Flying Colors and Dreams Coming True

by Jane Dewar, 12Jan2003

Our last update was a month before Christmas, and now that holiday has passed us by and it’s time for another update – this time, however, with much more to report!

In order for GH to be able to get a gorilla, we need three major approvals and/or licenses.  All three of these inspections took place on January 8 and 9, 2003 and all three went well.

1. The Federal Government:  USDA – United States Department of Agriculture.  Technically, GH doesn’t need a USDA license, but since we’ll be taking in gorillas from zoos, which do require USDA licensing, GH will be treated as an affiliate holding area, and therefore we’ll get our own USDA license and approval.  This report was completed on the spot with a terse but important phrase” No non compliant items noted”, which means the license is just a matter of time to process the paperwork.
    

2. The State Government:  Georgia DNR – Department of Natural Resources.  Again, GH is unique in that it seems no one is used to people housing animals without breeding them, or profiting from them, or using them for medical research!  One of the requirements for a DNR license is the non-intrusive, strictly behavioral research aspect GH will be doing for the zoo world, which will depend on how many gorillas are here and what needs to be studied.  The inspectors understand the uniqueness of our project and said everything looked great and the paperwork/license should just take a couple of weeks.
    

3. The Zoo World:  Gorilla SSP – Species Survival Plan and AZA – American Zoo and Aquarium Association.  We’re not ready to apply for AZA certification yet, until the entire Phase 1 and 2 are finished, but in discussions with the head of the Gorilla SSP, it has been suggested that subject to all approvals, moving one gorilla here now would make sense since all our support buildings and Silverback Villa are completed and operational.  So the Gorilla SSP sent an inspection team of 3 people to tour the facility, talk with our staff and vets and to basically get a better understanding of just what GH is all about.  There were no obvious comments or concerns about the facility itself and now that team will send a report to the SSP Head, who will then process our application to the other governing committees.  The SSP is aware of a tentative date for moving this particular gorilla, and we're all hopeful that the SSP will give their blessing in the same timeframe as the other governing agencies.

A fourth governing body we just need to inform is the Local/County Government:  There are no requirements here, other than what is part of the routine requirements of moving a gorilla anyway, which will include a health certificate and notification of local officials that the move will be taking place.  This will happen approximately 30 to 60 days before the gorilla is scheduled to be moved.

We don’t anticipate any delays or problems getting all our approvals and licenses in order to move our first gorilla in the near future.  In a further attempt to make the move for this particular gorilla go smoothly and as stress-free as possible, we’re hiring back his former keeper, so there are some familiar faces to help ease the stress of the move, which will be tough on everyone!  This keeper will stay with us until the gorilla is well settled in, which we think can only help the gorilla, who will have THREE keepers to look after him!  This gorilla is 40 years old, which is old for a gorilla, so we're hoping to give him a good quality of life for his remaining time on earth - everyone's prayers and good wishes can only help, so thanks to everyone sending them our/his way!

On Saturday January 4th, the project manager of the Limbe Wildlife Center, Tony Chasar, stopped by to see our progress on a quick trip home for the holidays before heading back to Cameroon in mid January .  Tony was able to offer another set of professional gorilla-keeper eyes to help look for any possible flaws or items we may have missed, as we prepared for the inspectors.  Photo left shows Steuart demonstrating the computer-controlled door system he designed to Tony. Luckily, Tony didn’t find any problems and we had some time to discuss what’s going on in Cameroon and how our primate friends (both human and non-human primates!) are doing.  I’m hoping to get to Limbe this Spring, at which time I’ll do another update for the LWC part of our website, but for now you can check out Limbe’s own website

Finally, after telling our neighbors if they wanted to see the GH facilities, they’d better come soon, since once a gorilla was in residence, no full tours could/would be conducted, our My Mountain neighbors finally took us up on the offer on Saturday January 11th.  We figured about 5 to 10 people might show up, since it was unusually cold and touring the facility means hiking and a lot of walking.  More than 50 people showed up, being shuttled in on the back of all terrain vehicles and pick up trucks, since we don’t have a lot of parking places (we’re not open to the public).

Steuart and I were totally surprised at the level of interest, but we managed by splitting up in 2 groups and taking opposite directions when doing the circular tour of the habitat, which took about 2 hours.  The response of our neighbors was wonderful to behold.  I ended my tour by telling people they didn’t need to do anything as dramatic or  huge as GH, but if we can inspire them to make just a tiny part of their world a better place, then Steuart and I will have done one small aspect of our jobs to leave the world a little bit better than we found it! The photo above right shows the first batch of visitors waiting for the others to be shuttled in, in front of our cabin.

The puppy, Chewbaka or “Chewie” featured on the last update has gone on to another home with a couple in Alpharetta, a suburb of Atlanta, after spending just about 5 weeks with us.  Chewie and I drove to Florida in mid December to visit a dear friend who was in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.  Since Chewie was new to our family, I decided to take him with me, rather than leaving poor Steuart home to tend to the 10 other dogs and 19 cats, with the added burden of a new puppy.  Chewie made a delightful road companion and even came with me into the ICU to meet my friend, after a nurse dared me to do it!  The doctor came in as Chewie was licking my friend, whose face was as bright as could be with a big smile, so the doctor reluctantly agreed, while it wasn’t recommended procedure, Chewie’s visit did more to cheer up my friend than any medicines could.

All my life I dreamed of having an apricot poodle, but I figured I’d never get one, since I refuse to pay for any pet and would never buy a dog from a breeder.  I’d mentioned this to the people who asked me to take Chewie, and a couple days after we returned from Florida, a call came that an apricot poodle puppy was found abandoned, covered in fleas, burrs, and dirt, dehydrated and starving … and was I still interested?  I told them to bring this new dog around and when the animal rescue lady saw Chewie, she exclaimed what a cute puppy he was, so we made an instantaneous decision to let Chewie go back into the local pet adoption program, and we’d keep the poodle instead.  Chewie is Mr. Personality – he loves people, cats, dogs, everything and everyone.  The poodle, on the other hand, had more medical and psychological problems, so instead of having 2 new puppies, we opted for the one presenting more of a challenge – the poodle.  We still miss Chewie a lot, but know he's happy and we made sure we sent him off with plenty of his favorite toys with Shannon - a volunteer with the local Second Chance animal rescue organization (see photo above left).

When our beloved Kari died over two years ago, I never thought things would be the same again.  But it quickly became apparent that this new poodle had Kari’s spirit – he was needy but soaked up affection and love like a sponge;  he was unsure of himself, but responded well to reassurances and praise;  he was expecting to be hit or thrown outside into the cold again, but quickly learned outside was a place to do his business and/or play, but that he had a home now and would be a Prince Puppy, with his Princess Puppy sisters, Bwindi and Soakie as companions.  I used to call Kari, “Kari Bari”,  so the new Prince Puppy is called BARI.  The photo on the right shows Bari when he arrived on 19Dec02 and again, just back from his stay in the hospital, 24Dec02.

Bari was very ill and spent a night on an IV drip at the local animal hospital to treat his dehydration and other ailments, which had him vomiting and puddle pooping all over our home his first night here.  But by Christmas Eve, he was ready to come home, all clipped and looking more like a poodle than the shaggy dog who first arrived.  The outside dogs all love Bari, but Bwindi and Soakie are taking longer to warm up to this new interloper who now shares the cabin with them.  Like everything else in life, a little time and a lotta love will make all the difference.