"I was there for a long time alone. And the sort of feeling that I got when I was out in the forest is that there's a little spark of this Great Spirit power in each living thing. And if it's a soul in us, then I think the chimpanzees also have souls." Jane Goodall.
I wrote Jane Goodall in 2009 to see if I could get a statement from her to include in my upcoming book, THE QUESTION. Her response touched me today as I wrote the last entry. We had discussed Binti Jua, an amazing Lowland Gorilla who lived in Chicago's Brookfield Zoo a few years before. A child fell into her outdoor enclosure. The people who saw this were horrified. Binta Jua gently picked the child up and walked directly to the door which led to hire inside cage. She knocked on the door, and when the zookeeper opened it, she handed the child to him.
A reporter, looking for a response from Dr. Goodall, told her that he'd just spoken to a scientist who said it (Binti Jua's reaction) was "because she had a baby… And it was simply that a falling object about the right size triggered her maternal response!!!"
Jane said to the reporter -- why not drop a sack of flour or something the boy's size?
You'll see what happens." Then said, "I also told him about a male Gorilla in Jersey who also rescued a small child!"
Scroll down to see the painting I made illustrating Binti Jua presenting the child to
God.
I wrote Jane Goodall in 2009 to see if I could get a statement from her to include in my upcoming book, THE QUESTION. Her response touched me today as I wrote the last entry. We had discussed Binti Jua, an amazing Lowland Gorilla who lived in Chicago's Brookfield Zoo a few years before. A child fell into her outdoor enclosure. The people who saw this were horrified. Binta Jua gently picked the child up and walked directly to the door which led to hire inside cage. She knocked on the door, and when the zookeeper opened it, she handed the child to him.
A reporter, looking for a response from Dr. Goodall, told her that he'd just spoken to a scientist who said it (Binti Jua's reaction) was "because she had a baby… And it was simply that a falling object about the right size triggered her maternal response!!!"
Jane said to the reporter -- why not drop a sack of flour or something the boy's size?
You'll see what happens." Then said, "I also told him about a male Gorilla in Jersey who also rescued a small child!"
Scroll down to see the painting I made illustrating Binti Jua presenting the child to
God.
I had the privilege to preview your book, THE QUESTION; what happened to the animal-human connection.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reminding me how my spiritual life is unmistakably enhanced by the animals around me AND reminding me of the animal in me.
Emelia W.