Santa visits chimps first
By Ron Hayes, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 24, 2002
LOXAHATCHEE -- You've probably wondered how Santa Claus is able to deliver all those presents to all those children all over the world in just one cold winter's night.
Simple.
He gives all the chimps their presents in advance.
Monday morning for example, Claus was at Lion Country Safari, ferrying four boatloads of gaily wrapped gifts to the 35 chimpanzees who live on the wildlife park's five chimp islands.
Christmas was saddened this year by the absence of Nolan, the park's alpha male, who succumbed to a stroke in November. In years past, Nolan's boisterous hijinks as he kicked the boxes about the island or threw them back at Santa were a highlight of the holiday delivery.
By contrast, the chimps were a bit subdued Monday. They behaved with the dignity that is natural to chimps, and the crowd of about a hundred human beings watching from the shore behaved with the dignity of human beings.
"I got a couple of leftover Viagras I was going to bring for them," cracked Hans Wobst, 81, of Royal Palm Beach. "I hear they're a lot like human beings."
No Viagra, but the chimps did receive treats that are not part of their daily diet of bananas, oranges, produce and chimp chow.
Instead of candy canes, they got sugar cane, as well as cookies, pudding and fruit cups. Emily Colangelo, 9, of Jupiter, and her sisters, Alexandra, 6, and Sarah, 4, cleaned out their extensive collection of stuffed animals and brought them for Santa to pass along, and Girl Scout Troop 1129 of West Palm Beach made lap blankets for the chimps.
As he's done for 17 Christmases, Santa sailed along the water's edge, tossing the wrapped gifts onto the island, where the chimps swung down from their perches and scampered over to greet him.
"Oh, this is so cool!" exclaimed Sunny Miller, watching from the safety of the far shore. "We're from Ithaca, N.Y., and they don't have anything like this. Well, maybe down in Greenwich Village...."
Pam Campbell of Royal Palm Beach thought the scene looked familiar. "It's like Christmas at our house," she nodded. "They get the clothes and throw 'em down."
