Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

dora the explorer

Dora and her Many Friends

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Dora the explorer seems to befriend many individuals here at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. From time to time, we find other chimps besides Foxie with Dora. Though Dora does spend most of her time with Tiny aka Foxie. Jody too can find comfort in dolls. Jamie often uses Dora’s in a troll scarf or enjoys playing keep away from Foxie. Occasionally, Burrito has been spotted carrying a Dora for play. Negra every so often finds a doll and totes it around or taunts Foxie with it. This morning as I let the chimps onto Young’s Hill, Negra strolled out with Foxie’s new France Dora.

However, we have another Dora coming to town and as you can see, she is no doll :).

Bonus photos!

Honey B created a fort with boxes and an empty sandbox.

Burrito strutting his stuff out on Young’s Hill.

Fall in Love with Foxie

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For the Share the Chimp Love fundraising this year, we are seeking new Chimpanzee Pals (and other donations!) for all of the chimpanzees, and we’re producing videos of each of them so you can get to know them better (Foxie’s video is at the end of this post).

Last night, supporter Monica Best joined an elite group of donors by sponsoring all seven chimpanzees! The heart is starting to fill!

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Foxie’s video was a really fun montage to put together! Foxie currently has 35 Pals. Will you be her next Chimpanzee Pal?

Learn more about Sharing the Chimp Love.

Balancing Act

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I snapped a few photos of Foxie this morning as she strolled through Young’s Hill with Dora the Explorer on her back. In the wild, infants will cling to their mothers’ backs. Dora, on the other hand, is no help at all so it’s up to Foxie to keep her balanced up there.

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As I was preparing to post these photos to Facebook, I noticed a few good ones that we had taken previously.

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Missing Chimpanzee

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We take safety very seriously here at the sanctuary and recognize that humans make mistakes, so we have checks and double checks as a routine part of entering enclosures. We never enter a chimpanzee space unless we have verified that the chimpanzees are secured in another part of the sanctuary, so part of our safety protocols require that at least two people check that all of the chimpanzees have been positively identified outside of the area we are going to enter and that the doors and locks are secure.

If the chimpanzees cooperate, we do all of the full cleaning in the first part of the day, but we also spot clean the playroom (the largest part of the chimps’ indoor area) while the chimpanzees are having dinner.

One day last week, I was serving the chimpanzees their dinner in the greenhouse and Anna was operating doors. She successfully closed off the playroom in order to spot clean and came up to make sure all of the chimpanzees were out of the playroom. Normally, this is one of the easiest checks of the day, because the chimpanzees are lined up ready for their evening meal, so it’s easy to identify everyone and then check doors. This day, however, we could not find Foxie.

We checked in the front rooms, in the greenhouse, and scanned Young’s Hill. Nothing. I then climbed the ladder to see into the loft of the playroom, but she wasn’t there either. All of the other chimpanzees had been served their food, and Foxie was just missing. This never happens. I admit we started to panic just a little. We checked all of the areas again. No Foxie. Finally, we see a figure way off in the distance on the hill coming toward us.

Foxie?

Foxie sauntered through the grass and slowly made her way into the greenhouse as though she didn’t have a care in the world.

Today, as I was taking photos of Foxie carrying a Dora the Explorer doll on her back, it occurred to me that Foxie has chosen the perfect mascot and symbol of her new life at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.

Foxie with Dora

Foxie carrying Dora

 

Go Foxie. Go explore. We’ll save dinner for you.

 

P.S. Among the 80+ other items, there is a photo print of Foxie on canvas that is part of our Summer Biddin’ online auction. Get your bids in quick – bidding ends at 4:00pm PT tomorrow! 

biddin

 

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this is what it’s all about

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After a very successful gala and the outpouring of support for Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s plans to expand, plus the incredibly exciting and long-awaited public announcement about the new sanctuary in Georgia, Project Chimps, I had all sorts of profound and deeply-felt sentiments to share in this blog post.

But then, this morning, I filmed Foxie and Jamie playing. I laughed out loud watching them and decided that all I really needed to share today is this, because this is what it’s all about: