We sometimes (lovingly) refer to Jamie as “the party police”. It’s as if Jamie doesn’t want anyone to have too much fun, especially not without her. Usually her aggression is directed at the humans, like when we’re playing “pass the troll” with Foxie, but occasionally it’s directed at the other chimps.
rescue
Grass
The chimps were thrilled to have a grass forage this morning. I am still not sure what’s going to happen when we complete Young’s Hill, and they get to go out onto two acres of grass. Annie may never come back in again!
Foxie took one piece of grass at a time and carried them around like a pirate carrying a knife in his mouth while climbing a ship’s rigging. Strange analogy, I know, but that’s what it looked like.
The chimps eat grass differently than they do other types of food and browse. They take one piece at a time, fold it accordion-style, and swallow it without chewing (often gagging themselves in the process!).
Foxie and a doll’s head
Foxie is always coming up with new ways to play with her dolls.
Missy and the Kong toy
Missy seemed to be having a great time working on a food puzzle this morning. Chimpanzees engage in solitary play quite often, but I can’t remember seeing anyone smile so much in the process.
Mack
Burrito’s father, Mack, passed away on Sunday at the estimated age of 46.
After spending decades in research, Mack was rescued by Save the Chimps and brought to live on a sunny island home in Florida. He died peacefully during an afternoon nap. Please take a minute to read about his life.
Our hearts go out to his human and chimpanzee families.
Rest in peace, Mack.
New enrichment
Volunteers Amanda and Tennyson helped us build a new enrichment device for the chimps. The woven fire hose has pockets to stick browse in (browse includes leaves, branches and twigs – an important part of a chimp’s diet). Many thanks to Chimps Inc. and the Honolulu Zoo for the idea! Annie, Missy and Jody spent hours picking out the cattails, bamboo and fennel.
While we were installing the browse feeder, we also hung a few more fire hose swings near the new windows. As you can see, they created the perfect game for Missy.
Gene Hackman helping the Alamogordo Chimpanzees
So far the NIH has not budged on their plans to transfer 202 chimpanzees from the Alamogordo Primate Facility to the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research.
The chimpanzees have gotten some celebrity support recently, though – Gene Hackman wrote a letter to the head of NIH asking to halt this transfer. Check out this excerpt from his letter (it gave me chills in a good way):
“As you know, efforts to save the Alamogordo chimpanzee have drawn support from Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Tom Udall, and many other people around the state and across the country. I join them in urging you to fulfill the National Institutes of Health’s goal to ‘exemplify and promote the highest level of scientific integrity, public accountability, and social responsibility in the conduct of science’ by allowing these chimpanzees to live out their lives in the safety of a sanctuary.”
Read the full letter here: http://pcrm.org/resch/alamogordo/hackman.html
If you haven’t already, please contact the government about this issue. Your tax money is funding the laboratory housing and future experimentation on these chimpanzees.
Find out more ways you can help by following this blog for updates, as well as:
Animal Protection of New Mexico
