July!

I have no idea how it can be July, yet here we are! All of us here at the sanctuary are given a steady river of opportunities to celebrate and it’s you, our extraordinary supporters, who make this possible. While we have the birthdays of two of our cherished sanctuary residents to celebrate this month, there is also a chance to celebrate all the special beings who we serve, the very reasons the sanctuary exists, those who you make everything possible for. And to all of you with a July birthday, we hope it’s the best one yet! We appreciate you so much!

The chimpanzees always enjoy a fun celebration on the 4th of July and there will be the special treat of foot squeak inducing vegan hotdogs included on this year’s menu! Word on the street is that there will also be buns, but don’t tell Negra or she will start clapping at us now. 🙂

Missy and her watermelon bowl heist from last year! Look at her!:

Rayne:

Negra claiming hers:

Then we have World Chimpanzee Day on July 14th! “World Chimpanzee Day was first founded by a group of NGOs, including the Jane Goodall Institute, the North American Primate Sanctuary Alliance, Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection, and the Lincoln Park Zoo. This year, like every year, is a day of celebration of chimpanzees and the people who have done so much work to help save them.”

Just a few of the gorgeous chimpanzee people who we celebrate here every day:

Annie!:

Jamie:

Cy:

Rayne exploring the Bray:

Honey B:

Next up are the birthdays! Endearing Gordo turns 36 on July 19th! We’re envisioning a day of bunny-hoppin’, so start practicing now.  And if bunny-hoppin’ is not your thing (no judgement), maybe you can pull up a box to enjoy the festivities from that day. 🙂

Gordo is a quirky, delightful, handsome guy. He is another chimpanzee person who does things in his own way and time and in the three years since he arrived here it makes our hearts swell to see him continuing to feel more comfortable, and especially, more playful. With us, yes, but also more importantly, his chimpanzee friends. Gordo isn’t someone who will typically run up to greet the humans or immediately engage us in a play session like some of the others do (unless you’re wearing a troll mask), but that doesn’t mean he’s not interested. I mean, sometimes he’s not and he might be more likely to deliver an impressive blast of water to your face. Envision humans bunny hopping and breathy panting and Gordo giving us a blank stare like he feels sorry for us (he probably does), or us quickly exiting when he heads for the water spigot. But more often than not he’s waiting and watching to see if you’re truly going to be present with him and pick up on his subtle cues, like quietly knocking on the floor as you make eye contact with him and waiting for him to make a move. I respect that about him.

And he’s surprising us more and more. Just the other day I walked in to greet the chimpanzees and out of the blue he immediately launched into a game of bunny hop chase which he continued all through lunch, laughing and at one point even presenting himself for a quick knuckle rub. And I wasn’t even wearing the troll mask! 😉

And if you missed it, Gordo recently made his first trip to the clinic for a health check this spring and amazed us all by not only choosing to participate and excelling throughout his PRT (Positive Reinforcement Training) in preparation, which Ellen wrote a great post about, but so much so that when the day arrived he accepted anesthetic hand injections allowing us to entirely avoid using the dart gun. I cannot express how incredible this is and we couldn’t be more proud of him (and our PRT team)!

Gordo also courageously experienced his first time going out to his group’s outdoor habitat, the Bray, last spring. Now it’s common to see him at the highest point on the structures taking in the view of the valley below, or to get a better look at the beautiful neighbor ladies next door.

He’s had a huge year and we can’t wait for a celebration of all things Gordo. By now you might be wondering, “How am I not Chimpanzee Pals with this amazing guy?!” Well, here’s your opportunity if you happen to be interested and able. 🙂

And the day after Gordo’s birthday, beautiful Betsy turns 17 on July 20th!:

Diana and Betsy:

This has been a year of profound loss and change for Betsy and her tiny herd. As many of you know, her sweet son, Nutmeg, died on March 21st of this year after being found down one morning and subsequently unable to regain his mobility. If you missed this, Dr. Erin shared a heartfelt post with more information here.

As is common with bovine mamas and their children, Betsy and Nutmeg were extremely bonded throughout his life and we know Betsy misses him terribly. I would say Betsy is the bovine version of Jody, den mothers in spirit if you will, and it’s heart-lifting to see her close relationships with Honey and Meredith which surely must be bringing her comfort.

Betsy (R) and her cherished forever baby boy, Nutmeg (L), in their summer pasture a couple of years ago:

Ellen and Betsy:

As is evident by these sweet photos, Betsy is also someone who has warmed up to the humans over the years and has become more tolerant of our desire to offer her unsolicited scritches or hugs when she sees fit. When Betsy and her family arrived, it never crossed our minds that they might not be interested in said scritches and hugs. I’m not sure if the “if not huggable, why hugged shaped?” thing applies here, but it made sense to us at the time. But of course, they are unique individuals and we were still learning. And here’s a funny/terrifying to me story at my own expense.

It was the first winter they were here and I knew nothing of being around or caring for bovines, so I was excited, but very much on the further end of the nervous scale (you already know I might as well have tied a target flag around my head). But I figured “scritches and hugs”, right? No. Betsy was not having it. One day after finishing up with their meal service, Diana and I were inching our way down the very icy and snowy field when I caught sight of Betsy in my periphery running up alongside us. I knew this was her way to say, “Go on, git!”, but expected/hoped she’d veer back toward the others. But donning her sassy pants, this bovine woman charged me and pulled a solid Honey B-style “hip check” by butting me right in the hip, her back legs flying up in the air for added emphasis. I won’t lie, I was devastated and terrified! Message received, Miss Betsy!

Well, you won’t often catch me in open proximity to the bovines now, though if I am I seem to have generally been granted favor to occasionally receiving Betsy’s endearing licks and being able to offer a scritch here and there. And when Nutmeg was ailing and we all took turns sitting with him around the clock, I fully expected her to be very protective, understandably. But Betsy and her family were gentle and quiet with us which was miraculous to me given all we had to do to attempt to help Nutmeg stand up, and though they kept a solid eye out, nothing can convince me they didn’t know we were there to help. Even me. It was a true honor to stand with them in those deeply sad days.

We are so rarely given the opportunity to get to know bovines as the unique, intelligent and sensitive individuals they are and to be able to appreciate their inherent value just for being who they are  and living their own lives as opposed to what they provide for humans. Even as someone who has never known another way than to hold reverence for our fellow animals, to witness them and the enduring bonds they hold with one another is a true gift, not one most of us ever have the chance to see. We’re so grateful for the life here in sanctuary you make possible for Betsy and her tiny family. For them, and for us.

And if you’d like to become a Bovine Buddy with this queen, or any member of her family, here you go.

Happy July everyone! I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but rest assured you will hear about it along with the daily happenings here on the blog. Be sure to sign up if you haven’t already. Thank you as always for being here with us and we hope you find every bit of beauty and joy July and summertime (or wintertime on the flip side) has to offer!