Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest
Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary
Today was pretty low key. The chimps seemed to be recovering from all the festivities, I think we can all relate to that! Please enjoy a few photos of the chimps having a nice lazy day.
Jamie on the barrel:
Jamie holding Foxie’s doll and her bonobo book:
Honey B eating Brussels Sprouts:
Lucky:
Rayne soooo sleepy in a nest:
Cy:
Gordo grooming Terry (Cy and Mave grooming in the background)
Gordo is so handsome:
These lucky chimpanzees have been receiving a new gift every day from the Comfort & Joy auction and Today they got TWO!
Kathleen C. won the bid for a giant sheet featuring photographs of Rayne and Honey B taken by sanctuary staff. Melody W. bid on a very cute, very soft smiling tomato blanket for Missy, who is famous for loving tomatoes.
Volunteer Lizz helping to display the giant Honey B/Rayne sheet
Honey B the chimpanzee juxtaposed with Honey B the sheet
This tomato blanket looks just right in the greenhouse, no?
Big thanks again to Kathleen C. and Melody W.! We know the chimpanzees are going to get good snuggly use out these gifts.
And just for fun, please enjoy the goofball video above of Burrito with a giant kong!
Yesterday, Mave and Gordo were having a very sweet grooming session, but as Mave’s BFF, Dora was obviously not far. I found myself having a hard time capturing the moment between Mave and Gordo because a delightful little chimp (Dora) with sweet, big eyes kept distracting me and causing me to put the camera back to her, but I mean, can you blame me? If you were not already in love with Dora, I think this video will help.
We would like to give a very special thank you to Marjorie C. for purchasing Naomi the Narwhal Squishmallow for the chimps!
Oh! Before you go, a few bonus photos!
Sweet, sweet Terry:
Rayne enjoying one of her sheets! She looks a lot like her sister Tatu in the photo:
*Right off the bat I want to apologize to anybody who became worried after reading the title!* (The alternative was “Honey B is Wheelie Excited,” but that crossed over into a threshold of cheesiness even I didn’t want to cross into.)
If you have been following our blog for a while, then you know that enrichment can be difficult for Honey B and friends. Some in her group love to eat things they shouldn’t be eating (certain plastics, rubber, certain fabric, etc.). One of the unfortunate consequences of this is when her and Rayne’s group integrated together, that meant some enrichment items Honey B, Willy B, and Mave had would have to be shelved either temporarily or indefinitely as staff try to alter current items or find an alternative.
During this year’s Comfort & Joy Auction, one item being auctioned for the chimps was wooden wheels to replace the rubber ones that come standard on Honey B’s skateboard.
A big thank you to Donna T. who placed and won the bidding for the wooden wheels.
The wheels came in last week and work was immediately underway so Honey B could finally have her skateboard back. Some of the staff (ok, mainly myself) were absolutely determined to find a way to make it so she can have it back. So thank you so much Donna! We and Honey B thank you for making it possible for us to give her skateboard back!
The Patient
Good as new!
Rayne tried to hand it back
We have received a wearable “dragon”** blanket from the Comfort & Joy auction! We put it in with Cy’s group today along with some of their lunch forage. After Lucky added it to her blanket car and drove around with it for awhile, it has now made it’s way into Dora’s nest for the night.
**We do know this blanket was probably meant to be a dinosaur and not a dragon, but Diana did not know the difference until just recently and we want to be sensitive to her feelings during this time of learning.
Special thanks to Merle R. for purchasing the wearable dragon/dinosaur blanket for the chimps!
Rayne inspecting the newcomer
Lucky contemplating taking it for a drive
Plus a bonus of Rayne.. just because..
It felt fitting to have today’s blog be about enrichment! There are so many different ways to enrich the chimps lives! The video highlights a few of the many ways to add to the chimps day to day life. Thank you to Comfort & Joy auction winner Emily H. for the giant stuffed dolphin for Jamie’s group! We put it out on on Jamie’s side this morning!
The theme of the day: a little bit of play and a WHOLE lot of grooming! Since the weather wasn’t very nice out (mostly rain), what better way to spend the day than grooming and playing with your friends? It was fun to see all the different pairings branching off to groom today. This afternoon, I found Cy and Gordo grooming, which is not a common occurrence in comparison to Cy and Willy B, or Cy and Terry.
Bonus photos!
Rayne:
Terry series:
Gordo series:
