The other day, I was sitting with Terry. He was in one of the front rooms, and I sat on the other side of the mesh from him. He was very intent on grooming my right hand and my left boot. He was making his quiet lip-popping grooming noises that he does. No one else was around.
In some ways, it was an ordinary moment. I’ve had hundreds, I guess thousands now, of similar moments with chimpanzees.
For whatever reason, it struck me then how extraordinary that moment really was. That I was sitting with an individual of another species, so close to my own DNA, but so different at the same time. That he was being so gentle and quiet. That we were sharing this moment together. Communicating. Bonding. Trusting each other.
I remembered in that moment the first time that I met Terry at Wildlife Waystation. I remembered promising him that we were going to bring him to a new home with his friends and that he was going to have so many new experiences.
Our relationships as caregivers with the chimpanzees are so complicated, as I’ve mused about in the past (my first musing about this on this blog was July, 2008, which you can read here).
Every once in a while, at unexpected times, seemingly out of nowhere, I’m almost overwhelmed by the experience of being with one of the chimpanzees, and I recognize what a remarkable job I have stumbled into.
The promise I’ve made these chimpanzees, though Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, is their lifetime care. I didn’t understand all that came with that when I started, of course. You can’t foresee all of the challenges ahead nor how they will impact you – that goes for most of life. I don’t have control over all of what’s to come, but I can work to keep my promise.
In that moment with Terry, I silently renewed my promise to him. I will do everything I can to ensure that he has the care he deserves for whatever happens in his future, and I will work to fill his days with hope, love, adventure, and a sense of home.
Thank you for helping us fulfill this promise to Terry and everyone here.
Diana, thank you for
sharing these special moments of calm in an otherwise hectic day. Terry is a great guy! 🙂
Thank you Diana for all you, and the other caregivers and volunteers, have given up in your lives to ensure your promise to the chimps. You have changed their lives for the better, and I believe they know it. They are living their best lives.
what a wonderful moment, to share with each other.
Thank you for your promise, born of compassion, to Terry and his friends.
This was beautiful, it reminded me of when you told of sitting with Honey B and gazed into her eyes and silently told her how sorry you were for things that happened to her in the past. I also thank all of you for doing everything possible to give them a fulfilling life now.
Just read the linked post. Not a downer. But a heart-stopper. So glad you, with your heart and your ethics, help lead this place of sanctuary.
Diana, thankyou
for sharing today’s blog with us and for the promise that you gave to Terry at the Wildlife Waystation all those years ago. You and your team acted on that promise and now these beautiful chimpanzees live a far richer life in your care.I read with interest your 2008 blog and it answered my questions concerning new born chimps living at the sanctuary. On the one hand it’s a sweet thought but of course it can’t happen for all the reasons you mentioned.
Day to day small moments with the chimps, but oh how special these moments are.
Beautiful post Diana. As is the 2008 post. I love reading the deep insights you share with all the intensity, both good and bad, that comes with being honored to have the opportunity that you, J.B.. and the rest of the staff & volunteers have to share moments with the chimpanzee family/s at CSNW.. and beyond. Thank you all.
Thank you for the comments about Terry. I was a volunteer at the Waystation and was allowed to work with Terry and the other chimps. Even though I miss them terribly, it is good to know that they are getting so much love and attention from all of you!!
I love how several of you still follow them. It shows how much you love them. Did you have a favorite?
I’d be interested in hearing about your experiences! I figure their personalities probably haven’t changed too much, but it’s always so cool to hear from people who knew the chimps in their earlier years.
I heartily concur with the previous statements. Terry, Betsy, Foxie, et al, are blessed to have Diana and her colleagues in their lives.
Diana, thank you for sharing your lovely experiences and most of all for caring to make a promise to give the chimps a good life.
It fills me with so much joy to know that Terry and crew are at a place where they are loved and valued as individuals. I, as much as everyone else, wish they were roaming the forests of Africa, using their skills and intelligence in the wild, but I also know that sanctuary is the next best thing.
Sometimes I wonder about Neggie and Annie. Do they remember Africa? Do they remember their mothers and their families that were cruelly snatched from them? They were so young that they probably don’t, but it still hurts my heart to know that they spent 30+ years treated as objects. And Jamie who lived with a trainer for 9 years. Who probably trusted and loved them. Only to be tossed out when she got too big and strong. Sold off to a lab where she was locked in a cage for so long. The way we humans have treated our chimpanzee cousins makes me so angry sometimes.
For all of the hardship they’ve been through, I try to focus on the now. That they’re loved and safe and enriched. That each day puts the lab further and further behind them.
Thank you for the objective but personal view on species to species communication. That’s what i love about animals, that you want to go into their world and communicate on a different level, much like autistic people that can communicate to animals. Animals just know. Other senses help them along. It’s going into their world, or any animal world that’s fascinating to me.
Diana: Another heartfelt post. You do have a way of communicating to those of us who follow the adventures of the chimps at the sanctuary. You, JB, and all of the other caregivers have more than made good on the promise you yourself made years ago to the chimps. And sometimes it only takes a simple look or sound or touch. For that you have our everlasting thanks.
Hi Diana, as you stated, we can’t foresee what lies ahead but I know one thing for certain……everyone living at CSNW has a safe, comfortable home where they are surrounded with love. And they are supported by people from all around the globe, people they will never meet but people who love and respect them nonetheless. This fact fills me full of hope.
When you, and all the chimps caregivers, reach a ripe old age and you find yourselves looking back upon your lives, you’ll know in your hearts that your time here was well spent. You gave selflessly to make a difference in the wellbeing of others. Your lives had purpose. That’s a life well lived. This makes me think of one of my favorite quotes, one that I think of when I think of the sanctuary residents:
“What lies behind us
and what lies before us
are tiny matters
compared to what lies
within us.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Please give Terry a tickle next time you see him and tell him it’s from me.
Ive said it before and Ill say it forever… Thank you so very much. What a beautiful post. I also have to mention EVERY time I see that gorgeous freckly face I have to say in an enthusiastic amost pitchy voice … “TerREeeee!!!” I do love him…
I just now fell in love with Terry. That last photo, and the image in my mind of you making that promise at WWS, just exploded my heart.