Today we had our second day of service with the Save The Chimps Foundation. Upon arrival we were separated out into two groups. The first group met up with Whitney, one of the employees with the foundation. She showed us to her corner of the maintenance building and started going over everything she had been wanting to do for the last couple of weeks, but just hadn’t had the time to do herself. She explained that she is always trying to think of new toys and things for the chimps to play with, as they are very intelligent creatures and can quickly figure out how something works and become bored. Creating chimp-proof toys is no easy task! A few of us took sections of PVC pipe and wrapped it with turf. The turf was then held to the pipe with zip ties that were pulled tight with pliers. This may have caused permanent turf burn on the palms of our hands, but it was worth it to see the finished products that will later be rolled in oatmeal for the chimps to play with. A couple others took pipes that were cut in half and glued sides to each end to create a make-shift trough for food and treats. We realized quickly how useful PVC pipe and a little creativity can really be! Once those were all finished we quickly put together an assembly line to turn fire hoses into hammocks. We had people cutting those hoses, marking the drill spots, drilling holes, assembling the nuts and bolts for the hook, and tightening said nuts and bolts. A little teamwork went a long way and we were able to bust out about 20-25 assembled hoses AND clean our work area in only about 40 minutes! It was an amazing feeling to accomplish so much in one day and realize that if Whitney was doing it by herself, it could have taken nearly 2 weeks because of how busy she is and how many other things she has to do throughout the day. 
The second group headed to the kitchen area to make some enrichment snacks for the chimps. The staff tries to provide the chimps with snacks that take some time or effort to eat. The snack we made was pinecones soaked in tomato juice, and then covered in seasonings. Sounds...delicious? Luckily, we were working under an awning because the Florida weather was not cooperating. The natives were very surprised to see it raining in January! The workers kept asking us if we were freezing since it was a “ rigid" 63 degrees outside, and proceeded to blame us for bringing the cold weather with us! We were all very content with anything above freezing! After the lunch break, it was back to work on the pinecones. We finished one more batch, and turned the leftover tomato juice into chimp popsicles for each island. We had a really fun afternoon interacting with the staff in the kitchen, and the chimps should be very pleased with their delicious, enriching snacks. We’re excited to see what tomorrow has to hold with the promise of 75 degree weather! 
- Fort Pierce Fam
No comments:
Post a Comment