chimpanzee sanctuary

There seemed to be a different theme to various parts of the Chimp House today. Depending on what area you happened to find yourself in, you either found chimpanzee people relaxing and taking in the nicer weather we’ve had today, thrilled with a new enrichment item, or recovering from a recent injury.

For the Girl Gang, today was all about Relaxation!

Though Foxie was playing with Orange Blossom and Blueberry Muffin, it was such a relaxing play session.

Jamie also spent most of the day relaxing, though always prepared to lift herself up if there was some supervising to do around the property.

Jody decided to spend most of the day as close to Burrito as she could. She even decided to nap in the room adjacent to his to ensure optimal closeness.

On the other side of the building, today was about Recreation!

Willy B, Honey B, and Mave received Boomer Balls as an afternoon enrichment puzzle.

Right after they finished their lunch, we brought the Boomer Balls out and showed them. They became really excited! Especially Mave! When Mave saw the basket which contained this puzzle inside, she stopped what she was doing and raced for the door. She waited patiently as we set up the Mezzanine. Once we gave her access, she bolted in and immediately claimed hers.

Any time Honey B or Willy B came even remotely close to her and her prizes, she would gather her things up, and move to a new location.

When Willy B finished his puzzle, he set off to search the entire Mezzanine for any potential missed food. Though he seemed as though he wished a magician appeared to alakazam him some more nuts, he in turn looked like a magician himself.

Finally, Recovery!

Burrito is still recovering from his difficult day.

To help lift his spirits, caregiver Kelsi brought him a whole pomegranate.

The rest of the day, Burrito was slowly becoming more like his old self again. While in his recovery room, he let out a mini-display and then demanded to be let into the other front room. We obliged with his demands since we needed to get into the room he was in to clean it. Once in that room, it was playtime for him.

Before that though, we had to get some medicine in. As shared on Facebook and Instagram, Burrito has been taking his medication in little grape juice bottles, usually with the use of a straw. He decided which straw he wants to use, usually a regular paper straw or one of the long plastic tubes. Today, the choice was mostly the long plastic tube. Initially he grabbed the straw to play tug-o-war and had no interest in taking his medication! So I made a deal with him. If he drank his medicine, we would play! After every sip was gone, he grabbed the tube and passed the end to me for tug-o-war.

When he was tired of the tube, the game still continued, but this time with a blanket.

We are all cautiously optimistic about Burrito’s recovery. The more and more we research the venom and some of the long lasting effects it can leave, the more we realize we are still not out of the woods yet in his recovery. We are, however, completely enthralled by Burrito’s resiliency. We are also completely over the moon at the amount of support Burrito has received from around the world. We have received messages far and wide on how people could help Burrito. Yesterday, we added a special page to our Virtual Hoot! 2020 site specifically to help the costs of Burrito’s recovery. We cannot thank each and everyone of you enough for all your kind words, donations, and support. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!