In the fall of 2015, I gave a lecture, organized by the Jane Goodall Insititute-Canada, in Edmonton, Alberta—part of my almost non-stop tour around the globe. After my talk, there was a book signing and, as usual, a long line of people formed, waiting to have a few words, get an autograph and have a photo taken. There was one person in that line, however, who had a different agenda—Spencer was desperate to tell me about an infant chimpanzee named Manno, who was on display at a zoo in northern Iraq. His keepers were not unkind, Spencer told me, but they had little understanding of Manno’s needs. Chimpanzees, like us, are social animals with close family bonds. Manno should have been with his mother and other members of the community. Yet he was the only chimpanzee in the zoo, and only came out of his tiny cage to be photographed with visitors, dressed in human clothes. It was clearly no life for the infant chimpanzee. Moreover, war raged less than 100 kilometres away in Mosul where forces were battling the Islamic State. Spencer had made it his mission to rescue Manno from this inappropriate setting. Of course, Mano could not be returned to the wild, where he belonged, but he could go to a sanctuary where he could socialize with other orphaned chimpanzees, climb trees, and eat a healthy diet. If only we could get permission from the zoo. And a permit from the CITES authorities to enable him to travel back to Africa. And raise the money necessary for such a venture. A daunting series of challenges, but I could tell that Spencer was a very determined person It was a strange experience, to be sitting in a book signing line in North America talking to a high school teacher about how to transport an infant chimp from war-torn Iraq to a sanctuary in Africa! Of course I told him I would do all that I could to help. JGI-Canada put Spencer in touch with Daniel Stiles, project manager for the Project to End Great Ape Slavery. Eventually, thanks to the efforts of Daniel and many other concerned people, Manno was indeed transported to Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Kenya, a sanctuary that I...
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As I sit here this evening I can hardly even believe that it has been three years almost exactly to the week since we began this endeavor and we have been working towards this incredibly worthy goal. I just want to express to all of you how incredibly humbled and fortunate I feel to have been able to go along this magnificent journey with all of you. I am not going to lie there is a little pang of hollowness knowing that this is over & our task is accomplished, a great feat I realize, but also garnished with a bit of sadness that I no longer have no excuse to contacting all of you on a regular basis. Manno has become so much a part of my consciousness even through so much I have gone through, the birth of my son, perhaps leaving teaching after 24 years and the anchor of helping Manno has now evaporated and that it seems odd not having that all consuming task to occupy my thoughts. I realize that we are not out of the woods yet, though I am confident he will get through quarantine with no issues, the integration process is daunting, however that is now out of my boat & up to those who are expert at this. God speed little Manno. More than anything I just wanted to say what an absolute joy it has been to go on this adventure with all of you & it is so encouraging that I am raising my son in a world that has such competent and caring people like all of you. I will never forget each one of you, for without all of you, each individual this rescue could not have transpired and I will never forget this incredible journey. I only hope that our paths cross again and know that wherever you are and whatever your circumstances you will always have a friend, an admirer, and someone in awe of who you all are. This gives me such hope as it demonstrates what selfless love can accomplish Thank you all once again and love to each & every one of...
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Losing Chloe It is the end of an era. I am recovering from a devastating heartbreak after ending a 15-year love affair… with an Alaskan Malamute. It was never ‘the other woman’ scenario as my wife embraced and loved Chloe as much as I did. In fact that dog was responsible for bringing us together, when Chloe terrorized Christies dog Keena at Terwilliger Dog Park. Christie & I wondered aloud to each other how differently our lives would have been if the girlfriend who I got Chloe with 15 years ago had taken her when she left me. With that simple twist of fate there would have been no chance meeting with Christie at the dog park. In this alternate universe vanished 11 of the best years of my life, the dogs pulling my wife to my marriage proposal on Valentines Day, The snapshot of Chloe & Mac the ring bearers at our wedding and most profoundly a beautiful son who we absolutely cherish. ROUTINES I still can’t even comprehend that Chloe is gone. It is so difficult since the dogs life was so intertwined with the life of Christie and I. Our entire life together as husband and wife has not only involved dogs but those specific dogs accommodating for their idiosyncrasies and losing them is to alter our daily existence, Chloe was so embedded in our habits that it is so odd as I wash my truck to have the garage door open and not have to worry about a wandering dog. It’s so weird not having to leave the lights on downstairs for her. When I walk by the foyer at the front door I can not even comprehend that my old girl is not sleeping there at the door, our house just seems so empty, so hollow. I was upstairs rinsing dishes something I haven’t had to do in so long. I habitually would let the dogs lick our dirty dishes clean, something my family members found absolutely disgusting. I didn’t care. As far as I was concerned since we put them in the dishwasher to disinfect them anyway we save rinsing water and gave our dogs a much appreciated treat and they were more than happy to accommodate...
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Facebook Ayahuasca I went into the Amazon jungle outside of a Peruvian city; Iquitos (population close to half a million people) to discover what was behind the Ayahuasca experience that I have heard and read so much about over the past year. The Ayahuasca and chacruna mix is an ancient Amazonian healing medicine that cleanses your body, mind, spirit and soul. I had researched it enough to discover that there was a lot of purging (vomiting and diarrhea but that is seen as a positive thing) that goes along with intense hallucinations, along with profound personal, physical and spiritual insights. I don’t consider myself a drug user; I rarely drink alcohol, I don’t smoke tobacco or marijuana and I’ve never used LSD. There were so many people that spoke so intensely about the incredible effects of Ayahuasca. I spent so much time watching videos and read Rick Strassman’s book DMT the active ingredient in the drink. I would suggest reading this at least from the ‘Sessions’ chapters onward. One Sunday afternoon Christie came into where I was watching NFL & suggested I leave on Tuesday, and that is exactly what I did. I left Tuesday morning & flew from Edmonton, to Houston then on to Lima, Peru where I spent the night at a small hotel near the airport. The following morning I took a flight from Lima, briefly stopping in one other Amazonian town before landing at our final destination in Iquitos, Peru. I had nothing but a carry on duffle bag and when I walked out of the Iquitos terminal; Luis, the shaman Don Luis’s 23-year-old son, met me. He secured me on a tuk-tuk & I went about a half hour through the streets of Iquitos to Nanay boat launch on the river (an Amazon tributary a few hundred meters away from the Amazon river itself). From there we got on board Selva Madre’s boat that took me about 20 minutes upriver from the launch point. We landed in a small settlement called Padre Cocha on the opposite side of the river bank and the boat was tied along with the other hand carved, thatched roof, long river boats that move up & down the Amazon. From there we took another...
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How quickly things can change, it was just over a week earlier we had Emma at the ‘Super Seven’ reunion with her pups and I thought she was fine. I could not have been a happier person seeing Emma & her now grown & gregarious babies play and frolic throughout the day. Charlotte & Clydine owners of Grace and Snowy had mentioned that Emma looked very thin but I thought nothing of it. And in retrospect I remembered now taking Emma on her rollerblade around the subdivision before the party she was especially slow, again I missed it, She was exhausted around her puppies all day something I simply chalked up to her being happily worn out from all the excitement. It is so sad that our best friends can’t talk to us with words and verbally tell us how they’re feeling, tell us they are sick, but it breaks me up to realize Emma was telling me, I just didn’t pick up on her cues. A week or so after Emma’s party Leanne had noticed that Emma was ‘off ‘and after some preliminary tests apparently Emma was going through renal failure. I was initially very optimistic that Emma was going to make it through this incident. I had hoped that maybe she had just ate something that simply disagreed with her or maybe the vet made a mistake. Though I was not sure how but I thought we’d be able to navigate through this and make it work. Christie and I prepared for Emma’s arrival as we cleaned out an old dog crate we had stored in the shed. And it worked very well for her time left it served as Emma’s sanctuary as she would sleep in our room with us at night when she wasn’t at the clinic for her remaining days. At 14 it was our female Alaskan Malamute Chloe’s dominance that kept Emma safely fostered at Canadian Canine Training having weekly play days with us. Chloe has had a mass on her heart for years now, and she can only occasionally make the journey up the stairs to our bedroom. Chloe was supposed to precede Emma (Mac too for that matter who used to run circles around her taunting...
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Manno In the summer of 2013 I was scheduled to go to the northern part of Iraq, Kurdistan, to help a local vet who was starting up an animal rescue organization KOARP that was essentially his version of a Kurdish SPCA. Unfortunately I was unable to fulfill my obligation during that summer yet since I always like to finish what I set out to do and keep my word. December 2013 during my two week Christmas holiday, with my wife’s blessing, I decided to head off to Northern Iraq. Traveling to Kurdistan through Istanbul, Turkey one of the world’s most beautiful cities where they have a unique program in which the street cats and dogs are vaccinated, tagged and fixed but left otherwise to roam the streets. Many locals leave food out for both the cats and the dogs however, as in all places, typically with young men or adolescent boys as it seems to be in every culture they sometimes can be very cruel to animals. Having said that, I loved this program especially around the main square between Sophia Hagia and the Blue Mosque through many dogs each with its own territory. In fact bored after half a day in a canned bus tour that I loathe, I still don’t know why I chose to partake in that activity, I know better! I split off from my group, grabbed my bag from the bus and having my fill of the beautiful architecture and droning tour guide I decided to follow my bliss and feed and pet these lovely animals. The day before I befriended this massive dog with a big split in its nose and spent a few hours looking for him I then enjoyed petting the big guy. In fact during the tour I was more interested in petting the cats & dogs than listening to our guide. I absolutely love these creatures. I don’t know what the answer is for strays in the world. Whether one takes the route of Istanbul and fix and vaccinate then leaving them on their own or to do as they did when I was in Sierra Leone or apparently what they did in Duhok have a massive cull. I absolutely support no kill shelters...
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