The days of May

May is probably the most beautiful time of year at the sanctuary. For a few brief weeks, the world turns neon green under alternating blue and charcoal skies, the surrounding hillsides are awash in yellow balsam root and indigo and violet mountain lupine, it’s finally warming up while not yet the scorching temperatures that come with summer, and the chimpanzees, cows, and humans are once again able to roam outdoors with freedom and ease. It’s like the deepest of breaths.

Rayne:

Missy and Jody:

GiveBIG returns on May 6-7, though it kicked off with early giving on April 22nd (thank you to all who have donated so far!). If you’re unfamiliar with GiveBIG, it’s a statewide campaign for non-profit organizations across Washington state and if you are interested in donating for the chimpanzees and cows, you can find the sanctuary’s page here. With immense thanks to a generous donor, all donations up to $10,000 are being matched!

Mother’s Day is May 11th this year and if you’ve been here awhile, you’ll know it’s a special day of celebration here at the sanctuary. We hope for sun and cool breezes, and we try to fill it with fresh spring flowers and exciting, colorful foods. We get to honor all the sanctuary’s chimpanzee and bovine mothers: Annie, Betsy, Foxie, Honey, Jody, Missy, and Negra. In truth, this day is for each of the chimpanzees and cows, the children they had, and the children they, too, once were in these lives they’ve found themselves in. We get to honor all that exists in the same breath for us all; the unimaginable losses, the unspeakable beauty, and the unexpected families found. The latter of which we have you, especially, to thank for.

Annie:

Betsy (r) and her beloved boy, Nutmeg (who we are always missing):

Foxie and Strawberry Shortcake:

Honey and her daughter, Meredith:

Jody:

Missy:

Missy’s daughter, Honey B, who we’re crazy lucky came to call the sanctuary home in 2019:

Negra:

Mother’s Day is of course also the day we chose as Jody’s honorary birthday. Though we never learned Jody’s actual date of birth, this day was chosen in honor of the nine children she gave birth to while in biomedical research and was never allowed to raise. As the official “den-mother” of her family here, it’s such a fitting day. As many of you are aware, we just passed the second anniversary of Jody’s death. She remains here with us, forever woven into our hearts, our lives, our days, and our celebrations.

Jody’s wildly handsome son, Clay, turns 38 on May 20th! Fortunately for Clay, he has called Save the Chimps in Florida home for many years. Clay’s story is hard to hear. But it’s also one that speaks so clearly to what sanctuary makes possible.

Clay was born to Jody and Mack (also Burrito’s father) at the Coulston Foundation. As noted in Clay’s history on Save the Chimps’s website where you can read more, Clay endured countless particularly egregious research studies until he was rescued by Save the Chimps in 2002, along with 265 other chimpanzees, when the Coulston Foundation was nearing bankruptcy. Clay spent many years living in isolation at Coulston and as you might imagine, he suffered deep trauma as a result of his abuse there, making it very challenging for him to feel comfortable living with other chimpanzees once rescued. But through patience and time, incredibly, Clay recently found a place within a family to call his own.

Clay now spends time on his family’s 3-acre island and continues to build bonds at his own pace with his family members. It requires an immense amount of courage on the parts of Clay and his caregivers to have such an incredible outcome well into his adulthood. I like to imagine that Jody is beyond thrilled for Clay, as are we all, with hope for his promising new future ahead. If you follow STC’s social media, they periodically share videos of him and his new family!

Clay (photo courtesy of Save the Chimps) most certainly has his mother’s beautiful eyes:

Jody:

Thank you for being here, friends! Happy May Day, happy Bealtaine for my Irish kin, happy spring, happy half-way to summer, and of course, happy half-way to Jamieween!! 😉