For fabulous and wonderful Jody

In the event that you haven’t yet had the chance to see it, Sunday was not only our Mother’s Day celebration in honor of all the chimpanzee and bovine mamas and their children, but the day on which we celebrate our beloved Jody’s honorary birthday! Jody turned 47 this year!

One of Jody’s wonderful Chimpanzee Pals, Tobin, also sponsored a day of sanctuary in her honor (and through a handful of happenings outside Tobin’s control, we’re posting this generous gift a little late). But given that Jo is to be celebrated endlessly with at least a month-long birthday party, it’s perfect.

Tobin shared this special message about her kind gift:

“I want to join Jody’s many friends – simian as well as human – in honoring her on her birthday. I hope that seasonal delicacies such as lilacs will be in abundance on Young’s Hill for Farmer Jo to forage and harvest.

As a small – and admittedly misinformed – child, I wondered why the farms surrounding my small, Midwestern hometown didn’t have certain animals grazing on their lands. I would have been interested to see – let alone hear – a dinosaur in the pasture across the street from my home. Moreover, circa 1967 I was inclined to think that having a chimpanzee and an elf within my immediate social circle might prove to be a source of “enrichment”.

I never did cast my sight upon herds of Tyrannosauri or Brontosauri grazing in the countryside. Nor, ultimately did any of my pointy-eared human acquaintances declare themselves to be elves. Nonetheless, a half-century later I did fall head over heels for seven chimpanzees who reside in the Cascade mountains.

One of those seven – today’s birthday girl, Jody – will seemingly contort the shape of her ears into those of an elf when she is in good spirits. And when she feasts upon certain gourds from her garden – watermelon, squash, or pumpkin – she will evoke the grunting pleasure of a satisfied Stegosaurus.

To conclude, I not only treasure having Jody as my chimpanzee pal, but I am glad that she is in our lives as well.”

Many thanks to you, Tobin, for adding to our celebration of beautiful Jody and your long-time friendship of the seven (and now sixteen chimp people and four bovines!) who call the sanctuary their home!

Due to winter not as of yet being ready to entirely give up its time on the seasonal wheel, our local lilacs are just now barely starting to bud. But we know they will appear in their own time and a lilac celebration will hopefully ensue in a couple more weeks.

In the meantime, behold Jody, in all her endearing, elf-eared, foraging glory: