The "Great Wall of
Morganton" has begun!
(see
25Nov99 update for more details) Actually the 14 foot high
containment wall around the 8 acre habitat of Phase I
began construction. While only some of the footings
(foundation) and the steel rebar (over 25 miles in all!)
to reinforce the strength of the concrete are in, for the
first time you get the “feel” of Phase I
and how magnificent it will truly be. Other
buildings are either completed or underway, including
Headquarters (the entrance to the restricted areas of GH), the maintenance building and the vet hospital and
staff/volunteer locker rooms. Once the wall is
completed, Silverback Villa will be the first gorilla
holding to be built, followed by Bonz’ Villa, then
Emma’s and Pitchou’s. Although GH has been
a dream of mine for years, seeing the wall in its current
state brought tears to my eyes, as it dawned on me –
This thing is really happening!
On Wednesday June
28th, the world lost one of the greatest
friends gorillas have ever known: John
Aspinall.
See our News Update about Pete Halliday (our
project manager) and his background, for more information
about this pioneer in gorilla husbandry. I last saw
Mr. Aspinall in April 2000 during my last visit to Howletts, but we didn’t speak. He was very ill
but still on his daily rounds to visit the gorillas with
food treats as the zoo was closing. Howletts began
as one man’s dream. In those days one could
still “buy” gorillas and tigers, etc, as pets
and Howletts was his personal home and sanctuary for his
family –both human and otherwise. As I sit in
my cabin, I am inspired by a man who had the strength of
character and conviction to follow his own heart and
ignore and often defy the accepted “wisdom” of
the professional zoo community. Aspinall was one of
the first to let gorillas live in large groups, where
mothers could give birth and raise their own offspring
with the silverback present at all times. Today
this seems so obvious it’s in the School of Duuuuh,
but back in the early 1970’s it was revolutionary
thinking, which Aspinall’s successes bore out.
While Aspinall could be a cantankerous old coot (and I
say that with all the love and respect in the world, even
though I was personally one of his targets!), his legacy
will be the love and respect he showed the world for his
animals – from gorillas, to Przesowlski horses to
elephants to tigers to Sumatran Rhinos, etc. etc. This
is the end of an era. His son and brother will take
over the operations of Howletts, I suppose. I only
hope and pray they will continue Aspinall’s
tradition of Animal’s First, money and all else
second - a tradition which inspired Gorilla Haven
from the start.
Our C.A.T. (Chief Attitude Trainer) Crombie
(white cat in photo left with sister Kent), who at 16 and
a half years old is one of the oldest animals at GH, had
surgery on Monday and she survived it, despite the fact
she’s so old and her medical condition is dubious at
best. Crombie is one of the old Saddle Club cats
from Oakbrook, IL when the travel company I worked for
back in the early 1980’s, Abercrombie & Kent,
was still working out of old farm houses and trailers.
I found homes for about 11 cats back then, but Crombie
and her sister Kent were deemed “too feral” by
the local humane society, who suggested euthanizing them.
Instead, we took them to our new 5 acre property where we
were building our dream house (subsequently sold to
finance our current dream of GH!), where they lived
outdoors for 13 Chicago winters. I brought them
both to Georgia in 1997 and while Kent ran away never to
be seen again, Crombie ensconced herself into the old
burro barn, where she lives a lovely life with 2 other
stray cats who’ve wandered in – Balou and
Magic. Crombie is one of my oldest, dearest friends
(besides Steuart) and I know this is the twilight of her
life and I’m enjoying my remaining time with her.
It’s an ending I know is near.
Another ending is
a more personal and painful one, involving someone we had
hoped we’d share our happiness and joyful future
with, but who has made it clear this is not going to
happen. So we say farewell to our hopes for what
might have been and accept, albeit painfully, the reality
that some people choose to live their lives in anger and
bitterness. Letting go of something and someone
like this isn’t as easy as it may seem, but now that
we’ve decided it’s the only way, a burden has
been lifted and we’re smiling again, enjoying all
the blessings and good fortune we’ve been given and
looking at all the wonderful people we’ve met during
the past few years, who renew and restore our faith in
humanity each day.
Letting go of
past pain is difficult but necessary and somehow this
week has seen the end of a lot of old painful feelings
too. As these feelings of contentment and joy were
taking over earlier this week, I was walking around the
property with our dogs all running and playing nearby.
I walked around Lake Bwindi, down by the waterfall (ok,
so it’s a running creek with a 2 inch drop off
– it’s water and it falls, so it’s my
waterfall and nobody laugh!), and up to Akbar Alley,
thinking of how my life ended up here and now. I
get asked to do my life story about once a month, from
writers and Hollywood producers, but I turn them all
down. Frankly, I don’t really understand why
my/our story is so fascinating – you mean not every Yuppy-Gone-Good builds a gorilla farm?? Anyway,
I’ve been trying to write my own book, putting me in
a more reflective mood.
On this
Independence day, naturalized American citizen, Steuart
and I (native-born American) are reminded of his late mother's dry wit. At a
cocktail party in mid-November years ago, someone asked
if the British celebrated Thanksgiving. Without missing a
beat, in her best British accent, she demurred: "Oh
yes, but in England we celebrate it on July 4th!"