A Milestone Birthday Has Been Reached!

February 2021

Center for Great Apes eNewsletter

It's hard to believe that one year ago this week, at the start of the pandemic, we made the difficult (but right) decision to cancel our annual Spring Member Day. We are so grateful for the support our members and friends have given us this past year in spite of not being able to visit us in person. Your continued help has allowed us to carry on the compassionate and vital care of our great ape residents.

Unfortunately, we will not be hosting our annual Spring Member Day in 2021 due to the continued concerns with the virus in Florida. We know you want us to prioritize the safety and welfare of our orangutans and chimpanzees. However, we are holding on to the hope that we will be able to safely host our Members' Holiday Open House in December.

In the meantime, the sanctuary continues to remain closed to visitors during the pandemic. Please continue to visit our website and watch our social media sites for any updates...and to enjoy the photos and posts about our wonderful great apes.

Milestone Birthday

In a very challenging year, one of the brightest things to happen in 2020 was the very unexpected and surprising birth of a female infant orangutan to Sunshine and Archie.

Even though she was the result of a birth control failure, precious little Cahaya has been a true blessing to her orangutan family, our staff, and all our supporters who have followed her life and progress during her first year.

Cahaya, along with her orangutan family - Sunshine, Archie, and Keagan - celebrated her first birthday on February 6th with beautiful decorations, gifts, and a watermelon cake.

Little Miss Independent! Cahaya loves wrapping herself up in tulle fabric and wrapping paper

Cahaya and mom Sunshine check out the watermelon birthday cake

Cahaya has a unique hairstyle like that of most baby orangutans

We are Wild About Sandra

One of Sandra's favorite enrichment activities is playing in a bucket of suds

Sandra and Jethro had many gifts, party favors, and treats to celebrate her birthday

One of our lovely orangutan residents, Sandra (who arrived from Argentina a little over a year ago, after receiving legal nonhuman personhood status in a Buenos Aires court of law), celebrated her 35th birthday on Valentine's Day with her companion Jethro. Of course, she had a Valentine-themed party with lots of pink and red streamers, and hearts scattered throughout her habitat.

This month is also the first anniversary of when Sandra and Jethro were introduced to each other, and we are so happy that they have found a gentle and peaceful companionship.

If you would like to help support the daily care for Sandra, Jethro, or Cahaya and her family please consider a symbolic adoption!

Adopt-An-Ape Here

Wishlist

With the expansion of the sanctuary, we find ourselves needing golf carts and other BIG wish items. We use golf carts for delivering diets to each of the ape areas, along with hay and pine needles. Our maintenance team uses carts to transport materials and tools for their various projects around the sanctuary. We also need refrigerators and freezers for the apes' diets and enrichment storage in each ape nighthouse, as well as washers and dryers to process all the apes' blankets and other laundry items. If you can provide any of these large items or have questions on how you can help, please call the main office at 863-767-8903.

There is also an ongoing need for special food, enrichment items, and basic supplies for our apes. Many of these smaller daily items can be found on our Amazon Wish List. Be sure that you are signed up for AmazonSmile and direct donations to CGA and a percentage of your purchase will be donated to us directly from Amazon! If you need help getting signed up check out our Wishlist page on our website for instructions.