It’s been a good day. Here’s a brief video diary:
Cle Elum Seven
Hanging out with Foxie
People sometimes ask how we interact with the chimpanzees through the fencing. While there are plenty of things to do that don’t involve any physical contact at all (chase!), there are safe methods of physical contact that allow us to tickle or groom — or be tickled or groomed by — the chimps. To make sure everyone stays safe, our fingers never penetrate the plane of the fencing. In this video, Jackie, our newest caregiver, uses a decapitated troll head (!!!) and a piece of bark to groom and tickle Foxie.
Do chimpanzees chew gum?
Yes. Yes, they do. See video below
All of the chimpanzees at CSNW enjoy gum as an occasional treat. Foxie is particularly enthusiastic with her gum chewing.
Paula Wade’s tribute
Paula Wade of Colorado, a supporter of CSNW and a friend to the Cle Elum Seven, died on June 10th. Paula began following the CSNW blog early on and made comments on some of the posts. She sent in a photo of herself as a child that is now included in the chimps’ photo album. In October, she gathered photos of the chimpanzees from the blog and put them into a video slide show. I had always intended on sharing this video with everyone.
Although I regret that I am only sharing it now that Paula is gone, I am so glad that she created this and was able to connect with the Cle Elum Seven, even at a distance, before she passed away. This was a tribute to the Cle Elum Seven by Paula, and now I see it as a tribute to Paula. We wish all of Paula’s friends and family the best during their time of grieving.
Exciting Foxie stories
On Saturday, the night of the Cle Elum Seven’s one year anniversary, Jackie and I were hanging out with the chimps after dinner and we witnessed two amazing things. I do not have photographic evidence of these events, but I was so glad that Jackie was there to also see them.
First, long after the other chimpanzees had finished eating, Jamie was still hanging onto a bit of cantaloupe. Jamie seemed content to delay finishing her fruit as she carefully inspected Jackie’s boot. After several minutes, Foxie came over. There were probably a dozen troll dolls that were part of the party enrichment, and Foxie had three of them with her, one that still had on a wedding dress. Foxie put this troll doll in Jamie’s free hand, while looking away. Foxie continued to hold onto the troll doll until Jamie’s fingers closed around the doll. Then Foxie pulled her hand away and very slowly and carefully took the cantaloupe that was sitting by Jamie. If you’re a regular blog reader, you know that Jamie is pretty possessive of her food, and she is the highest ranking chimpanzee. This means that other chimps, as a rule, generally do not take food from Jamie. But this really appeared to be a trade. Apparently troll dolls served as a version of currency between these two!
The second equally amazing thing that occurred also involved Foxie. Jackie and I were handing out blankets in the front rooms, and Foxie took one through the fencing. This in itself is a bit unusual, but not unheard of – sometimes she’ll playfully take blankets or clothes, and then drop them. Every once in a while she’ll play a quick game of tug of war. But Foxie took this blanket (a very big fleece one) and eventually climbed up to the bed in Room Four and began to nest!! The blanket was long and hanging off of the bed, and Jamie immediately came into the room and began to pull on the end hanging down. Foxie’s played for a bit, at one point trying to still nest by wrapping the blanket around her, while Jamie continued to pull on the blanket. After a while Foxie dropped the blanket and Jamie left. Then Foxie got up and walked into Room 2, passing several blankets along the way, and picked up a pink one. She carried the pink blanket back to the far room, went back to the bed, laid the blanket down, and laid down on top of it.
It was a beautiful sight to see, and so special that it happened one year to the day after she arrived at the sanctuary. I’m so excited for what year two will bring!!
Link to King 5 video
You can watch the King 5 video online and pass it along to your friends!
Watch Seattle’s King 5 tonight
On Tuesday, the Cle Elum City Council passed a proclamation to make the Cle Elum Seven honorary citizens of the city. The Daily Record published a story about this, which was picked up by the Associated Press earlier today.
This afternoon Gary Chittim from King 5, who was here the day the chimps arrived, came out today to see how the Cle Elum Seven are doing a year later.
The story will be on the news tonight – tune in!
King 5 also has a new blog called Pet Dish, and Katherine Sather wrote about the proclamation today on that blog.
