Bon Voyage - Our Beautiful Char

Every day we are thankful for the wonderful people who have come into our lives and those of the precious beings in our care. Charmaine is one of those people - a truly beautiful woman inside and out, who has no bounds to her loving and caring heart. An integral part of the team, she works tirelessly for all animals in need: monkeys, donkeys, dogs, cats, and great apes. Her boundless energy makes Sundays at the farm a joy.

Once again, she is off to volunteer at Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre in the Malaysian Sabah District of North Borneo - a rehabilitation centre for orphaned orangutans. This is Char’s third time out there – where she daily cares for the young orangutan infants who have experienced deep loss – of their homes, mothers and families. We will miss her so, but we are so proud of her – our beautiful Char.

Yoshi

It is with great sorrow we announce the passing of our beloved Yoshi.

Yoshi, and his partner, Kayko (deceased 2006), both Japanese Macaques, were the first two primates who gave Sherri the vision for Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary. While little is known of their lives before the Sanctuary, we believe at one time they had been used in a laboratory due to the scarring on their arms and a tattoo on their legs; both are consistent with laboratory testing. They eventually made their way to Sherri and Leonard’s farm where they lived in peace for the past 10 years. Yoshi’s lasts days were spent surrounded by Sherri, Leonard, and the volunteers who worked tirelessly to keep him comfortable before he gently succumbed to old age. We all have been blessed by his presence in our lives and he is greatly missed by all who have met and loved him.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Happiness is sunshine

Hi everyone! We apologize that it has been awhile since we posted news to our community. With the warmer weather coming, there’s been a flurry of activity to have the enclosures ready – larger and with new structural enrichment. Mickey has her new, old home outside now. We picked up Mickey's cage (it is really like a marmoset condo) from Kimberly. Leonard built it back up outside, so she has indoor and outdoor access. Mickey loves to feel the wind in her hair - you can see it is sensory overload.

The past months have been filled with happiness and sadness, as precious Yoshi physically left us - but we know that he is with us in spirit. We will dedicate an upcoming blog to his memory, so that you can all know his story and what he has meant to the people whose lives he was a part of...

Nan and Chelsea continue to blossom. It is such a thrill for me to see them every weekend and learn their likes and dislikes...for instance, the other day I was cleaning with Sherri, and touched one of Chelsea's many rubber boots. I picked this particular one up and said with a scrunched up nose - "this one looks a bit yucky"...well, Miss Chelsea gave me the baboon raised eyebrow look - which gave me paused and I wondered what had I done...do-uh..I had caused offensive by commenting on the state of her boot! Chelsea and Nan also have a new outdoor area, with ramps that make it easy for sight-impaired Nan to navigate. As Sherri says, Nan sits quietly and takes it all in…

With the nice weather, we have been taking fresh, young shoots off of the big trees, and putting them in the enclosures. The lemurs love to munch on the leaves – they get so excited. We also dig up clumps of grasses and daisies, which Pea and Pierre love.

Julian has come a long, long way. When he first arrived, he was so traumatized, and it manifested itself in frequent self-mutilating behaviours, such as biting and tearing out his hair. We could not even look at him without causing him anxiety - he was our little ghost - as he did not want to be seen. It was a difficult winter, and at times we really wondered if we were doing the right thing and if he could recover from his human-inflicted emotional scars.

Now, as I drive up on Saturdays, and see Julian, or Jules as we call him...he is outside, sitting on the perch, in the sun, with Maggie, one of the dogs, sitting near him (outside the enclosure). He is talking with Lexy and watching Pierre, his baboon neighbour. Just hanging out, watching the world go by - you would not think it is the same macaque. Julian has learnt that he is safe, and that no one will hurt him. He knows we are here for him and together we will heal. A key turning point was a few weeks ago. Shelley and Paxton had made enrichment items for everyone – including fresh cut branches of trees hanging from the mesh overhead along with plastic bottles, filled with lots of green grass and yummy treats. Pierre just ripped his bottle down and started sussing out what was inside. Julian could not seem to get a hold of his, and got frustrated. His first reaction, of stress, what to bite himself, which he started to do. However, he saw the tree branch in his area, paused, and then starting biting that. After a second or two, you could see him getting himself together and tried again for the bottle, which he got. Kim and I were watching this and it was huge to see that he was able to redirect his frustration and anxiety away from himself. Well done Julian!

We are thankful to all the committed volunteers who daily make a difference in the lives of the residents. Amongst them, is the very talented Ann Walsh, one of our regular Sunday volunteers. Her photos of the folks are magical - she really captures their essence and personalities.

Summer 2009 will be a super busy one, with lots of events and outreach happening. Please mark your calendars for August 15th - for our second annual Open House...more details to follow.

Thanks for reading and caring,

Rachelle

Niagara Action for Animals (NAfA) - Vegan Potluck

The days are flying by, so much is going on...last week we had the privilege of volunteering at Dr. Jane's presentation in Ottawa. As always, Jane was gracious and inspiring!

Speaking of presentations - Sherri will be the guest speaker on May 1st at the Niagara Action for Animals Vegan Potluck: http://www.niagaraactionforanimals.org/events.php

Details:
Friday, May 1, 2009
7:00 PM
Unitarian Congregation of Niagara
223 Church Street (beside Delta Bingo)
St. Catharines, ON

Thank you Kimberly for making this happen! If you are in the Niagara area - we hope to see you there!

It's Here! Premiere Edition of Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary's Quarterly Newsletter

Good afternoon! Today was a beautiful spring day - with the promise of sunny days to come! On that note, we are pleased to share with you the premiere edition of our newsletter - Volume 1 Issue 1!

You can download your .pdf version from of our website: http://www.storybookfarmprimatesanctuary.com/_home.asp

Inside you will find updates on our primate residents, details about the new Foster Friends programme, people making a difference and ways you can get involved. Special thanks to Melissa and Ingrid for their hard work; Val for the proofing and Ann Walsh for the beautiful photos of Razzle and Jenkins.

We invite your feedback - please leave a comment or email us at: fishdreamsblue@gmail.com
If you have friends who would like to receive a printed copy, please provide the contact info to the email above.

Take care and enjoy!

Rachelle

Spring is coming....

Happy Monday! The weather is finally turning to spring (we hope!)- the residents on the farm are happy and outside - Julien is enjoying his new outside area, complete with ladders and enrichment. He and Lexy are watching and communicating with each other. Pierre is looking resplendent - he is such a handsome boy!

A recent visitor to the farm, Marna Gale, is the driving force behind - Big on Beagles http://www.bigonbeagles.ca/ - a rescue organization dedicated to providing homes for beagles in need. She also writes a regular column for the Beach Metro. She wanted to feature Story Book Farm in a column, so up she came for a visit....was excitedly welcomed by the canine welcoming committee: Maggie, Sammy, Lady, Charlie and Bosley....(they so sussed out straight away she was one of them....a true dog whisperer)....and we spent a great afternoon with her. If you are in the Beaches neighbourhood...please check out the Beach Metro, March 10, 2009 to read about her visit. Marna, thanks so much for the great write-up. We are happy to have you on the farm anytime!

So many great things are happening and coming up - including Dr. Jane Goodall's 75th birthday - on April 3rd. As part of the celebration, the Jane Goodall Institute is putting together an email card, with a goal of 7500 personal wishes and messages. Please click here to share your personal birthday message with Jane: http://www.janegoodall.org/splash/landing-generic.asp .

For me personally, Dr. Jane has had such a tremendous impact on my life, inspiring to reach out, to help, to make a difference, to hope, to care, to honour and to respect....I still remember when I was a little girl and saw the black and white footage on t.v. of her, out in the forest, living with the chimps - reaching out and touching David Greybeard...it touched something deep, deep down. In 2007 when I was in Cameroon, volunteering in the forest with the orphaned chimpanzees at CWAF, all of those moments and images kept flooding into my heart and head - how we need to reach out - and help change what we see in the world and how we see it. As Jane states: We need to make a difference, one life at a time...humans, and non-humans...something that we strive to do daily.

with appreciation,

Rachelle

Hello to all!
March has arrived and is off to a busy start. Our Canadian Tire money drive has surpassed the goal of $500.00........WOW. Thanks to every one who sent in. It's greatly appreciated. A couple of honorable mentions though....

Courtney themed her birthday around our primate friends and asked for things to benefit their lives instead of presents for herself. Thanks Courtney!!!!!!!! That was very unselfish and we really appreciate you helping the monkeys.

On Friday, Rachelle, Stacey and I got the opportunity to speak with a couple of classes from Antonia's school. What an intelligent group of students! We were honored to learn that Antonia had worked very hard with her teacher, Ms. Lowes and the other teachers and students of the school. They raised $232.05 in Canadian Tire money !!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!

We have had spring weather here this week and the monkeys have been able to be outside. YEAH!!!!!When Anne arrived today she immediately noticed how happy everyone was....Yes it was noticable. They were all happy and content. What a great day!

We are starting to plan the spring/summer projects around here with our biggest plans of an addition onto the barn of a kitchen/office/ laundry/team member break time area/ slash, slash, slash....oh did I mention office......slash...slash...slash.

For those of you who have never been here, we currently have a prep area of two stainless steel tables and a large walkin fridge that hogs most of the room. We desperately need a larger space in which to work. So we have started to collect building material for the build. We need 2x4's, plywood, insulation, vapour barrier and probably things I cant think of. If anyone can help we would greatly appreciate it.

Ann W. has come on board as a volunteer and new team member. Ann...welcome!

To all you supporters....thanks....I need ya. I couldn't walk this journey without you!
Sherri