I’m pretty sure that 99% of Burrito’s thoughts revolve around food, but he saves 1% for quiet contemplation.
chimpanzee
Simultaneous silliness
I was in the kitchen yesterday preparing the chimps’ lunch when I heard lots of laughter echoing throughout the playroom. When I went in to check it out, I was bombarded by simultaneous silliness, but not with your usual cast of characters…
Foxie in the window
Boot love
Jamie has an intense love for boots, especially new ones. She’s been carrying around the boots Candy sent since the minute she got them (a week ago today). I think she enjoys having lots of boots, but to her, there is nothing quite like a new pair of boots. Her other boots, even her favorites, get pushed aside when a new pair comes along. I guess that’s probably true for me too.
In the following photo, Jamie’s actually just yawning, but I love how it looks like she’s wearing a huge playface!
Flowers, Strawberries and Piñatas, Oh My
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so you must be thinking about flowers, strawberries and… piñatas, right?
If these aren’t the things that come to your mind, you’d better check out our special Valentine’s Gift Store. You can give your human loved ones the unique gift of having these gifts given to the chimps in their honor (plus personalized fence posts, beads for Burrito or a Chimpanzee Pal subscription). It’s the gift that gives twice! Just do it soon so we have time to give your Valentine a handwritten card about the donation in their honor.
As inspiration, here’s some photos of the chimps with flowers, strawberries and piñatas.
Change the Channel for Chimps
As most of you probably know by now, the company CareerBuilder will be airing a commercial during the Super Bowl that uses live chimpanzees. It’s nothing new, really – CareerBuilder started using chimpanzees for commercials several years ago. Unlike more progressively-minded companies (like Dodge and Pfizer), CareerBuilder has never responded to members of the public, celebrities and experts who have sent them information about why non-human great apes should not be used in entertainment.
The protests over the use of chimpanzees in the CareerBuilder commercial have garnered more attention this year than ever before. Steve Ross of the Lincoln Park Zoo has been quoted and interviewed numerous times in print and on television and the Jane Goodall Institute released a petition yesterday.
There is also a petition on care.org started by Dawn Forsythe who runs the blog Chimp Trainer’s Daughter and the Facebook page Year of the Chimpanzee.
We at the sanctuary are concentrating on also supporting the suggestion started by fellow sanctuary director Jen Feuerstein at Save the Chimps. She is asking people to Change the Channel for Chimps and began a Facebook event for people to do just that – change the channel when the CareerBuilder ad comes on during the Super Bowl. CareerBuilder spent $3.5 million on that 30 second commercial, and perhaps the best thing we can do is refuse to watch it.
So, be sure to share the message to Change the Channel for Chimps through Facebook, Twitter (you can RT our tweets), and your email lists.
Let’s do what we can to make this the last commercial with chimpanzees that CareerBuilder makes.
Jamie, Burrito and probably Jody were all used in entertainment before being sold into research. Sarah, CSNW’s ED, went undercover at a chimp training compound several years ago. It’s both a personal issue for us at the sanctuary and an important part of our mission to educate others about the abuse that happens to chimpanzees. We as humans who care have to speak up for them.
If you haven’t already, please also join our advocacy branch Primate Patrol.
Kickin’ and Clickin’ Country-Western Dance
Yesterday, Jackie and I put out a party with “Texas in a box” sent from Candy C. She also sent a DVD with line dancing for us to show the chimps. We thought Negra would like to see the dancing, so Jackie went to set up the TV so they could watch from the front rooms. We had come technical difficulties so instead decided to just do a video search on my iPad and show the videos to the chimps that way! Negra, Jamie, Foxie, and Burrito all showed interest. Jamie especially liked the boots the dancers were wearing. Thanks again Candy for sending us fun enrichment!