Ape Ambassadors spring 2015 newsletter

Make lemonade…

Birthday Parties!

Adopt an Ape…

Adrian, Mia and Scout set-up a lemonade stand and raised $90 for the Great Apes!

Tommy (far right) asks for items from the sanctuary’s wish list instead of birthday presents.

One Ape Ambassador “adopted” Kiki, an ape at the sanctuary who shares her nickname.

A Club for Kids a nd Teens !

The

APE PAPER

The Ape Ambassadors Newsletter Issue 1 SPRING 2015

Making a Difference Ape Ambassadors is a club for kids and teens. While the focus of the club is raising awareness and funds for the Center for Great Apes, the goal is to helps kids and adults realize the power of young people.

Meeting in Miami…

Kids from five different schools in Miami met to discuss ways to be effective Ape Ambassadors. Some suggestions are at the top of this newsletter!

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Kids are amazing and can do great things.

They are key to improving their community, their city, state, and beyond. Whether it’s picking up litter or raising funds for a cause, Ape Ambassadors want to make a difference.

The Center for Great Apes, a non-profit sanctuary for orangutans and chimpanzees, was founded in Miami and is now located on 120-acres in Central Florida. The sanctuary has earned the coveted Charity Navigator’s 4-star rating and it is the only orangutan sanctuary in North America.

Learn more about the sanctuary at www.CenterforGreatApes.org.

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Spread the Word

Palm oil, found in shampoo, chips, cookies, detergent, and even makeup, is linked to issues such as deforestation and animal cruelty in countries where land is being cleared to develop palm oil plantations.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, an area the size of 300 football fields of rainforest is cleared each hour to make way for palm oil production.

This large-scale deforestation is pushing many species to extinction.

If nothing changes species like the orangutan could become extinct in the wild within the next 5-10 years, and Sumatran tigers less than 3 years.

Kellogg’s has become the first major American company to commit to transitioning to deforestation-free palm oil supply chains by 2015! Last August Madison and Rhiannon of ProjectOrangs delivered over 115,000 petitions in partnership with SumOfUs urging the company to eliminate its connection to the destruction of real “Tony the Tiger” rainforest habitat for palm oil plantations.

Kellogg’s owns Little Brownie Bakers, one of the two Girl Scout cookie bakeries. This means half of Girl Scout cookies will soon be rainforest-safe.

Hopefully ABC Bakers will soon follow Kellogg’s lead and ensure that the palm oil they source for Girl Scout cookies will also be produced under these same rigorous guidelines.

Sources: www.saynotopalmoil.com Photo: Mongabay.com

www.Projectorangs.org

Kid Power

Two Teens’ Mission To Save Orangutans and How You Can Help Photo: Joe Zammit-Lucia

In 2007 Madison Vorva and Rhiannon Tomtishen wanted to earn their Girl Scout Bronze Award. They focused on orangutans and found that their rainforests were being destroyed in order to plant palm oil plantations. Even worse, they realized palm oil is in Girl Scout cookies. So - at age 11- they launched ProjectORANGS to make Girl Scout cookies rainforest-safe. It took a lot of letters, emails and partnering with groups and fellow Girl Scouts, and in 2011, Girl Scouts USA announced a palm oil policy. Unfortunately, Madi and Rhia report that this policy does not do enough.

The GreenPalm “sustainability” logo on Girl Scout cookie boxes is misleading because the certification, created by the Roundtable

Balancing Act Apes are incredibly intelligent. Although chimps can’t read, enrichment is a very important part of the care they receive at the Center for Great Apes. They are given different activities, tools and treats to keep them happy.

on Sustainable Palm Oil, has been criticized as not being really sustainable and because there are issues with forced and child labor.

Want to help? Madi and Rhia suggest that if you see a product with palm oil, write the company that makes the product and ask them to change to an alternative oil or adopt truly deforestation-free palm oil policy.

Contact GSUSA Girl Scouts of the USA 420 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10018-2798 facebook.com/GirlScoutsUSA

Spice of Life

At CGA, the apes eat three meals a day of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and “primate biscuits” (thick, granola bar-looking biscuits that have additional vitamins, minerals, and protein needed for their diets ). No cookies for them!

The view from Above

Before their rescue, many of the apes had been stuck in cages far too small for their large bodies, making it impossible for them to stretch or swing. At the Center for Great Apes, the habitats are huge domed or barn-shaped structures connected with a winding maze of chutes and walkways through the treetops allowing the apes to explore and even go visit the clinic for routine check-ups. Inside the habitats are toys and swings, where the apes spend their days playing, eating, and napping. The apes also have concrete, temperature controlled night houses where they go to sleep, relax or escape the weather.

The award-winning designs have inspired zoos and sanctuaries to replicate similar structures at their locations.

How

Ape Ambassadors can make a difference What Ape Ambassadors do to make a difference is up to them (and their guardians, of course). We are open to ideas and suggestions and would like to feature an idea in every newsletter.

One Ambassador suggestion is to write the band One Direction asking them to never use animals in videos again. The band used a chimpanzee in the video “Steal My Girl.” With today’s computer generated imagery (CGI), there’s no need to exploit animals. In the movie Dawn of the Planet Apes, the animals were created using CGI. Andy Serkis, Karin Konoval and other actors wore special gear allowing CGI to map their movements and digitally turn them into chimpanzees and orangutans.

Ape Ambassadors can also help by bringing a friend on a member or Ape Ambassador visit day. Seeing the sanctuary and meeting the caretakers, staff, volunteers and other donors and of course - the apes - really is incredible.

The sanctuary, which focuses on caring for its 15 orangutans and 30 chimpanzees, is not open to the public. There are only a few special days when visitors are allowed. Be sure to visit on those days! Any other visit after that requires special coordination and a donation of $300 for up to 10 guests.

Did You Know?

Chimpanzees have emotions just like humans including pleasure, depression, anxiety, pain, distress, empathy and grief. source: janegoodall.org/chimps-GAPA-fact-sheet

U Hotel helps support apes…

Art Contest

Lemon Tree Inn of Naples, Florida donates $10 to the Center for Great Apes when guests use the code APE when they book online at www.LemonTreeInn.com

Art4Apes is an annual online art contest benefitting CGA. And kids can enter!

Visit Art4Apes.com

My First Visit

By Austin Bennett, Age 11, American Heritage School

Picture this: chimpanzees banging and throwing things, pushing toys around.

Would you think that is annoying? Not I. Those sounds of chimps playing filled my heart with luminous thoughts warm enough to melt butter. At this time I realized how wonderful chimps really are.

There are two species of apes at the Center for Great Apes (CGA). One is the more rowdy group, the chimps.

Chimpanzees have black hair (not fur) and are the closest animal to humans.

Chimps walk on all fours, but they can walk on their hind legs as well. They are also very intelligent. Many of them know some human traits like sign language.

All of them have different personalities.

Denyse won’t sit at the bottom of her enclosure, she only sits up high so she can see all her neighbor chimps.

The second species of apes at CGA are orangutans. These primates have long, red hair, and also walk on all fours.

They also can walk on their two back legs. Orangutans are stronger and heavier

than chimps. And at CGA, I noticed the orangutans were calmer. One of the people on the sanctuary tour remarked that it looked like Pongo, an orangutan, was trying to impress her. That statement lead me to inference the apes enjoyed our visit.

Well you may ask, how did these wonderful animals get here in the first place? They were in medical research labs, entertainment, and were pets. It makes me very sad that these apes were treated unfairly, but luckily CGA rescued them. Since CGA is nonprofit, they need money, and we need to raise money for the apes for food, toys and enrichment.

I learned that apes are fascinating creatures, and that they are my favorite animal. I learned that chimpanzees and orangutans very much need help, and they need a safe place to call home.

Help the Center for Great Apes.

The apes will thank you.

Change for Chimpanzees Educator Zowe Renteria found an easy way to raise funds for the Center for Great Apes. She took a paint can (you can use an old one or buy a new, empty one from Home Depot) and taped a label on it (see below). Her students have helped raise both money and awareness for the Center for Great Apes.

Last year at Alexander Montessori School in Miami, 1st thru 3rd grade students in Rooms 7 and 8 raised more than $300 by donating change on Fridays.

They are doing it again this year and will see in May how much they raised for CGA. A little bit adds up and goes a long way!

Become an Ape Ambassador www.ApeAmbassadors.com facebook.com/ApeAmbassadors Learn more about the sanctuary: www.centerforgreatapes.org

Austin (left), with his brother Jacob and CGA educator Lauren.

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