Chelsea and her new purple boot

Hi folks! Hope you are doing well - we have been very busy getting things ready for the big Open House and fundraiser on Saturday! It was such a great experience working along side volunteers Laura, Val, Cindy, Malcolm and of course Sherri and Leonard last weekend. There was such a buzz in the air, actually, it was Leonard's saw...no, actually good chi!

The precious Chelsea, one of "the ladies" - Chelsea and her mom, Nan was so intrigued by all the activities going on. It is heartwarming to see how far they have come along from last fall when they first arrived - afraid, unsure, not knowing who to trust, but understanding immediately that Sherri was there for them.

Chelsea loves rubber boots - she grooms the soles and makes a quick num,num,num,num vocalization - we know she is happy when she is hugging her boot and "talking". So, as a girl, I thought, instead of a plain old rubber boot, she should have a pretty, shiny one. Off I went on a mission to find cute wellies for Chelsea. I was happy when I came upon a pretty purple Dragon Tales pair, complete with pictures. On Saturday, Sherri put the right boot in her area and I excited sat with Chelsea, expecting her to go straight for it. Well, no, she did not. For most of the day, she totally ignored it and favoured the plain boot. When I returned on Sunday, the pretty purple boot lay there, untouched. A bit perplexed by this..remember..we humans can be dumb about these things...I thought maybe I should play with her and the new boots. So I went and got the pretty purple left boot, sat down and started to groom the boot and "talk" to her...num,num,num,num...she watched, but did not react. I had to continue my chores..as soon as I was out of sight, I heard this num,num,num,num and Malcolm said - "she has the boot ". Going back, low and behold, there she was happily talking, grooming and investigating the grooves and the various textures on the boot. I sat back down with her and we had such a time, exploring the boot and talking num,num,num,num,num...It was such a sweet moment..

..at these times I wonder how can some people not see the soul and beauty of our fellow beings and understand...and am thankful for having such fortune to see and hear them as they speak without 'words'..

Sweet Pea moment

Hi everyone! I know you're out there! We had a great Volunteer Day on Saturday but I'll let someone else talk about that-Rachelle or Laura or Sherri please!

I want to relay an amazing story I was privileged to witness. Sweet Pea is an Olive Baboon with some behavioural issues mostly involving self-mutilation when she gets upset. These days she is doing this less and less, as she gets into the groove of the farm. Since the kitten has arrived there is some interaction for her. We have been finding the kitten sitting in Pea's area. There was some concern about her welfare, but she seemed fine. Over the past few weeks she has visited a lot. On Sunday, Violet was sitting in with Pea and Pea was soliciting grooming and trying to play with Violet. Suddenly she moved behind the kitten and made a dominating gesture and then picked up the kitten as any baboon would pick up a baby baboon to play. I see this all the time at the zoo where I work with Olive Baboons. Pea walked on her back legs with the kitten in her hands! It was so cute! Violet was so mellow she just hung there. Pea put her down and starting grooming her. Violet pricked up her tail and was rubbing against Pea. They are such good friends. This is such a positive breakthrough for Pea in her rehabilitation. Let's hope that they can have many more positive sessions! Yay for Violet and Pea! Too bad I don't have any photos of this, maybe another time. 

Dog Days of Scugog

Happy Monday - Hope you had a great weekend and did not get soaked...which is what happened to us yesterday! Sherri was scheduled to give a presentation on Sunday, but was rained out - too bad, we were all looking forward to it.

Sherri, Leonard, Malcolm, Linda, Stacey, Jan, Laura and I were tabling at the Dog Days of Scugog in Port Perry. It was great to talk to people about the sanctuary and the residents. Most people were shocked and surprised to learn that a) there is a primate sanctuary twenty minutes away and b) that there is a need for a primate sanctuary in Ontario.

Isn’t it surprising that you can buy a monkey for less money than a pure-bred dog? How about all the rigour applicants have to go through to adopt-a-dog (and correctly so), but if you have the cash, you can just buy yourself a monkey, lemur, zebra, camel, red kangaroo or whatever at the exotic animals auctions in Ontario? Pretty stunning, eh? God knows where those poor folks go....

We had lots of positive responses and conversations. If you were one of the folks who stopped to chat - thank you so much! The support within the local community means a lot.

Cheers,

Rachelle

Baseball Tournament - August 23, 2008

..Hey folks...as I said, we are really on a roll...

Thanks to local support within the Sunderland/Brock community, Story Book is having its second annual Baseball Tournament Fundraiser -

Saturday, August 23, 2008
8:00AM to 8:00PM (rain or shine)
Sunderland Arena Ball Diamonds
20 Park Street, Sunderland

¨ Prizes for First, Second and Third Place
¨ Silent Auction
¨ Raffle
¨ BBQ

Personally, I have not been to a baseball tournament before, so I am really looking forward to it. Apparently last year it poured, but everyone was such a trooper...so bring your wellies just in case!

Cheers,

Rachelle

Open House Flyer

Hi there! Please find attached the flyer for the Open House. As Kim said, technology can be challenging sometimes. Thanks so much Kim for putting this together.

Please share this invite with friends and family - all activities will be "primate-friendly"!

Cheers,

Rachelle

Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary - First Ever Open House

Hi folks! Hope that you are enjoying the summer so far! We have lots of activities going on at the sanctuary, including the first ever Open House! We invite you to come out and join us on:

Saturday, August 16, 2008
12:00 Noon to 4PM
Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary
2315 Concession 10
Sunderland, ON
www.storybookfarmprimatesanctuary.com

The sanctuary is not open to the public, so we are excited to invite friends and families to come and learn about the primates and farm animal residents, who have been rescued from situations of abuse, neglect and ignorance. During the afternoon we will be taking smaller groups of people up to the barn to meet the folks.

There will be plenty of activities for the whole family, including games, face painting, arts and crafts, bake sale, BBQ, silent auction, raffles, merchandise, etc. Story Book Farm is approximately 1 hour outside of Toronto, just north of Port Perry, straight up Simcoe Street.

Please feel free to contact me to RSVP and to have your name added to the tour list. If you have any questions, just let me know.

If you are unable to attend, but would like to make a donation to the sanctuary, please visit our web-site at www.storybookfarmprimatesanctuary.com.

Also, if you would like to donate item(s) for the silent auction or bake sale, please let me know and we can arrange pick-up.

Thanks so much for making 2008 GREAT!


Rachelle

Hmmm, I can't figure out how to add a pdf file. Perplexing, I will keep trying to get it on here, bear with me! As a consolation, here are some more pictures! Enjoy!