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March 9, 2007

Dear Friends of Jungle Friends,

Elvis has left the building!

That’s right; Elvis completed his tour of Texas and, as of February 21, 2007, is residing at Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary. Of course, that would be Elvis, the brown capuchin!

Elvis has had his share of hard times. He was kept as a ‘pet’ -- until he bit someone. This meant a death sentence for Elvis unless he could be placed in a sanctuary.

A sanctuary in Texas stepped in to save Elvis by keeping him for the quarantine period. During his stint in “Heartbreak Hotel”, Jungle Friends was selected as the best place to provide what Elvis needed: a permanent home where he could be socialized with others of his own species and age.

Elvis hitched a ride from Texas to Florida with a few Jungle Friends. During the trip Elvis did his own version of the “Jailhouse Rock” by throwing food at poor Hannah. He was not happy with the cramped quarters or the 20-hour drive. When Elvis arrived at Jungle Friends he was ready to rock and roll.

Elvis moved into a habitat in view of many of our other brown capuchins, in the hopes of finding playmates. He is adapting well to his new environment, and eats everything that is offered. At the rate he eats we may soon be calling him “The King”. Elvis is a little “Teddy Bear” and a wonderful addition to Jungle Friends.

At first Elvis reacted like other new monkeys; not sure of his new “digs”, he would cautiously scout around. But after a mere week, Elvis was ready for his next engagement -- Elvis was ready to meet some girls!

We introduced him to Pickles first; Pickles is very quiet and really likes to keep to herself, but both she and Elvis seemed interested in meeting each other. Pickles and Elvis passed each other in the runway and each immediately went to each others’ habitats. Elvis got nervous and ran back to see what Pickles was doing to “his” house; he was very relieved to find out she did not redecorate!

Elvis’s next introduction was to Jill. Things could not have gone better! In no time they were playing with each other. Their rambunctious play ended in a wonderful grooming session.

That left just one more monkey for Elvis to meet: Billy. Billy seemed mainly interested in Elvis’s food and Elvis was interested in looking over his newly acquired real estate. Again, all went well – so well that Elvis has been with his three new friends ever since and they are all very happy with the arrangement. Elvis has hit the big time.

There will be no “Return to Sender” for Elvis. We like to think, knowing what Elvis’s fate could have been, that Jungle Friends is his “Good Luck Charm.” We noticed that since Elvis met the girls he has a gyrating swagger to his hips and I think I heard him saying “Thank you, thank you very much”.

And ‘thank you very much’ to our donors!

Wow! Thank you so much for all the wonderful birthday gifts! We received lots of tools and equipment from our Home Depot Registry, as well as gifts cards for those hard-to-ship items. Sure does help the team getting those monkey habitats put up!

You can get to our registry from this link:
or just search the online gift registry for last name “Friends” at http://www.homedepot.com.

I also want to say a very special thank you to everyone for your support and prayers during Cody’s illness, your loving condolences at his loss, and donations remembering Cody. Your expressions of love and compassion are truly a comfort to all of us here who miss him so.

All donations in memory of Cody will go toward the Memorial Medical Fund, to provide veterinary care and medical supplies for the Jungle Friends monkeys.

Lots of monkey love,
Kari and the monks