The Remembrance Garden: A Dedication to the Chimps
By Lena Kozubek
The Remembrance Garden
For our 10th year anniversary, Project Chimps has been diligently working on various projects, one such is the Remembrance Garden. This new area, just off the White Trail, is a dedicated space to acknowledge and honor the chimps that have passed away in our conservation. Visitors can spot this garden by walking down the newly formed path.
To officially open the garden, our team held a dedication ceremony to honor the first chimps laid to rest in this memorialized space.
A Path to Travel Down
William Voyles has been volunteering with Project Chimps for over three years. While he had tried out various opportunities, his specialty in trail management contributed to the Remembrance Garden in a myriad of ways. By being a part of the original team that cut the leading trail to the garden, he guides us through the development.
Creating a trail includes a lot more labor than its average visitors may predict! First, the trail needs to be designed and marked with flags. Then, the planning layout allows the team to cut, trim, and reshape the path to appropriately fit. Many times, a hillside trail needs to be cut to produce a walkable way for visitors.
The trail to the garden is an offshoot of an original path named the White Trail. About a quarter of a mile long, the path’s development required a hands-on, laborious 10+ hours of dedication from many people. This path allows for visitors both old and new to experience the Remembrance Garden and honor the chimps that have retired from our care.
To mark the opening of the Remembrance Garden, a dedication ceremony involving the caregivers, volunteers, staff, and donors occurred. William notes the ceremony was “an interesting kind of celebration” with a bagpiper, another volunteer, opening the event with a somber song.
The garden is beautifully adorned with engraved plaques that mark the individual chimps’ names and their dates of life. While there “was not a dry eye” at the ceremony, William recalls it also was an “acknowledgement and celebration that the Project Chimps mission had been an accomplishment.”
Their Memory Lives On
India Sloan is a caregiver and has been with Project Chimps since 2021. India represented the chimp care department at the dedication ceremony and shared a brief note about the individual chimps’ lives. Their love and dedication for these chimps was further emphasized as they had written letters to honor a specific chimp’s life.
The caregivers who have personally worked with the chimps had crafted an emotional connection to those deceased. India acknowledged how hard it was for the care staff. Through forming such deep relationships, she notes that “losing a chimp feels similar to losing a close friend.” However, their grieving moments are not shouldered alone. The team have formed a community of their own – India points out that “we have each other to lean on.” They keep the memory alive by holding onto personal items such as juice cups and leaves the chimps would offer the staff as gifts.
She states that despite her grief, the ceremony was quiet as visitors came “with reverence and respect.” Everyone understands the importance of the chimps’ lives and what it means to have a place to properly mourn the chimps.
Gone, but Not Forgotten
Having access to the Remembrance Garden is a privilege. From the care staff’s perspective, India notes that it is “really special to have a place we can go to and honor the chimps we worked with.”
William comments that the garden is a “great way to acknowledge the life” that Project Chimps cares for and demonstrates that the mission was accomplished. The space is a dedication to the deceased chimps while simultaneously honoring their life. To us, they are no longer numbers in a laboratory. Rather, Project Chimps aims to memorialize and highlight each individual chimp, as each life is significant.
Would you like to visit the garden yourself? The hiking trails are open dawn to dusk everyday, pick up a map and plan your walk to visit the memorial site.
