It’s been six months or so that Cy’s group has had access to The Bray, their two-acre outdoor enclosure, and in that time we’ve seen some pretty big wins for that group. Whether it be Lucky deciding to be brave and head out for the first time, Willy B deciding that the grass might not actually be so bad, or Cy making it all the way to the top of the enclosure- I think I can confidently say that it’s been a point of compassion satisfaction for all of us here.
We’re pretty transparent in this daily blog, which means that we’re also pretty vulnerable. We have the responsibility and opportunity to connect with you to share the stories of the chimps in our care, which means that we can celebrate wins like the above together, but also that we mourn the losses that come with sanctuary life together, too. This year has been a lot of both and you’ve seen us write about sensitive topics like compassion fatigue and grief.
Some days, for me, it all comes together and it’s not solely compassion fatigue or compassion satisfaction. Some days it feels like both.
This afternoon I was walking (read: meandering aimlessly) around the chimp house hoping for a blog idea to come to me. After walking back and forth a few times, I finally went out to the chute to see if anyone in Cy’s group was enjoying the afternoon sun despite the chill in the air. Terry, who had been relaxing in the warm winterized greenhouses, came with me and went out onto the Bray. I went walking with him and turned around to see that Lucky, Rayne, and Cy had joined us too. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, the birds were chirping- and there we were, experiencing it together.
One of the foundations of our work here is ensuring that the chimps have as much choice as possible in their day to day lives, whenever we can. Whether that’s respecting someone’s choice to not shift out of a certain enclosure, accepting if someone doesn’t want to hang out with us humans, or giving them a variety of enrichment that they can choose to interact with (or not), we do what we can when we can. The caveat is that, due to the hand that humans have dealt them, they are here with us in sanctuary and we have to make big & small decisions for them every day.
I’m not sure if this makes sense, but watching Terry and his friends enjoy a random afternoon walk on the Bray on a chilly fall day in the foothills of the Cascade mountains epitomized these wins, losses, and choices in that I witnessed their freedom to choose an activity that I believe brought them joy. Today’s win, a moment of peace on the Bray, stemmed from tough decisions about how we could set them up for success in such a big, new enclosure and give them security in their choices. Then, as I’m standing on the Bray with Terry and his friends, I look over and am happy to see Annie heading in from being outside on the Hill. I look over a little bit more to see if anyone else was out and I see the spot where Jody is buried.
Wins, losses, grief, acceptance.
Some days the wins feel extra big, some days you feel the losses extra hard. And, some days when the sun is shining and the wind is cold, you feel it all at the same time.
Terry resting his eyes in the warm, winterized greenhouse:
P.S. Have you heard about our upcoming Comfort & Joy Auction and accompanying festivities? You can pick and choose how you want to participate, but we are asking you to take a moment to send us a video telling us which chimpanzee at CSNW brings you joy and why! Click here for details and instructions.
