Rehabilitation Programme

Rehabilitation of ex-pet monkeys at The Monkey Sanctuary

The Monkey Sanctuary has never regarded its monkey residents as exhibits, but as individuals with individual needs. Monkeys that have been kept as pets may not have seen another monkey before arriving here. They may never have had access to trees, ropes and branches to move around, or been fed an appropriate diet. There is no set schedule for rehabilitation. It is a long slow process.

When rescued monkeys arrive at The Monkey Sanctuary in Cornwall, their needs are assessed, including a full veterinary examination. Raised in the UK, ex-pet monkeys have little chance of returning to a rainforest habitat. But what we can offer them is the chance to learn how to be monkeys, expressing as much natural behaviour as possible. Led by the individual monkey, the keepers encourage new arrivals to settle in to their new home and explore an interesting enriched environment. They may curiously watch other monkeys in neighbouring enclosures and perhaps begin to communicate. When they are ready they are offered ‘supervised’ visits, sharing space with others of their own kind. Keepers keep a watchful eye. Most monkeys exhibit stereotypical behaviour due to their years of boredom in captivity, but meeting other monkeys and a new life at The Sanctuary can also cause stress. Each monkey is carefully monitored to see it does not get too much or too little stimulation.

Rainforest Rehabilitation project in 1991

We believe that it is wrong to keep wild animals in captivity. However, returning animals from captivity in non-native countries to the wild is difficult and has only proved possible under ideal conditions. In 1991, two woolly monkeys from The Monkey Sanctuary took part in a successful re-introduction programme in Brazil. However, most successful programmes offering rehabilitation to the wild take place in the animals’ native country, with animals born in the wild.

In 1991 we attempted the rehabilitation of two young males Ricky and Ivan, from Cornwall to the Amazon. They were flown to a reserve, Noah's Park, outside Manaus in the centre of the Amazon region where they joined a group of orphaned infant and juvenile monkeys confiscated from the pet trade. As adolescent males brought up in a stable colony, Ricky and Ivan were ideal foster parents, and it was hoped they would bring social cohesion to the group. As the months went by Ricky and Ivan began to lead the group, learning for themselves the real art of tree climbing and the delights of Amazonian fruits, seeds and insects while bringing security and their own social skills to the orphaned monkeys. Ricky and Ivan ranged further and further from the feeding area and adapted reasonably well to their forest home.

Sadly the project folded after 11 months when, due to financial and personal pressures. The monkeys were taken to a different site where once again they were dependent on humans. We were unable to discover what exactly had happened to Ivan and Ricky. We did however manage to visit the site at Taruma a few years later, after it had been taken over by a new director, Mauricio de Almeida Noronha, and saw some of the Noah's Park orphans, some now fully grown with their own children.

The Woolly Monkeys

Overseas rehabilitation projects are costly. The remaining woolly monkeys at the Cornish Sanctuary are unlikely to return to the rainforest and we operate a non-breeding policy. As success is better achieved with wild born monkeys, The Monkey Sanctuary Trust supports various programmes in South America offering rehabilitation, conservation and education including:

Inta Warra Yassi

Siglo XXI

Ikamaperu

Entropika

Projecto Churuco

The Yellow Tail Project