Jean — medical report

Medical report on Jeannie

by Gloria Grow
Fall 2002 newsletter

I know I am unqualified to talk about medical problems, but in this case (and actually in so many), it is the people spending every day with the chimps who spot the problems or notice the changes in behavior and personality, and then, we alert the doctor so he can decide what the problem is. It can be just a small change that tells you something is wrong or something very obvious, like a cut or blood. Sometimes, it's as simple as someone not coming to eat, or someone not showing up to visit with you or even a different smell we may notice.

Jeannie's problems started during construction (of the new extension). At first, we were concerned about the construction crew and how stressed the chimps were going to be. We knew how sad everyone was after the loss of Annie and Pablo but surprisingly, they handled everything really well, and Jeannie actually seemed to look forward to her favorite construction guy. On the first weekend they didn't work, Jeannie actually sat by her window looking out as though watching for her fellow. In fact, one morning I saw Jeannie gather up here fruit and move outdoors to sit and eat out there. I was curious as to why she wanted to go out and noticed she was looking up at something. So I quietly walked over to the door, and then I heard someone's voice, so I just stepped to the edge and peeked around to see who was talking, and there he was Sebastien, the construction fellow, having a long conversation with Jeannie from his work spot on the roof. She was so totally interested in his every move, and he was very sweet to her. It was quite special and it warmed my heart to see the connection between them. But as the weeks passed, some of the fellows became far too familiar and overstepped their boundaries; they outlasted their welcome.

This is when our problems began. The human males started to tease and antagonize Tom and Jeannie once they moved into work on one smaller section of their new areas. They spoke loudly, stood in groups around their rooms and laughed, tried to initiate games of tug of war. Most of this happened on the sly, of course, until one morning when I snuck up to a landing where I could observe the behavior of the human males. I had to shout at them to stop, to get away. Tom was so angry — displaying, dragging furniture and throwing objects around him, something he has never, ever done towards any humans here at Fauna. His behavior was completely out of character and he was obviously beside himself and completely frustrated. I was so grateful that he didn't turn his anger towards Jeannie but rather was venting at the ones who were upsetting him.

Jeannie, on the other hand, became very anxious and so stressed she couldn't breath properly. It's very difficult to describe Jeannie's anxiety attacks but it was clear she couldn't take much more of this stress in her life. She was not herself; she screamed and ran back and forth, unable to cope with all that was happening and the disrespectful behavior she was being subject to. I was furious and said they would have to finish up as soon as possible and leave. We gave them a short deadline and so we still have much unfinished work, but it freed Jeannie of the unnecessary stress.

Once they left she seemed to calm down but the breathing problem continued. When I was in the Chimp House later at night painting with my friend Dar, I could hear Jeannie's deep and labored breathing and we decided to give her antibiotics in case she had a respiratory problem. She was sleeping and breathing with her mouth open. With so much dust and debris floating around the chimphouse what with all the work going on, I treated her thinking that she could be suffering from a sinus problem. Well, as time passed it seemed as though she was improving, until we had a large group of visitors, and even though most visits do not include a visit to Jeannie, she could see some of the folks. Also, some of the visitors felt they could wander around the chimphouse on their own and this, of course, really caused a great deal of anxiety for our Jeannie. This is what led us to decide to stop visits for a while as well as to cut down on the size of the groups. Visits were much too hard on Jeannie and she desperately needed her calm and quiet life back.

Jeannie stress level is much lower now but it can easily be triggered by an unwelcome visitor or situation. We did, however, continue to worry about her breathing and finally decided to give her a physical.

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Medical report

by Richard Allan, D.M.V.
Fall 2002 newsletter

After the death of Pablo and Annie, the Fauna team has become more aggressive in the establishment of a preventative medicine protocol.

In Spring of 2002, Jeannie was anesthetized for a complete examination due to inspiration dyspnea (laboured inhalation) with symptoms of nasal congestion and grunting, especially when asleep. The blood tests were normal but a small polyp was identified in the larynx which, at this time, poses no threat.

We thank the New York Blood Center for generously providing these blood analyses at no cost to Fauna.