April 3, 2020 - Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

This morning, Mave was showing off some luxurious locks and a yearbook photo worthy pose. She is the coolest.

Those are the only photos I managed to get this morning, so I guess today is my day to clear out some photos from the old phone. Here’s Missy chomping on some sweet potato in the Greenhouse.

As you may have seen on yesterday’s blog, Anna has returned from her maternity leave and Chad has agreed to stay on as a permanent staff member. Here we are celebrating – it’s a sign of the times when you need to use panoramic mode to get all five people at a party in the same shot (Katelyn was working remotely).

People often refer to hay as either “cow hay” or “horse hay”. While these names can mean different things to different people, it’s usually the case that cow hay is of a lesser quality. Perhaps it got rained on before being baled or sat around for far too long. Cattle, it seems, are less sensitive than horses to molds and other impurities, but don’t let that make you think they aren’t picky. These four have very refined palates and they will boycott any hay that is not up to their standards. Conversely, when you bring the good stuff they will eat it right out of the Gator with such enthusiasm that you can’t even get it to their feeder.

When we built the foot box we had a hunch it would work but we needed to be sure before relying on it to diagnose an injury. So we threw a troll in the box. For science.

This lovely day of sanctuary was sponsored by Robin Lundy, in honor of Jane Goodall on her birthday. Robin shared this thoughtful, heartfelt and poignant note about her gift:

“I am sponsoring today in honor of Jane Goodall on her birthday. With Biruté Galdikas and the late Dian Fossey, Dr. Goodall has devoted her life and work to advocate for the survival and well-being of our primate cousins. There are few humans whom I admire more than this woman of courage and vision. As the human species is besieged in the corona virus pandemic, it is well worth considering the ways in which we may have engendered the proliferation of this virus through our use – and misuse – of our natural environment and the non-human animals with whom we share our fragile biosphere. May the experience of the pandemic serve to teach us that human animals do not exist apart from the natural world, and as such, we must respect and protect the ecosystem. In honoring Dr. Goodall as a prophetic voice and witness, I like to think that people like Missy, her daughter Honey B (and for that matter, Honey the cow) also admire her for her life’s work of advocacy and activism on behalf of animals.”

Robin, thank you for allowing us the opportunity to celebrate Jane Goodall on her special day and the contributions through courage, hope and inspiration that she, and so many amazing women of all species, have and continue to make to life. And for reminding us that be they primate (including our human selves), bovine, plant, or otherwise, there truly is no separation.

From our sanctuary home in the mountains, we all send intentions of gratitude, joy and well-being across the waters to you, Dr. Goodall! We wish you a beautiful birthday! May the hope, kindness and steadfast resolve you inspire in so many of us stay bright in your heart and may we manifest it in the world around us all.

Missy: