Annie and Missy never seem to tire of each other. Maybe it’s because they’re always thinking up new ways to play. This morning, during a lengthy play session, Annie decided to stand on Missy.
Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Missy’s Birthday
Today we celebrated Missy’s 35th Birthday. What a great day! We set the party up first thing this morning and scattered tons of gift bags of goodies from Dick and Robbi, and set up a forage of oranges, peaches, carrots, frozen cantaloupe, and “night bags” (or “breakfast bags”, if you will) of sunflower seeds, which were hidden inside the gift bags. The chimps loved the party and were in excellent moods for the duration of the day!
If you are friends with Missy or any of the Cle Elum Seven chimps on Facebook, you might have seen posts this morning about another birthday fundraiser. It’s not too late to participate- send us a $35 donation and I’ll email a special gift to you and a friend (be sure to put your friend’s email in the gift note section of the donation form). She’s celebrating with her friends, why don’t you celebrate with a friend as well?!
Missy:
Negra enjoying her “breakfast bag”:
Burrito and Foxie enjoying some frozen cantaloupe:
Jamie, in true spirit of a party:
Missy eating a carrot:
Here’s a peek at the party:
Keeping busy
This is what greeted me when I arrived at the chimp house this morning:
For at least ten minutes, her concentration was so acute that she couldn’t be distracted. Jamie is so busy these days that it’s almost impossible to imagine how she occupied her time during her decades in laboratories with nothing to play with or explore. What a different world this must be for her!
Argh!
In case you haven’t heard through all of the chimps’ Facebook status updates (yes, each chimp has their own FB page, which can be found through this link), thanks to volunteer Stephanie Perciful, the chimps had a pirate-themed party yesterday. What an awesome idea! Stephanie did an awesome job (as usual) collecting pirate-themed enrichment for the chimps, so the playroom was covered in buried treasures (e.g. gold beaded necklaces) and skulls and crossbones. Thanks, Steph!
Gene Hackman helping the Alamogordo Chimpanzees
So far the NIH has not budged on their plans to transfer 202 chimpanzees from the Alamogordo Primate Facility to the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research.
The chimpanzees have gotten some celebrity support recently, though – Gene Hackman wrote a letter to the head of NIH asking to halt this transfer. Check out this excerpt from his letter (it gave me chills in a good way):
“As you know, efforts to save the Alamogordo chimpanzee have drawn support from Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Tom Udall, and many other people around the state and across the country. I join them in urging you to fulfill the National Institutes of Health’s goal to ‘exemplify and promote the highest level of scientific integrity, public accountability, and social responsibility in the conduct of science’ by allowing these chimpanzees to live out their lives in the safety of a sanctuary.”
Read the full letter here: http://pcrm.org/resch/alamogordo/hackman.html
If you haven’t already, please contact the government about this issue. Your tax money is funding the laboratory housing and future experimentation on these chimpanzees.
Find out more ways you can help by following this blog for updates, as well as:
Animal Protection of New Mexico
Jody
Felicty Day Cinco
Today is the fifth in a series of Felicity Days.
For her birthday this year, Felicity Wood did a great job of convincing her loved ones to donate to the sanctuary instead (or perhaps in addition to?) giving her birthday gifts. So, we are celebrating Felicity several days throughout the year. Today’s day is from Jinny & Darby, Felicity’s two Old English Sheepdogs. We’re not sure how they expressed what day they wanted to honor Felicity, but we suspect they’ll get an extra long walk today as a thank you for their generosity.
Happy Felicity Day Cinco from Negra! (this is one of Felicity’s favorite photos):
Check out the Sponsor-a-Day calendar and pick a day for honoring a loved one, celebrating a special day in your life, or just let people know you’d like a couple of Sponsor-a-Days in your honor this year.
