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We’ve had a busy few weeks at
Gorilla Haven, dealing with the aftermath of our friend and
steelmaker’s untimely death and figuring out
how to get back on track to complete Pitchou and Bonz villas, as well as the
Group Building. Our main goal is to determine how the larger steel company
in Marietta that is doing the Group building can help out with finishing up
the villas without getting yet further behind on our already way-behind
schedule! |
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Human Visitors...
 Oliver
has had several visitors lately. Unlike Joe, who quite enjoys meeting
strangers, Oliver is very shy around new faces and it takes quite a while
for him to settle down and visit with guests – if ever! We never force Joe
or Oliver to do anything they don’t want to do, so sometimes Oliver “tells”
us he’s not interested in visitors by simply remaining inside his villa and
refusing to come out to meet the guests. Both gorillas let us know, in no
uncertain terms, what their preferences are. For example, the other day I
brought Joe some apple cider and gave it to him in a small plastic bottle.
He calmly took the bottle from me and then walked outside, “dismissing” me
and letting me know our brief visit was over, since I had fulfilled my
mission of serving him a special treat! |
Oliver remembered Keri. |
Oliver’s visitors included his former
caregivers from the Bronx Zoo and from Memphis Zoo. Jason (seen
in the 2 photos on the right) was
one of the Bronx staff here when Oliver arrived last year, and while on his
vacation he wanted to see how his old friend was doing. Keri (photo left,
and with Jason in other photos),
was one of Oliver’s favorite caregivers (Oliver prefers women to men – the
total opposite of Joe, naturally!). I wasn’t sure how Oliver would react to
seeing Jason again – would he think he was going on another dreaded road
trip? It didn’t take long to realize Oliver recognized both of his old
friends, and was especially happy to see Keri, whom he allowed to hand-feed
him treats. Oliver won’t come near strangers, usually, so when he took the
treats from Keri’s hand, we knew he remembered her. |
Keri and Jason visit from the Bronx. |
Oliver remembered Sandi too. |
Oliver inspires such devotion from
everyone who knows him, it seems. His former caregivers from Memphis
also came to visit him, including Sandi, the caregiver who took him to the
Bronx in 2003. Although a few weeks had passed since the Bronx
caregivers had visited, once again it was clear that Oliver
remembered/recognized his old friends from Memphis and allowed Sandi to hand
feed him – only the second time I’d seen Oliver allow someone other than
Pete, Kelly or myself to do. The Memphis ladies helped set up Oliver’s
habitat in the morning and when given the choice to visit Zoo
Atlanta briefly or staying on a few more hours with Oliver, they chose the
latter, before heading back to Memphis. |
Memphis ladies Nancy, Sandi and Shirley help set
up Oliver's breakfast buffet. |
Oliver posing. |
Gorillaphiles
extraordinaire, Tom and Jan Parkes, visited GH after a ten year absence,
so it was fun for them to get to see how much we’d done – especially since
it seems like we’re getting no where fast most of the time! They were happy
to see Joe and Oliver, who they’ve known for years. The Parkes video and
photographic record of zoo gorillas is amazing, and they made a special disk
of footage of Oliver as a baby at the Bronx zoo and as a gangly, goofy
looking young gorilla in Memphis, which was great fun to see. |
Oliver mid-chew! |
'
Oliver often follows us as we leave after a
visit.
"I was kidding! Don't Leave Now!" |
Other visitors from the
professional zoo/animal world included Dr. Irwin Bernstein, who worked at
Yerkes with many of the gorillas now at Zoo Atlanta. Irwin had photos of
younger versions of my dear friends, Shamba, Choomba, Ozzie, Banga, etc,
etc, which were wonderful to see. Our consultant vet, Dr. Rita McManamon and
behavior specialist Dr. Debra Forthman also visited – interested in helping
us find ways to keep Oliver happy until we can get him with other gorillas –
something I believe is essential we do sooner rather than later. Without
another villa ready, we can’t accept another silverback, which would be the
only type of gorilla likely to be available to keep Oliver company, so we’re
between a rock and a hard place, and struggling to keep this very
intelligent and sweet boy happy.
As I’ve mentioned in previous updates, Joe is very
content being at GH and would be happy never to see another gorilla. He
thrives on being alone and spoiled. Oliver is a city boy and needs the
challenge and socialization of other gorillas, so that’s our goal – even if
it means sending Oliver to another zoo. Meanwhile, we continue to work on
short and medium term solutions to challenge Oliver. Although he doesn’t
appear to enjoy visitors, as soon as we leave, Oliver becomes fascinated and
follows us as we leave. |
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Bird Visitors... |
Lauren is very affectionate and enjoyed her
visit. |
One of our volunteers, JoBeth, brought up
two of her birds to spend time with Oliver too. Kathryn, an African gray
parrot, and Lauren, cockatoo, loved the ride to GH and were enjoying the new
sights and sounds at GH, including both gorillas. Initially we showed Oliver
the birds at one of his viewing windows … since we had more people around
than usual, it was hard to see if he was hesitant due to that or the birds
themselves, so we put the birds in their travel cage and left them with
Oliver inside his villa, monitoring them on our cameras. It was cute to see
Oliver sitting across from the birds and watching them with great interest.
At one point Oliver turned on his bubble machine and the birds both flapped
their wings in surprise, which made Oliver jump too. |
Kathryn and Lauren in their travel cage, with
Oliver in the background |
Joe climbed up to get a better look at the dogs running outside his villa. |
Later we took the birds
to visit Joe – not really sure what he’d think. Joe surprised us by being
very interested in the birds – and the 2 dogs who were visiting as well,
running around outside Joe’s villa. Kathryn and Lauren live with several
other birds, cats, dogs and a skunk, so they were great sports about meeting
gorillas, making it a fun day for everyone. |
Joe sat fascinated with his feathered friends. |
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Getting our Goats... |
Kelly assists Dr. Cipullo as he gives the goats
a check up. |
We had been
investigating finding an animal to live with or near Oliver for a while,
including African pygmy goats, which have lived in the same enclosure with
gorillas in the past, without incident. Suddenly one of our staff members
said he could get 2 female pygmy goats for a song, and we accepted. At
approximately 2 years old, the mother and her 8 month old baby are cuter
than can be, although they are still a little skittish around us. We kept
them in the recovery building until our vet, Dr. Cipullo, could give them an examination and de-worm them and then
let them into Oliver’s habitat while he was locked in his villa, so we could
see how they reacted to each other. |
Bush-hogging with our tractor isn't as
environmentally friendly as using Briggs and Stratton!
Above and Below: Oliver watches the goats with
fascination.
 |
 We are always faced with the
daunting challenge of keeping the grass in the 8 and a half acre habitat
mowed and under control, so the goats could help us in that regard, as well
as being a nice diversion for Oliver. Normally we have to use our tractor
and a bush-hog and it takes days to get everything done. On
steeper slopes, we have to use a manual lawn mower, which is difficult and a
challenge, which the goats could do much easier for us. When we mow
ourselves, the gorillas must be locked inside their villas, so with the
goats we can get the habitat mowed and let the gorillas have outside access
simultaneously. Naming the goats was a staff decision. I had suggested Ntaba
and Mbuzi (“goat” in the African languages, Lingala and Swahili), but
everyone groaned those names were too difficult to remember. It was Steuart
who jokingly suggested what are now their names, using a very good lawn
mower maker as his inspiration. So now mama goat is Briggs and her
baby is Stratton. And while we build them a permanent structure
inside Oliver’s habitat, they now have full reign over the rest of the
habitat, where they are doing a great job mowing. They prefer to hang out by
Pitchou Villa, which is at a higher elevation, so perhaps they’re mountain
goats! In keeping with that theme, we're building them a Goat Chalet in
Oliver's habitat, which will be gorilla-proof and also a place for the goats
to seek shelter from the elements. Movie above right shows Briggs & Stratton
chasing after Kelly in a utility vehicle which they know has some special goat food
that they like.When Oliver
first saw the goats, he was very intrigued – much the way he was intrigued
by our larger dog, Rosie, who he met weeks earlier. Briggs and Stratton made
themselves at home in Oliver’s habitat and Oliver spent his time watching
them carefully. Whenever the goats were near the villa and noticed Oliver,
he’d playfully wave his arm towards them, which caused them to jump and run
away – this seemed to please Oliver a great deal. Once the Goat Chalet is
ready for occupancy, the goats will be moved into Oliver's habitat, where
we'll begin introductions. Oliver doesn’t like the steep hill of his habitat
and the goats skip down the sheer drop of the hillside with no effort at
all, so we think they’ll be able to co-exist peacefully. When we first let
Oliver out in the habitat with the goats, we’ll be standing by to make sure
things go well for the first few weeks, until we’re sure there is no threat
to neither goat nor gorilla. Gorillas have co-existed with goats in other
zoos in Europe and the USA, so we're confident this will work out for all. |
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Kittens Kaboodles... |
Big yawn from Yogi. |
Yogi and Gurti are getting big fast. After the tragedy of Mango’s death
last fall, I’m spending extra time with the kittens, making sure they know
to respect the dogs’ yards, while also letting the dogs and kittens meet
(supervised) so they know we’re all one big happy family. Often when the
animals are bickering, I can be heard screaming “Cut it out! We’re one big
happy family, dammit!” and that usually settles it.
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Mellow Gurti. |
Oscar grooming Yogi. |
Oscar
kitty, was adopted after dear friends had to return to their home in Florida
full time. Years ago I promised I’d take care of their cabin cats if
something happened to them, so in February I managed to trap Oscar and her
daughter, Sushi, and bring them to GH. Sushi remained in my writing cottage
for several months. She’s totally feral and I could see I was breaking her
spirit, so after a vet check up and her annual shots, we let her go – she’s
been seen by her old home, and will do fine. Oscar, at 16 years old, was
very much a lover girl who demanded royal treatment. She was chasing off the
front porch kitties, although she tolerated Yogi and Gurti and
even groomed them, when she wasn’t hissing at them for biting her tail.
Oscar was able to rejoin her family in Florida and the first day she was
gone, I was sitting out front watching the front porch kitties returning to
their old habits before Oscar chased them all away. |
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Romi, Barney, Gritsi and Meloni all were
relaxing out front, as Yogi and Gurti peacefully played, when I heard a
faint “mew”. Initially I thought it was one of the GH cats, but I followed
the sound and discovered a tiny ball of fluff in the front garden. He was
starving and I brought him in and gave him food and water and the name OJ –
for Oscar, Junior – also for orange juice, which is a gorilla food favorite. Two days later around 6 in the morning, I
was going to let the kittens out of their condo, where they spend the
nights, and I heard another faint mew. That’s when Nana (after bananas)
appeared. Clearly a litter mate of OJ, the two reunited happily and continue
to want to eat and play. A neighbor reports also finding 2 kittens and
photos have convinced us they’re probably related to Nana and OJ, as some
cruel person apparently dropped off the baby kittens to fend for themselves,
as is done too often. Initially Gurti and Yogi were hissing at the new
babies, who we estimate are only a few weeks younger than they are. But now
all four sleep, play, eat and poop together … I’d forgotten how much poop
kittens make!! And while there are several litter boxes, it’s a full time
job keeping the front porch from turning into one huge pile of kitten poop!
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OJ and Nana.
Yogi and Nana playing. |
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My Book... |
I scrapped
the 150 page version of my book about a month ago and started fresh. I’m
still not sure if I’ll look for a traditional publisher for it or will make
it an E-book (available online), but the writing is going faster and
smoother this time. The book will be autobiographical and will explain why
gorillas are so important in my life, as well as my experiences and what got
me from a passionate gorilla nut to a passionate gorilla nut actually making
a difference to help my beloved gorilla friends – here at GH and around the
globe. Stay tuned! |
Oliver
has had several visitors lately. Unlike Joe, who quite enjoys meeting
strangers, Oliver is very shy around new faces and it takes quite a while
for him to settle down and visit with guests – if ever! We never force Joe
or Oliver to do anything they don’t want to do, so sometimes Oliver “tells”
us he’s not interested in visitors by simply remaining inside his villa and
refusing to come out to meet the guests. Both gorillas let us know, in no
uncertain terms, what their preferences are. For example, the other day I
brought Joe some apple cider and gave it to him in a small plastic bottle.
He calmly took the bottle from me and then walked outside, “dismissing” me
and letting me know our brief visit was over, since I had fulfilled my
mission of serving him a special treat!
