Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

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chimpanzee

Green Day Tickets and Resident Rock Stars

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I just sent out an e-newsletter with the exciting announcement of an early Out of the Box auction item available for bidding right now – four exclusive tickets to the April 16th Green Day show in Berkeley, CA plus VIP after-show passes with a meet and greet with band members!

Big, big thanks to Adrienne and Billie Joe Armstrong for this awesome donation to kick off the auction, which is just a month away! AND for the awesome donation of a guitar signed by Green Day band members, which is featured in our online auction. Bidding for that and all other online items opens May 4th- mark your calendars! And buy your tickets for the Seattle gala today.

In honor of Green Day, here’s a photo of rock star Jamie with her purple ukulele:

web jamie play ukulele greenhouse IMG_9637

 

And in honor of Billie Joe specifically, who is a Burrito fan, here is Burrito in one of my favorite photos of all time – personally, I think Burrito should be on the cover Rolling Stone:

small ed Burrito arms crossed outdoor area IMG_1880

 

Easter egg hunt

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(Be sure to check out the earlier post with pictures of the party set-up).

Happy Easter! Today we had a big Easter egg hunt on the hill for the chimps. They seemed to really enjoy it. We kept the fun going and had another forage in the playroom, too! When you’re done looking at all the photos, watch the video at the end to see the chimps getting some Easter goodies.

Burrito with an Easter egg basket:

web burrito easter egg basket party forage enrichment YH IMG_5068

Negra drinking some water out of a watering can (while sitting in her cabin)

web negra cabin easter party enrichment watering can YH IMG_5064

Jamie also liked this watering can, and Jody is here peering on:

web jody jamie peer watering can cabin easter egg enrichment forage YH IMG_5143

Annie really liked a different watering can:

web annie drink watering can enrichment easter YH IMG_5113

Foxie and Annie:

web foxie annie dora easter egg enrichment party forage YH IMG_5193

Foxie walking with Negra:

web foxie negra dora easter egg forage party enrichment YH IMG_5094

Jamie in the cabin:

web jamie easter egg enrichment forage cabin YH IMG_5128

Jamie found all our good hiding spots!

web jamie easter egg forage party enrichment YH IMG_5076

Missy with an Easter egg in her mouth:

web missy bouncy bridge easter egg forage party YH IMG_5059

Negra, looking very happy with her Easter egg:

web negra content face easter egg forage party enrichment YH IMG_5088

 

Young at Heart

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Missy does everything with a little extra flair. This morning, instead of walking across the bridge, she walked the tightrope.

web Missy balance fire hose 1 IMG_1450

web Missy balance fire hose 2 IMG_1451

And while Jamie and I took a stroll around the hill, Missy spun herself in circles on the rope swing.

web Missy swing fire hose YH A IMG_1538

web Missy swing fire hose YH B IMG_1539

When she finally decided to catch up to us, she launched herself forward on the swing. Because walking is boring.

web Missy swing fire hose YH 1 IMG_1544

web Missy swing fire hose YH 2 IMG_1545

web Missy swing fire hose YH 3 IMG_1546

Later, she tried to act her age, but she wasn’t fooling anyone.

web Missy sit on shaky bridge YH IMG_1440

iPad project is underway

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If you can’t tell by now, I’m pretty excited about the iPad we got from Orangutan Outreach! Thanks to Jody for the case and mount, and Shelly for the iTunes giftcard, I’ve been able to load up the iPad with tons of apps that I’m excited to see the chimps interact with. Yay!

web ipad with case jamie background

This morning, Jackie, myself, and volunteer caregivers Steph and Erin all spent awhile seeing how the chimps liked the iPad in its new case. Jody, Burrito, Foxie, and Jamie all came over to touch it and check it out (see this photo from our Facebook page).

Chimps naturally have super curious minds. When they see something new, usually their first reaction is what I sometimes call “quality control“—testing out how it works and if it’s sturdy. So, everyone who came over first tried to pick at the case (which is exactly why we wanted it in the first place!) but eventually they all showed some interest in the different apps, especially Jamie. Her favorites right now are a xylophone app, and one called “Catch the mouse” which is a game for cats! But she seems to get some enjoyment out of squishing the little mouse 🙂 Stay tuned for more updates on this really exciting project.

Taking it in

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Certain things about chimps are beyond our ability to measure, but I have no doubt that they share with us a sense of awe and wonder. Primatologists in the field have written about chimps going out of their way to stop and enjoy a sunset. We see the same thing when the chimps climb to the top of Young’s Hill and stare out at the valley below.

Jamie:

web Jamie YH view of valley below_MG_4302

Missy:

web Missy sit on log mound vast field in background look over valley YH IMG_4621

Other times we see them stop and stare up at the sky. It could be something as simple as a bird flying by or the clouds passing overhead, but it often seems like something more profound, like an effort to take in the vastness of their new world.

Burrito:

web Burrito look up sun in face clear sky YH IMG_1043

Missy:

web crop Missy hold tire swing look up YH IMG_3211

It’s in these moments that I have to remind myself where they came from, and to try to imagine what it must be like to still be discovering the most basic things about the world at nearly 40 years old.

 

New iPad thanks to Apps for Apes! (and a plea for a chimp-proof case)

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(UPDATE: Thank you Jody! We’ve got our case on the way! If you want to still support the fun iPad project—we could use some iTunes giftcards for cool apps! You can send an e-card to [email protected])

A few weeks ago, Orangutan Outreach reached out to us after seeing my blog post about wanting an iPad for Jamie (and the other chimps, too!) They have this great program called “Apps for Apes” (featured on NBC news) which has mostly been used in zoos and with orangutans. The Center for Great Apes is involved in the program and they are a sanctuary for both chimps and orangutans, but we’re the first sanctuary to be involved with only chimps. I’m really excited to see what apps they want to interact with the most! Orangutan Outreach raises awareness about orangutan conservation while also providing great enrichment for captive orangutans. Their project falls perfectly in line with what we have going on with Eyes on Apes, our advocacy group.

Here’s me (so excited!) with the iPad. I set a photo from today’s earlier blog post of Jody as the background:

web caregiver debbie hold new ipad

And here volunteer Deb and myself show Jamie and Foxie the iPad.

web caregiver deb show jamie new ipad

web jamie look at ipad

web foxie jamie look at ipad

I can’t WAIT to be able to let the chimps touch the iPad themselves. First we need to have a durable case so we can safely have it against the fencing and the chimps won’t break it 🙂

J.B. has done a bit of research and this is what we’ve decided will be the best option: Life Jacket Waterproof Case. We’d like the case as well as the extra mounting bracket which is an additional cost. If someone would be willing to donate the case, the mounting bracket, (or both!) I would be forever thankful (and so would the chimps!)

Though we don’t know for sure exactly what will happen when they’re able to interact with it themselves, I imagine based on how enriching it is just to look at, that they’ll be very interested to touch it!