Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Party

Celebration of 10 Years!

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Can you believe it, these chimps have been at the sanctuary for 10 years. Over the years whether it was by donation, volunteering, or following the blog we have seen tremendous change in their lives and well-being. In the beginning Foxie didn’t want to have anything to do with enrichment and now Foxie has found love in her dolls. Annie was reserved and had very little confidence and now she is more independent, bold, and confident. Negra was afraid of Young’s Hill and now she adventures to forage all by herself. And not to mention how they have been aging in reverse. It has been a privilege to watch the growth in these seven amazing chimpanzees. But really Negra says it best….

In addition, here are some photos to give you a sneak preview of what tomorrows blog might look like!

Burrito taking a breather from partying:

Foxie swinging with her new France Dora:

Negra searching for some mini bananas:

Negra enjoying some forage she found in a coconut:

Jody was the first to venture out to find what was hidden on the Hill:

Jody was very committed to foraging out there:

Jody got to take full advantage while everyone was preoccupied in the Greenhouse:

Foxie also went out on her own, well France Dora accompanied her of course:

This was just the start, there are more photos to come from our BIG celebration!

Jody’s 43rd Birthday Celebration!

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Today is not only Mother’s Day, but it is also Jody’s birthday! We had double to celebrate! There is no better way to celebrate than to have a Green House and Young’s Hill forage, we even set out a whole coconut (I bet you can guess who ended up with it)! We love celebrating Mother’s Day, why not tell the strong women who helped shape who you are how much you love them! We do have a few mothers at our sanctuary including Jody. Jody is kind, nurturing, and always making sure that everyone is safe. For Jody’s birthday we set out lilacs because she loves to go on the Hill and find things like thistles, spruce trees, etc. Well, it turns out Missy LOVES lilacs and got most of them! Jody did get one of her favorites, which is the top of a pineapple (she was pleased)!

Missy eating all the lilacs:

Neggie had a nice relaxing day. She foraged on the Hill in the morning all by herself, attended the party, and napped for most of the day (it was pretty exhausting):

Power pose, Negra actually jump with all her might to get the enrichment, it was very exciting to watch:

Annie gathered some lilacs and then ventured out to the Hill to forage:

Burrito stayed pretty close to the birthday girls side, but found some opportunities to enjoy a drink and go on the Hill:

Foxie actually found the coconut and tried ever so quietly to sneak away:

Foxie eventually ditched the coconut and came back for it later in the afternoon, however Jamie heard Foxie trying to crack it open on the new structure and Jamie food peered her way into getting the coconut…

But Foxie did get to enjoy herself at the party:

Jamie enjoyed some cold drinks and some snacks as well:

Later when it was very warm Jamie and I took a few walks, when she got hot she would just hide in the shade:

Jody spent a lot of her day laying around, enjoying good company, and eating some of her favorite things. That sounds like a great 43rd birthday to me!

The birthday girl, Jody:

 

Cheers Jody! Happy 43rd Birthday (Missy is holding the drink):

 

Tropical Party on a Rainy Day

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The chimpanzees had a pretty great day today. Foxie got a new doll this morning.

 

For lunch, they had a tropical party courtesy of their friends Oliver Mazner, Jeremy Mazner, and Karen Emmerman Mazner, who won a “Throw a Party for the Chimpanzees” auction item at last year’s HOOT! event.  The chimpanzees had no idea there was a party in store, and they were SUPER excited when the spied the prepared spread:

 

Jeremy renamed the ants-on-a-log “peanut butter shooters” based on Burrito’s technique of deftly removing the peanut butter and raisins while setting the celery aside for a second go-round.

 

Jamie, of course, found the plate that was hidden under the barrel.

 

She took off with the umbrella-adorned pineapple and a sweet pepper.

 

The coconut was a much-admired item by Foxie.

 

Can you just feel Annie’s enjoyment?

 

Here Annie contemplates some lettuce while holding on to some specially-made carrot cake from a recipe that we got from the Center for Great Apes.

 

Annie really scored at this party – she found both the pineapple top and the leftover head of lettuce.

 

To no one’s surprise, Jamie took down the pinata and got most of the spoils.

 

But Negra, ever hopeful, did a check to see if Jamie had left any peanuts behind:

 

After the party, Jamie got to walk with the Mazners and (easily) convinced Oliver to race her multiple times around. It was still drizzling, but Jamie did not mind at all.

 

The 2018 Winter Chimp-O-Lympics

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Anna organized an Olympics-themed party for the chimps this morning. Negra wasn’t sure what to think at first, but once she saw the fancy drinks in coconut-rimmed glasses, she got on board.

We didn’t have quite as much snow as they have in Pyeongchang, but we managed to scrape together enough to fill a sled before it all melted.

Christmas Deconstructed

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Hopefully you’ve watched the video (several times) of the chimps’ holiday party yesterday – it was a pretty amazing day for all of the chimpanzees and the humans who were here to celebrate with them.

The chimps’ friends really know what makes for a great party! A good 98% of the decorations, food, gifts, and blankets were donated from friends near and far.

I thought it would be fun to share some of the still photos from yesterday to deconstruct the party a bit and tell you more about the day.

The first thing to deconstruct is the party food. We are pretty strict about the chimps’ diet. The vast majority of what the chimps eat is fresh produce, supplemented with nuts, seeds, and a small amount of commercially-made “primate chow.” We do not give them food that has added sugar or salt, and we give them very little processed food other than the primate chow. We want the chimpanzees here to be as healthy as possible, so we see their diet as preventative health care.

A few times a year, for special occasions, we bend the rules just a little bit, though you still won’t see the chimps here eating candy. As you can tell from the food squeaks, they are pretty pleased with what we offer.

One thing that dawned on me when we had the Jungle Solstice party last week is that a big part of the chimps’ excitement is not necessarily what the food is, but the fact that we bring out plates for parties. It seems like such a small thing, but I think they have realized that paper plates = party, so and they get excited even if the food on the plates is what they would normally be served on a random day.

 

Their Christmas plates this year had baked potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and cut-up fresh pomegranate:

 

For the bending-the-rules food, we also included slices of Field Roast’s Celebration Roast:

 

The champagne flutes (another “hey, it’s a party” signal) were filled with slightly watered down non-alcoholic sparkling cranberry cider (no sugar added):

 

Kelsi made the drinks extra fancy by adding a few pomegranate arils to each glass:

 

The other breaking-the-rules food that’s become a tradition for the holiday party is dinner rolls. Many of the chimpanzees go straight for the rolls, leaving some of the other food on the plate as seconds. That’s what sneaky Missy was “stealing” in the video from yesterday:

 

Negra is possibly the biggest fan of bread that I know, so she is always pleased to have this extra special treat. Knowing that, some cut up dinner roll pieces were placed in one of her favorite spots up on the catwalk:

 

The prize pineapple top that you saw Jody with in the video was a leftover from their breakfast. Jody made sure it was okay with Jamie before she took it upstairs to eat in private:

 

So, what about the presents?! Well, the trick with presents for most chimpanzees is to hide a bit of food in them. So, most of the bags and little boxes you saw had a nut or some other small not-breaking-the-rules food.

 

That’s not to say that the chimpanzees don’t appreciate new non-food objects, it’s just that food tends to be more universally exciting.

Jamie was very pleased to get two new pairs of boots yesterday, in addition to several books:

 

And Foxie got so many new dolls that I lost count. I don’t have a good photo of her with a new doll – suffice it to say that she was very happy with all of them! She handed me a new Strawberry Shortcake doll first thing this morning and then did some playful spins.

 

Today, the chimpanzees are resting up after the big celebration. Here’s Jamie, sound asleep, using her new boots as a pillow, with one of her favorite new books by her side:

 

The humans had a lot of clean up to do this morning after that extravaganza, which we did quite happily!

And Katelyn is busy in the office preparing thank you notes for all of the generous friends of the chimpanzees. Luckily part-time office cat LouLou is honing her computer skills to lend Katelyn a hand.

So, if you get an email that says, “rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?????????????????????” from Katelyn, you’ll know why.

 

Thank you to everyone who made yesterday, today, and all of the days of 2017 so very wonderful for all of the primates at the sanctuary!

 

Christmas Party Video for Julie and Rob Sweet & All Supporters!

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Our third sponsor for today’s day of sanctuary is Jean Bengston, who gave the gift of sponsoring Christmas in honor of Julie and Rob Sweet.

And what a Christmas it has been! Thank you to everyone who sponsored today and contributed to the fun of the party, including Patti and Chad who volunteered and helped set up the party this morning!