Staff profile — John Mulcahy

last updated: August, 2003

John Mulcahy received his B.S. in Psychology from the University of Vermont. In September 1998 he began volunteering at the Fauna Foundation, and became a member of Fauna's Advisory Board. In 1999 he left off active volunteering to pursue a Master’s degree in Primate Behavior at Central Washington University’s Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute. After completing his Master's, he returned to work full-time at Fauna. John is committed to caring for the Fauna chimpanzees and plans to spend his life working for the rights of non-human animals.

A personal letter from Diana Goodrich and John Mulcahy, July 2003

Summer 2003 newsletter

It is with a mixture of sadness and excitement for the future that we write to let everyone know that we have decided to leave Fauna to pursue further schooling. We will be moving to the Boston area in June of this year. Both of us plan to continue working for and with animals.

Our time at Fauna has been a wonderful and education experience. We will always be indebted to Gloria and her family for the kindness and generosity that they have shown us, and for giving us the opportunity to work at a sanctuary that allowed us to make friends with so many unique individuals — both human and non-human.

It is difficult to think about our lives without Billy, Donna Rae, Binky, Regis, Rachel, Sue Ellen, Pepper, Toby, Jethro, Tom, Chance, Petra, Yoko, and Jeannie. They have meant so much to us these past years and there is no doubt that we will feel emptier without them. Boston is not too far away, though, so we hope to make frequent visits back to Fauna. There are so many other animals that we have also had the pleasure of working for that we don't have the space to talk about all of them. Needless to say, we will miss them as well. We will continue to support Fauna in any way that we can and we know that you will too!

Gloria's PostScript: Separation is a painful experience for any one of us but for the chimps at Fauna who have had — and lost — so many people in their lives, this will be a particularly difficult loss. Diana and John have been a constant factor in the lives of all the chimps at Fauna for almost two years and although the members of my family will continue to always be there for the chimps, that will not make up for the fact that some truly special friends will now be gone from their daily lives. Diana and John are very important to them and we only hope that we can help fill the empty spaces that their leaving will create.