My Nonprofit Reviews

As a former staff member, I cannot disagree with your statement more. Kari has taught me everything about new world primates and given me the opportunity to learn things that I would have never had the chance to do elsewhere. There were times when I had to work 7 days a week, but only when we had special needs monkeys that needed our care throughout the day and night. I never begrudged it, as this is simply what happens when you work at a sanctuary. We have breaks, I was the person who used to schedule them and we also had 2 days off a week.

Due to the physical nature of the work and the temperature/humidity, it is true that sometimes staff and interns decide that they aren't cut out for the work and they decide to leave. They are never run off as the sanctuary runs on volunteers and those who are passionate about primates.

Now for the part that was the reason I replied to this...the monkeys are fed nutritious fresh produce delivered to the sanctuary weekly and kept in our walk in refrigerator and freezer units. At no point do the monkeys get week’s old leftovers that smell like death. Every so often, we get produce donated, but we always always check it before it is put into their diet bowls. Many people that visit jungle friends often remark at how well fed the monkeys are, and how much of a varied diet they receive.

The habitats are cleaned on a monthly basis, with some of our special habitats, such as those with more primates in them, are cleaned on a bi weekly schedule. Some are even cleaned every week. I know this because I used to schedule the cleaning rota, and complete the book that is our diary of when habitats are cleaned. At no point are the habitats just left to get dirty!

As for monkeys being better back in the lab! Are you kidding? You describe yourself as being an expert in the field? You obviously haven’t seen the horrors of the laboratory setting or what happens to the monkeys once they arrive at the sanctuary. Maybe you should visit Jungle Friends youtube page to see how many have been socialised after 25 years of solitude? Or take a look at some of the stories and how they are now off of all their meds that they arrived on due to their negative behaviours such self attacking. Kari addresses these issues and solves them, giving the monkeys a life as close to the wild as they can. Maybe you should spend some more time at the sanctuary and open your eyes to what is really going on around you, rather than being too self involved!

More Feedback