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Great Ape Trust of Iowa orangutan caretaker Rhonda Pietsch performs physical therapy with Allie, a young orangutan with whom she formed a strong bond when both were at the Denver Zoo. The twice-daily physical therapy sessions are designed to give Allie more movement in her hands after an unexplained neurological event limited her mobility. Great Ape Trust of Iowa photo.
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Rhonda Pietsch's move from Denver to world-class research center in Des Moines 'involved her head and her heart'
Des Moines, Iowa – March 27, 2008 – It wasn't a single moment that defined the reunion between Allie, a resilient young orangutan living at Great Ape Trust of Iowa, and one of her closest human friends, Rhonda Pietsch, a new orangutan caretaker at the world-class scientific research center in Des Moines.
Rather, it was a series of poignant moments, such as the time Allie didn't register surprise when Pietsch, Allie's caretaker at her former home at the Denver Zoo for most of the orangutan's life, came back to her job at The Trust after a couple of days off.
Although they had been separated by 600 miles since Allie moved to The Trust in October 2005, the two had never gone more than three months since then without seeing each other. While she was still a caretaker in Denver, Pietsch made frequent visits to Des Moines to visit Allie – partly to monitor her recovery from an undetermined neurological event suffered in Denver, and partly because the bond between them was so strong.
"When you have a good friend in your life – that's how I look at Allie – in a new environment, it was important to both of us that I maintain my friendship with her," Pietsch said. "Everyone at Great Ape Trust was so nice and kind and allowed me keep a close relationship with her, and could see during each visit the new things she was doing."
Pietsch's move to Des Moines from Denver in February "involved her head and her heart," said Dr. Rob Shumaker, director of orangutan research at Great Ape Trust. Pietsch had been instrumental in establishing a physical therapy regime to help Allie recover from her medical problems, both at the Denver Zoo and during her frequent visits to Great Ape Trust.
"She was here because she loved Allie and wanted to see her, but she was also here in a way that helped us tremendously," Shumaker said.
The first few moments of the quarterly visits were awkward as Allie adjusted to Pietsch's new role in her life. "Sometimes, she would seem mad at me," Pietsch said. "That's not a bad thing – someone is not going to be mad if they don't care. We've gotten past that now; I think Allie had gotten used to me being here for three or four days and then being gone and had accepted, 'This is how she is going to be in my life.'"
Most heartwarming of all for Pietsch when she came to work at Great Ape Trust was seeing a happy and content Allie somersaulting – one of her favorite play activities before her medical issues and now her inventive means of locomotion – around the great room and actively participating in tool-use studies with Kristina Walkup, a project/research assistant in The Trust's orangutan program.
"It's not that I don't love every other animal I've worked with, but Allie and I have a very, very, very special bond," said Pietsch, who also has worked with gorillas, chimpanzees, various bird species and Red River hogs during her career as a caretaker. "Is it because she grew up with me, or is it because she is a unique individual?"
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| New Great Ape Trust of Iowa orangutan caretaker Rhonda Pietsch has known Allie since she was an infant. Great Ape Trust of Iowa photo. |
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Or is it that Pietsch was a constant in Allie's life through some tough times?
The two became acquainted nearly a decade ago, when Allie, now 13, moved as an 18-month-old with her mother, Penari, to the Denver Zoo. Penari died suddenly when Allie was 6, making the relationship with Pietsch one of the longest – ape or human – in her young life.
Young orangutans are generally dependent on their mothers for seven to nine years. When Penari died, she and her daughter were still sharing a nest and although independent and self-reliant, Allie still sought "comfort nursing" when she was frightened or uneasy, Pietsch said.
Pietsch said that without anthropomorphizing – that is, interpreting animals' behavior by assigning human or personal characteristics – it was obvious that Allie was deeply affected by her mother's death.
"How could she not be?" Pietsch asked rhetorically. "One day your mother is there, and the next day she isn't. How can you say that did not have an impact? She was definitely depressed. She knew her mother had died, and we tried to provide her with as much attention and comfort as we could."
For example, Pietsch stayed at the zoo long after her shift ended, remaining within Allie's sight until she went to sleep for the night, and working with her colleagues to introduce to Allie a new orangutan companion, a 17-year-old male with whom she quickly formed an easy alliance.
Allie appeared to be adjusting well when, about three months after Penari died, she sustained the first of two neurological events of unknown origin, which temporarily limitedAllie's use of her limbs. She had lost some of her mobility, was unable to climb and had trouble walking quadrupedally.
Caretakers were initially concerned about Allie's ability to locomote and the possibility of injury through her playful interchange with her new companion. They were briefly separated, but then reunited as her caretakers realized that Allie's need for socialization outweighed their valid reasons for isolation. Within three to four months, Allie had recovered almost completely.
Two years later, Allie suffered another neurological setback, this one more severe. Again, Pietsch was an anchor in Allie's life. Although she was receiving excellent care at the Denver Zoo and was slowly regaining the use of her limbs, officials there thought she might thrive in the vertical facilities at Great Ape Trust, where her good friend Shumaker was heading up the orangutan research program.
Great Ape Trust orangutan facilities were designed to meet the unique physical and social needs of the species. The orangutans have three stories to climb and both indoor and outdoor habitats. Later this spring, the orangutans will be allowed to explore a nearly 4-acre yard and move from tree to tree, as wild orangutans would.
That history accounts for the tears that well in Pietsch's eyes as she talks about the strength of the relationships Allie has developed with Knobi, an adult female orangutan who once assisted with Allie's physical therapy, and Azy, an adult male with whom Allie has developed a normal relationship. By all appearances, Allie is thriving.
"It says something about the strength that individuals can find within themselves," Pietsch said. "You have to have willpower and just that drive to thrive under any circumstances. Allie cannot use her legs fully, so she finds her own way to get where she wants to go. She came up with her own mode of locomotion."
Regardless of her history with Allie, Pietsch is an asset to Great Ape Trust, Shumaker said. A Florida native, she majored in zoology at Colorado State University and worked at a Florida zoo for seven years before taking a job at Denver. Her career as a caretaker spans 24 years.
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Allie, an adolescent orangutan living at Great Ape Trust, was recently reunited with one of her closest human friends. Great Ape Trust of Iowa photo. |
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"This continues the extraordinary privilege we have had here of hand-picking people with incredible skills," he said. "She has more than two decades' experience working with great apes in captivity – gorillas and chimpanzees, as well as orangutans – and has remarkably good skills, judgment and intuition with orangutans. She is a perfect addition to our staff, whether or not Allie was here."
For her part, Pietsch said the chance to rekindle her friendship with Allie was a big lure, but not the only one.
"I really did love the idea of working with Allie again," she said. "We had a very long, close relationship and it was thrilling for me to have the chance to continue that relationship with her."
But she was also impressed with the quality of Great Ape Trust's orangutan research program and the respect throughout the organization that is afforded to the orangutans and bonobos living at The Trust.
"Everyone here greatly respects the apes, and it comes through in everything – the absolutely fabulous conservation program, the superb animal care, everything we do," she said. "What I see is people respecting animals and caring to such a degree that they also show the same respect toward humans. Everybody is invested."
No one at Great Ape Trust defines the young orangutan by her limitations or regards her as handicapped or disabled.
"There is nothing she is incapable of doing," Pietsch said. "Allie can physically go anywhere she wants in her environment, and is capable of having a completely normal relationship with a female and a male orangutan."
Added Shumaker: "Allie requires some special expertise in terms of her physical therapy program and understanding that she is an orangutan who is perfectly capable of doing what any other orangutan wants to do, but may have to do it in a slightly different way. That means the people around her need to understand that and be intuitive.
"If we had to hire someone that Allie did not know at all, there would have been a huge learning curve and a question of whether Allie would accept someone else for something as intimate as twice-daily physical therapy. We avoided all of those concerns by bringing Rhonda on. She was able to step into her role here immediately."
Pietch's frequent visits before she signed on as a Great Ape Trust caretaker made it easy for her to gain the confidence of Azy and Knobi. "She became a known entity, and was able to gradually assimilate herself with all of the orangutans," Shumaker said.
Such acceptance is important, because humans and apes alike function as "one big social group," he added. "We work together even for something as simple as the apes moving from one room to the other. Rhonda has had a couple of years to become part of the extended social group."
Given the obstacles Allie has overcome, seeing her happy and thriving is something that Pietsch does not take lightly. "How thrilling it was for me the first time I came here and saw her playing with Knobi," Pietsch said. "What a nice thing for her to have an orangutan friend again."
There have been other signals that Allie is happy, according to her human. "There is a peacefulness, a happiness, a trust in her relationships," Pietsch said. "She is content in her life, with good orangutan friends and good human friends, and living in a wonderful physical environment that offers many choices every day. She is just thriving."
Not long after she began working at Great Ape Trust, Pietsch asked Allie if she could join her on the second floor of the indoor orangutan enclosure for physical therapy. In a gesture that touched her soul, "Allie reached down and took my hand," Pietsch said. "I don't know that I can express what that meant to me. It said she was willing to pick up our friendship. That's when I looked at Tine Geurts (also an orangutan caretaker) and said, 'How could I have made any other decision than to come here?' That told me that I had made the absolute right decision in coming here."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Great Ape Trust of Iowais a scientific research facility in southeast Des Moines dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence. When completed, Great Ape Trust will be the largest great ape facility in North America and one of the first worldwide to include all four types of great ape – bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans – for noninvasive interdisciplinary studies of their cognitive and communicative capabilities.
Great Ape Trust is dedicated to providing sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, studying the intelligence of great apes, advancing conservation of great apes and providing unique educational experiences about great apes. Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization and is certified by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). |
Great Ape Trust is certified by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums
