Fauna in the news

Poaching on Fauna’s Natural Reserve...
Braconnage sur le territoire de la Réserve naturelle du Ruisseau-Robert...

The following article was published in our local paper.

L’article qui suit a paru dans le Journal de Chambly récemment


http://actualite.monteregieweb.com/ecolocopie/JDC/20110311/#/2/


English version below..

In Memory of Coyote

By: Gloria Grow

We thought of him as the Fauna coyote. He visited everyday. He was young and slender, content to eat the fruits and vegetables we put out for our animals. Coyote never did anyone harm. No one was ever attacked. No one was ever killed, except one day. A Fauna employee was out running at lunch and saw him. He was curled up under a tree. Taking a closer look led to the reason why he would be there in mid day and not stir. He had a snare around his neck. It had cut into his flesh, exposing muscle and bone. The wire had been gnawed free of whatever had grounded it in place -- its frayed end testament to Coyote’s powerful jaws and even more powerful will to survive. He had given up after who knows how long a struggle. He curled up under the tree and let go of life. Fauna’s surrounding Natural Reserve is 200 acres of land to protect Quebec’s native wildlife and flowers. Still we weren’t able to protect Coyote from the wanton desire of someone who wanted to kill him -- with no concern that his method would bring Coyote pain and fear and long suffering before death released him.

When I saw Coyote, I saw someone no different than so many wonderful dogs I have had in my life. I recognized from his compelling similarity to them that Coyote’s only crime was that he did not belong to somebody, that ownership had not domesticated him to be at the command of a human. As I touched him, without any collar or tags to prove his ownership, I knew I was touching an ancient ancestor to the many dogs I have shared my life with. I knew I was looking at someone who would have grown and learned more each day about his own survival – like where he could find berries to eat at certain times of the year or how the rabbits could escape him by fleeing under a building. I saw in this being called Coyote the wild and free and devastating beauty of the natural world...a world that Fauna and everyone should be prepared to prize, protect and preserve.

Because of his need to survive, Coyote was judged by someone who failed to appreciate Coyote’s role in the natural cycle. That someone set out to destroy him. The question remains: why? Was it because his pelt would bring a small amount money? Because his death would make his killer feel powerful? Or was it because of the misguided notion that the only way to be with nature is to destroy all parts of it that don’t serve humans? I will never understand.

We won’t get to see Coyote out there any more and we all grieve this. Even while we are surrounded by nearly a hundred rescued animals for whom we care, we will still feel the sting of his loss. Unlike the rescued residents of Fauna who are forced to live a life of captivity, we all felt assured by Coyote’s presence -- assured that while we tended to those whose freedom had been lost, Coyote was there…free and wild and living in harmony with his natural world. Until, that is, that one day when someone for some reason decided to kill him.

Today is Sue Ellens' Birthday / l'anniversaire de Sue Ellen

Today, March 17^th, is Sue Ellen's 43rd birthday; why not purchase an Adopt-A-Chimp package in Sue Ellen's name as a gift for someone special! Sue Ellen is such a sweet little thing. She loves her cooked meals and squeals with pleasure whenever she is eating. She loves pretty coloured scarves, purses and necklaces that she drapes around her belly and carries around, sometime for days. And of course, she is one of the best bed- makers of the entire chimp house.

Aujourd’hui, le 17 mars, Sue Ellen célèbre son 43^e anniversaire de naissance. Pourquoi ne pas souligner l‘occasion en souscrivant à notre programme d’adoption au nom d’une personne qui vous est chère? Sue Ellen est si charmante! Elle adore ses repas chauds, qu’elle déguste avec enthousiasme jusqu’à la dernière bouchée. Elle raffole des jolis foulards aux couleurs vives, des sacs à main et des colliers qu’elle enroule autour de sa taille et qu’elle porte parfois pendant plusieurs jours. Et bien sûr, elle est parmi ceux qui font les meilleurs lits de toute la maison des chimpanzés.

Regis

Here we have Regis enjoying a nap all sprawled out, with his legs comfortably placed on the ladder.
Regis faisant la sieste, étendu de tout son long et les jambes bien installées sur l’échelle.

From the Monkey House / Les petits Singes

Sophie our little capuchin and Pougie our crab-eating macaque
Sophie notre petit capuchin et Pougie notre macaque mangeur de crab

Out like a lite....L’heure du dodo...


Sophies favorite place to sleep..on a warm little Pougie!! / L’endroit préféré de Sophie pour dormir...sur un petit Pougie tout chaud!!



Newton & Darla our Rhesus Macaques
Newton & Darla nos Macaques Rhesus

Newton enjoying his enrichment ... /Newton qui découvre ses activités d’enrichissement ...


Darla enjoying the view.../Darla admire le paysage...




Sophie and her breakfast.../Sophie et son petit dejeuner...

photos/video by/de: Isabelle Alarie

Spock & Chance

Spock and Chance have been having a good old time playing and chasing each other through the bars. Here is a little video of them both enjoying a little tickle and if you listen closely you can hear Spock laughing.

Spock et Chance ne manquent jamais une occasion de jouer et de se pourchassser de chaque côté des grillages. La video ci-dessous les montre qui s'amusent en se chatouillant. En écoutant attentivement, on entend Spock ricaner.

Great Gifts for the Chimps/Des cadeaux pour les chimpanzés

Special Thank You to all who have donated gifts /Nos plus sincères remerciements à tous ceux et celles qui ont offert des cadeaux..
Evelyn Antypowich, Sonia Boulet & Roger Roy, Purple Passion Project Circle of Giving

Construction Enrichment / Journée-thème: la construction

One of our theme days was Construction Week...the chimps really loved this one. That morning, everyone was walking around with their own tools. Pepper had her tape measure around her wrist and Chance was carrying around a ratchet set. The tools look so real that Lynda (chimp house cook) called us on the walkie talkie to let us know that Spock had somehow found a screwdriver and was trying to unscrew all our locks on the caging.. It was quite funny, however, we assured her that it was all very safe and that the tools were all plastic...


Une de nos récentes journées thématiques portait sur le domaine de la construction, thème que les chimpanzés ont tout simplement adoré. Un matin, chacun se promenait avec ses outils. Pepper portait son ruban à mesurer au poignet et Chance traînait son jeu de clés à cliquet. Les jouets sont tellement convaincants que Linda, la cuisinière de la maison des chimpanzés, nous a alertés que Spock avait un tournevis en sa possession et qu'il s'affairait à dévisser les verroux des cages... Nous avons bien rigolé, après l'avoir rassurée qu'il s'agissait de jouets en plastique et qu'il n'y avait aucun danger.
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Photo by/par: Kim Belley
Construction enrichment being made...all supervised by Toby and Maya in the background!!

Les préparatifs pour la journée de construction, supervisés par Toby et Maya à l'arrière-plan.
Photo by/par: Kim Belley

Helping hand from the Chimps/Un coup de main des chimpanzés

Binky by: Gloria Grow

Last week after cleaning we realized we lost a squeegee!! And that can only mean one thing, the chimps have it in their play area and depending on the individuals that are there, if we're lucky we may get it back intact. I found it hanging off the top platform in one of the back play areas with Binky sitting under it; patiently waiting to see who would come and try to retrieve it. He kindly took it off the top for me and put it on the floor slowly, stuck it under the caging and waited for me to take it. He had a huge play face on and was jumping and smacking his hands on the ground to play with me and the squeegee of course. As soon as I asked him to have it he took off running with it and dropped it in the back corner and came back to play. It was almost as if to say.--- if the squeegee is not there then she will stop asking me for it and play with me instead---so I played a game of chase with the Bub until he had his fill, then asked him for my squeegee again, but he was no longer interested by then...Spock and Jethro were with Binky and I new that Spock would gladly get my tool for me so I called my co-workers over so they could witness the very sweet Spock retrieve it for me. Because of his training at the Quebec City Zoo, Spock literally understands almost everything we say to him in French, even very specific items he will hand back to us if requested. Spock knew what I was asking for, because, he had been listening from the front rooms the whole time. He then popped his head out of the bottom play area door with an apple in hand, looked at me, walked over to the squeegee, picked it up and brought it right over to where Binky, Jethro and I were sitting. All three boys were seriously trying to figure out how to get it under the caging without breaking it. It worked; we got it out and you could see that the boys were quite proud of themselves for helping out...Team work!

Jethro by/par : Frank Noelker


La semaine dernière, à la fin de la journée de nettoyage, il manquait un «squeegee»! Ce qui voulait dire qu'un des chimpanzés s'en était emparé dans l'aire de jeu et que nos chances de le récupérer dépendaient de qui s'y trouvait à ce moment-là. Je l'ai repéré, suspendu à la plate-forme du haut, avec Binky assis juste en-dessous et attendant patiemment de voir qui viendrait le reprendre. Il eut la gentillesse de le déposer sur le sol lentement puis de le glisser sous le grillage pour que je puisse le prendre. Il avait un air espiègle et plein d'anticipation à l'idée que nous allions nous amuser avec le dit «squeegee», il sautait partout et donnait de grands coups sur le sol. Évidemment, dès que je lui ai demandé de me le donner, il s'est enfui avec, l'a laissé tomber dans un coin à l'écart et est revenu vers moi pour jouer. C'est comme s'il s'était dit: si le «squeegee» n'est pas là, elle va arrêter de me le demander et elle va jouer avec moi. Alors on a joué à se pourchasser jusqu'à ce qu'il en ait assez, puis je le lui ai redemandé. Mais il avait perdu tout intérêt. Comme Spock et Jethro étaient avec Binky ce moment-là, et sachant que mon cher Spock se ferait un plaisir de me rendre service, j'ai fait venir mes collègues pour qu'elles le voient à l'oeuvre. Spock a vécu au Jardin zoologique de la Ville de Québec et il comprend presque tout ce qu'on lui dit en français, même lorsqu'on utilise des termes très précis. Ayant assisté à la scène avec Binky, il savait ce que je voulais. Quand il est apparu dans l'embrasure de la porte, une pomme à la main, il m'a regardée, s'est dirigé vers le «squeegee», l'a pris et l'a ramené là où j'étais assise avec Binky et Jethro. Les trois compagnons se sont ensuite affairés pendant un moment à trouver une façon de le passer sous le grillage sans le briser. Cela a marché! Et il fallait voir à quel point ils étaient fiers de leur travail d'équipe...


Spock by/par : Sharon Stewart

Pepper & Sue Ellen

Pepper and Sue Ellen are often the ones we see in the skywalk..they even love to sleep out at night when it is warm in a big bed full of cozy blankets and sheets...



On aperçoit souvent Pepper et Sue Ellen dans la passerelle. Elles adorent y passer la nuit quand il fait doux, bien au chaud dans leurs lits douillets aux nombreuses couvertures...

This particular day the girls spent a good part of their day watching all the gardeners getting ready for the cold weather. Removing flowerpots, cleaning up the chimp house garden and putting down compost...Pepper had noticed one particular garden article that she loved. Christine's bright orange gardening glove..she had been requesting them for a while, however, we were at the office at the moment and she was patiently waiting for our return..upon our return Christine let me know how much she wanted her gloves and said she would gladly give them up to Pepper..

As you can see she did love them and was very happy to wear one of them on her little foot; like she always does; for the rest of the day...

Le jour où cette photo a été prise



And Sue Ellen had the other one very safely tucked away under her arm and tugged it out to look at it and smell it every once in a while..

Happy Girls!!