps, Steph!

Today’s goofy play

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Today, the chimpanzees were being pretty playful, especially Missy and Burrito. I wasn’t able to get the best video while trying to play tug-o-war with Missy, but I got a short clip. Burrito was playing a lot with Jackie at the barn doors. You’ll want to watch until the very end!

Fostering Friendships

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Volunteer Katelyn is in training to be a caregiver. We like to think of training as not only a time to teach people about chimp behaviors and how to safely interact with the chimpanzees, but it’s also a time to foster new friendships. The process usually takes several months beginning with the trainee sticking close to the trainer until gradually the trainer gets further and further away and the trainee gains more independence. It’s a fun process to watch, especially when you watch the chimps become more and more comfortable with the person, and watching their friendship begin. That’s what I witnessed today with Katelyn. She hasn’t had many interactions with the chimpanzees, but today we spent a good deal of time interacting with almost everybody! We played tug of war with Missy and a sock, and Annie came over and tickled the back of Katelyn’s hand– a rare treat! Later, we spent some quality time with Foxie in the greenhouse. Foxie was so playful! She literally rolled the entire length of the deck during a chase game– a sure sign that Katelyn going to be a fun friend.

I feel I should point out that Katelyn and I are standing on different steps in the next couple of photos 😉

Chimps’ Choice: uEnrich

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We’ve discovered that the chimps really like watching us play with iPads and iPhones, especially with the app “Photobooth”, where they can see themselves. So we had a thought that it would be fun to have a used one specifically for the chimps. This is not a new idea- there is a program called Apps for Apes, but the focus is specifically on orangutans. But we are sure Jamie would be super pleased to have her own! So, if you have an iPad and/or an iPhone and you are planning to upgrade to a new one, please send us your old one! J.B. is planning to make a secure, chimp-proof box for it so we can safely let the chimpanzees touch the screen through the caging. In addition, we could also use the iPad at tabling events so people could check out our website and the blog. We are fairly certain we could find a lot of uses for an iPad, but the chimps would get top priority, of course!

If you don’t have an iPad, you can help us out by donating protein powder for the chimps’ morning smoothie. Here’s a link to buy it directly from our Amazon Wishlist.