Posts by Diana
Personality Anecdotes
As you may well know, this sanctuary is chock full of personalities, and the more you get to know the chimpanzees and cattle, the more you appreciate each individual’s many sides. First, I want to say how incredibly thankful we are for the donations that have been coming in for our year-end fundraising. At this…
Read MoreLike Mother, Like Daughter?
I stand by Katelyn’s post from the summer that there is no doubt that Honey B is her own unique person, quite separate from her biological history of having been born to Missy. But just as time shows us her own special uniqueness, new similarities between mom and daughter have also revealed themselves. These two…
Read MoreFun Inside, Outside, and In-between. Subtitle: Caging is OK
With the right camera lens and the right distance, we can “focus through” the fencing that surrounds the outdoor habitats so the fencing disappears or turns into blurs in the foreground. It’s a trick of the camera. The fencing doesn’t actually go away. But our eyes perform the same trick. This is roughly where Willy…
Read Moreman of mystery
If you tuned in yesterday, you read that Willy B has been asserting his desire to disrupt the routine and, instead of shifting for meals, he has one thing on his mind – keeping tabs on the neighbors, we suspect Annie in particular. Today was a continuation of this trend. Anna, J.B. and I put…
Read Morelet’s hear it for the bovines
If you are not in the mood to read words at the moment, watch the video above and scroll down for some photos. Yesterday was my day to muck out the cattle barn and feed the bovine family. The staff person assigned to “cattle care” for the day generally carries out this task after the…
Read MoreEllie / Buttons the Elk: Story and Update
This post fulfills two things: 1) My long-held desire to present the tale of Buttons/Ellie the Elk as a children’s story 2) Answering your inquires from this post about what happened to our elk friend (scroll to the bottom of the story for that update) Buttons The Magical Elk Once upon a time, there was…
Read MoreA Jamieween Tale of Two Scarecrows
Today was Jamieween, a day unlike any other. Today we celebrated Jamie Chimpanzee’s birthday and Halloween. And boy did we celebrate. All of the humans truly outdid themselves this year. Enrichment Coordinator Chad has been thinking about and planning some special surprises for Jamie’s 43rd, and there was a lot of improvised fun sprinkled on…
Read MoreBurrito’s Superpower
You may be asking yourself, does Burrito ever stop playing? The answer lately is, yes, when he’s asleep. I do wonder if even in his dreams he’s tickling and chasing and wrestling, though. A very special thank to you blog readers who have posed questions on my blog post last week. You have inspired a…
Read MoreInviting your questions
This is apparently blog post #5316. This blog is pretty unique. In the beginning, we didn’t know how it would go. To be frank, we didn’t know how anything would go. We just knew we needed people to get involved and donate so that we could care for the chimpanzees, and we had a desire…
Read MoreTuesday is the Big Day + Feeling Good
First, a reminder to all that Tuesday (just a few days away!) is Giving Day for Apes. In addition to our main fundraising page, if any one person or group out there wants to create their own fundraising page to raise funds for the sanctuary, you can do that! It’s pretty easy. Just go to…
Read MoreMoments with Jamie
I had approximately 25 ideas for a blog post today, from the flighty and frivolous to the deeply profound (at least in my head). This video is neither. Or perhaps it is both. As one of her caregivers for more than twelve years, I can tell you that some of the best days in the…
Read MoreThe Bounties of Sanctuary
First, the news you’ve been waiting for: Burrito is back with his group! It’s been two weeks to the day since his encounter with the rattlesnake. I’m going to be completely honest here. I thought we were going to lose him the day that he was bitten. I also thought we were going to lose…
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