Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Yesterday, Grace re-introduced our blog readers to the Fall in Love videos and today I have the pleasure of highlighting that big lovable Cy guy! For all the fun Cy facts and to see some more video of our magazine loving alpha, check out the video above!
We’ll be uploading this video to Cy’s Bio Page once all the videos have been featured, but if you’re interested in sponsoring Cy you can become his Chimpanzee Pal today!
Valentine’s is a day meant to be spent with loved ones and show affection to them. But as you know, sometimes you can fight with loved ones. J.B. actually just wrote a magnificent blog about conflict and resolution the other. Well today both Jamie and Cy’s groups spent a good chunk of the morning what I will call “bickering.” There wasn’t too much physical contact between everyone, just a lot of screaming. But, also as J.B. mentioned, they were quick to reconcile. What they were all bickering about? It would be hard to say, though I am going scapegoat the six inches of snow and colder weather that came in overnight.
Regardless, everything calmed down once they all realized something special was in store for them today: lots of strawberries, blood oranges, grape tomatoes, radishes, and sparkling blush cider with raspberries and mint leaves! Once their bellies were full of delicious treats, bygones were bygones and everybody had a restful afternoon.
Here are some photos from today:
Missy enjoying her plate of tomatoes and strawberries
And her daughter, Honey B, enjoying the same thing on the other side of the sanctuary!
The devilishly handsome Willy B
Gordo lovingly admiring his radishes
And Dora. Oh so sweet little Dora resting after the parties
Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody!
Today started off as any other. Caregivers arrived, served breakfast, and began their tasks of cleaning of the day prior. When the door leading to Young’s Hill opened, the members of Jody’s group were eager to set off on their morning adventures.
Burrito, of course, wanted to take his morning run. Cold doesn’t seem to bother him one bit when it comes to his morning exercise. Between his sprints, he would take a break and seem to just take it all in.
As we were nearing the top, I caught something out of place in my peripheral vision. Something that stood out like a sore thumb amongst the brown and yellow foliage of winter.
This purple-haired figure on top of a moving black mass could only be one thing…
It’s Plum Pudding hitching a ride on Foxie!
After reaching the top of the hill, Foxie and Plum Pudding headed back to the Chimp House…
But not before a little thrilling adventure!
Plum Pudding ended up in a perilous predicament!
And only Foxie could save her!
This rescue was so dramatic, Jamie had to be a bystander to witness it all unfold!
But nonetheless, Foxie would not give up on her Puddin’! She was able to rescue her and whisk her back to safety!
Bonus Photo of Cy during a game of chase!
Though Jamie and Cy may be in different groups they had the same idea today, Wednesday is for reading.
Jamie’s current must reads are:
1. I’m Lucy by Marian Brickner – (a classic)
And a sequel to the Lucy bonobo book
2. Bonobo Lucy Grows up by Marian Brickner
Cy’s new favorite read is a magazine:
¡Hola!
Other than book club, it was a pretty quiet day, which is why it was the perfect day for reading!
Cy could not put this magazine down:
Jamie with both Lucy books:
Bonus photos!
Burrito:
Rayne:
Annie and Missy playing on the bench in front room 2:
And I will leave you with a series of Negra photos:
Well, what an amazing Christmas it has been! The chimps are still discovering new enrichment every day, like Foxie with the Anna doll from Frozen. While others, like Burrito, are still having fun with items they received before the big Christmas party. Words cannot express our gratitude for all of our supporters, we would not be able to do any of this without you!
This morning Cy’s group received access to the Chute and to say Burrito’s group were excited would be an understatement! The seven were all lined up by the window hooting and hollering, but Burrito especially took great interest! He almost missed breakfast! It had been a little while since the group of nine had received access to the Chute, because it has been so cold at the sanctuary.
I suppose I will share with you all a condensed story about the chaos that unfolded last week! We received quite a bit of snow in the past couple of weeks and it also became extremely cold, getting as cold as -5 degrees. So cold that last Wednesday our well water became frozen. Our co-directors J.B. and Diana had left for a quick and very deserved trip to go see family over the holiday, however with all these winter storms their flight back got canceled. We went to the store and grabbed lots of water to use for cleaning and for drinking water, but we had to use the water sparingly because we had a few more days of this extremely cold weather. Thankfully, all of this did not affect the chimps and they were none the wiser- we made sure that they had plenty of water, food, clean blankets, and most importantly a clean enclosure! We had a Christmas miracle because on Christmas eve it finally warmed up and the water started to work again! Finally, we have caught up on laundry and mostly decompressed from the chaos that has ensued. We are sooooo grateful to have J.B. and Diana back safely and that the water is flowing again!
Burrito watching his neighbors:
Cy enjoying some green beans:
Sweet Rayne:
On the seventh day of Christmas, the chimpanzees received giant slinkies. There are some in the groups who love slinkies to play with. We all know that Burrito and Willy B loved slinkies. We are now finding out some of the newer residents also seem to enjoy them. We have seen Rayne and Dora play with them as well as Gordo, though we currently don’t have any footage of Gordo because of his somewhat elusive nature.
Special thank you to:
Marya B. for donating the slinkies!
On the sixth day of Christmas
Donor Linda gave to me
New People magazines!
– Cy Chimpanzee, probably
We send our most heartfelt gratitude and warmest wishes to our supporters who have donated to the chimpanzees through the Comfort & Joy online auction! You can go directly to the event’s web page to see the numerous items that were purchased by our community on behalf of the chimpanzees who call the sanctuary home.
You’ve probably seen some of the earliest gifts unveiled on the blog recently, from Squishmallows On the First Day of Christmas to a Negra-themed blanket On the Fifth. Today’s surprise is another unconventional enrichment item, intended to excite one quirky individual in particular. Without further ado, we extend a special thank you to:
Linda M. for donating the subscription to People magazine (addressed to Cy Chimpanzee)
Indeed, the sanctuary’s biggest bookworm will now have a steady supply of celebrity gossip and pop culture trivia to entertain him when he needs a moment of peace apart from his companions. Today, Enrichment Coordinator Chad delivered the latest edition of People directly to Cy’s “mailbox” (a gap under the caging of the Marmot Mountain playroom). You can check out the included video to see how Cy reacted to the holiday surprise!
