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April 20, 2005

Dear Friends of Jungle Friends,

I apologize for the delay in getting our Jungle News out to you; it has been very hectic at the sanctuary these days. We have lots of exciting news and we are up to 67 monkeys, yikes!

Our two newest monkey arrivals are Lucy, a weeper capuchin, and Jimmy, a marmoset.
Jimmy and Lucy arrived just over a week ago. One of the members of the Humane Society of Tennessee drove the two monkeys to their new home at Jungle Friends and stayed the night to settle them in. Jimmy is doing just great and is very enthusiastic about all of the new sights and sounds. We do not have any marmosets here at Jungle Friends, so we are hoping to find another marmoset to keep Jimmy company. For now, Jimmy and Lucy are in neighboring habitats and seem to keep a close watch over each other. Lucy has a docked tail and several missing toes, was horribly abused and diagnosed with Lupus. After a raid by the authorities, where most of the animals were found dead or died shortly thereafter, Lucy was taken in for tests. The vet noticed that her tiny little hands were clenched into fists. When the vet pried them open, he found her holding onto maggots, which we assume she had been eating to stay alive. Fortunately, Lucy's abuser is in jail!

The four white-faced ex-pet monkeys are here and doing great!
Ernesto, Hailey, Bonnie and Spunky finally arrived with the third attempt to capture them, whew. These are the monkeys who escaped their enclosure in Las Vegas and attacked the housekeeper, ouch! While they had nice habitats in Nevada, they are very excited about the trees and lush foliage in their new habitats that Susan, the monkeys' human, financed for them here at Jungle Friends. They still go into their indoor enclosures to watch cartoons in the afternoon, though. Some habits are difficult to break :-).

Four more squirrel monkeys from the lab arrived last month!
They love their new habitats that you helped us build! These monkeys were born in captivity and had never felt the sun in their face or grass beneath their feet. It was thrilling to watch them explore outside for the first time in their lives. Bowser and Skeeter are the most playful of the group and can usually be found in the larger outdoor habitat or yelling at their neighbors, Gilbert McGreedy and Moses. Kilroy was very confident when he first investigated 'outside', that is until the wind picked up, which sent him running back inside. However now, he is rarely inside, except to try to coax his roommate Herbie to come outside with him. Herbie is still a bit nervous about 'outside', but we are sure that in time he will be spending as much time outside as the others. Unfortunately, Buddy Boy, who is blind, has yet to venture outside, but we are hopeful. All eight squirrel monkeys have been socialized into pairs and are doing just great!

The nine capuchin monkeys from the same lab arrived less than two weeks ago!
The boys are still getting used to their new surroundings. Stacey, our newest staff member, has taken it upon herself to see to it that these boys are comfortable. Bongo is the most social with the other monkeys, as well as with the humans. He will greet you with a big 'play face' when you approach, especially if you have a treat to offer. CB is the most handsome, according to his new sponsor, Elayne. Angel and Floyd both appear to be very shy, while Goober, their neighbor, is the most outgoing. Manson and Goober flirt with each other, but that can quickly turn into an argument. Don Knotts is the most curious, constantly asking for new toys, and Wild Bill, well, his name says it all! So far, we have received about one-third of the funding to build their new habitats, so we have started on the socialization habitat. Our volunteers and interns are working on it daily. The boys have been singularly housed for nearly two decades and they are anxious to meet each other "up close and personal". If any of you are in the area and would like to help build habitats, just let me know; we could sure use the help. And send money too!

Udi, the baby spider monkey, has new friends!
You would never know that Udi's bone disease was so severe that he couldn't walk or stand. Even his overbite has improved so much that the vets do not believe that he will need any dental surgery. And it gets better...Udi is now socialized with Goldie, Clydette and Travis. Travis plays so nice with Udi, he is like his older brother, but when Udi starts getting too rambunctious, Travis will yell at him until he calms down. It gets even better...we have another baby spider monkey joining our Jungle Friends Family next month. She is almost two years old, which is the same age as Udi. We are very happy that Udi will have a friend so close to his own age. I know there will be lots of rough and tumble play going on with the youngsters.

Thank you so much for your generous donations for our Share Your Heart campaign! We are one-third of the way to our goal for building the capuchin lab monkeys their permanent habitats here at Jungle Friends! Please be generous and help us reach our goal! Just click on Howard (below) and "Share Your Heart".

Lots of monkey love,
Kari and the monks