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Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary
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JUNGLE VOICES
Friends and volunteers of Jungle Friends speak out
MY FIRST VISIT TO
JUNGLE FRIENDS PRIMATE SANCTUARY
 Michael Rice, Friend and part-time Volunteer
My name is Michael Rice. I live fifty miles north west of Washington D.C. in what used to be a small rural town by the name of Leesburg. Leesburg has now been swallowed up by DC’s suburbia. My wife Diane and I both work in Washington D.C. We are also ardent animal advocates. We live with 3 Dalmatians who are named Oreo, Sparky and Annie.
I first became aware of the Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary in Gainesville, FL, by visiting another animal sanctuary web site, the Elephant Sanctuary that had a hot link to it. Primates are one of my favorite groups of animals so it naturally peaked my interest. I checked the site out and decided to investigate it further.
I started corresponding with Kari Bagnall, JF Founder, and Nicole Haaf, JF Animal Care Director. After learning more about the sanctuary, I decided to make a donation to it. Kari asked me what kind of donation I wanted to make. After reviewing all of the monkeys’ stories, I decided to become a Gold sponsor for Joni. All of the monkeys’ stories are sad but Joni’s story is especially heart wrenching and inspiring.
In May of 2002 I decided to take some time off and go down to JF and volunteer for a few days. I flew into Jacksonville on Friday, May 17, picked up a rental car and headed for Gainesville. JF is actually outside of Gainesville in the country. I checked into the hotel ( I had worn long jeans for the trip down and the first thing I wanted to do was get out of them!). I then headed for JF.
As I approached JF, my thoughts were identical to those when I drove up to the Elephant Sanctuary. I hope I find the place (rumors of my being lost are greatly exaggerated!!). I hope my work is OK with Kari and Nicole. I wonder what they’re like? I wondered what JF is like. I wonder how the monkeys will act when the see me. I wonder what it’s like working with monkeys. I wonder how loud they’ll be (I thought they’d be screeching all of the time). I wonder what Joni and her mother Gussie are like. I really wanted to meet Joni.
I found JF and entered the sanctuary. That exact moment is a special moment. It transcends time and reality. I may not remember allot of things about my visit, but I will always remember getting out of the car and looking over at one of the habitat ramps and seeing one of the monkeys looking at me. Both of us observing each other for the first time in our lives.
As I approached the nearby habitats, the monkeys started making warning sounds to the other monkeys to warn them that a stranger was coming onto the grounds. Some were banging their tails against the ceilings of their cages. Some were hitting the wire of their habitats with toys. Some were making sounds. But all in all, it was allot less noisy than I thought it was going to be.
Kari came out of the house and greeted me. She looks just like her pictures on the web site. Kari is a little younger than me. She remembers the 60s and so do I. She likes to sing all of the hit 60s songs to the monkeys as she works with them. I recognized each one of them . . . the songs that is. I’m a child of the 60s too. Notice that I DIDN’T say Kari was. I just said she knows all of the songs of the 60s!!
The first thing you learn is that there is no way you’re going to learn all of the monkey’s names or tell them apart during your first stay at JF. They all look alike within their species groups. Kari and Nicole know each one by name and know each of their sad stories. Most of their stories are related to the exotic pet trade.
Kari introduced me to Nicole, the Head keeper. Nicole looks like she’s about 22 years old but don’t let that fool you. I’m not stupid enough to tell you how old she is in this story. You’ll have to guess for yourself!! But for the first day of my visit, I though Nicole was in her early twenties.
They showed me around JF. There are approximately a dozen different habitats each interlinked by overhead ramps so that the monkeys can travel from one habitat to another. The second thing you learn at JF is that if you’re taller than five feet, every time you walk under an overhead ramp, you have to bend way over to avoid having your hat stolen or your hair pulled by a monkey!! By the time you spend 48 hours at the sanctuary, you’re ducking your head even when you’re not even near an overhead ramp. I was ducking my head back in my hotel room !!! I imagined myself back in the office ducking every five minutes and everyone wondering what was wrong with me!
The third thing you learn is that no matter how fast you think you are, the monkeys will make you look like you’re standing still. They are incredibly fast and ambidextrous. So if you’re approaching an overhead ramp and you see a monkey 20 feet away in its habitat, don’t think for a second that you can make it under that ramp without that monkey making it to the ramp to go for your hat. They’ll beat you every time.
Most of the habitats contain capuchin monkeys. Cinnamon capuchins, white face/throat capuchins, tufted capuchins, etc. Then there are the spider monkeys, which are bigger than the capuchins. 33 monkeys in all.
And of course, no sanctuary would be complete without a few parrots, dogs and cats. I fell in love with Cloe and Otis, two lab/rottie mix puppies that were absolutely hilarious to play with. Getting big but still goofy, very hilarious puppies trying their best to get into everything and anything. And usually succeeding! And Brandy, an older dog who puts up with Cloe and Otis’ shenanigans. I kept threatening to take Cloe and Otis home with me. I could just imagine Diane’s face walking into the house with these two “bulls in a china shop”. Ever heard of justifiable homicide????!!!! Cloe and Otis are staying at JF!
The fourth thing I became aware of is how intelligent monkeys are. They are very intelligent. Mankind thinks it is the only “intelligent” life on earth. Guess again. Mankind is probably at the bottom of the list when it comes to “intelligence” within the earth’s animal kingdom. These monkeys never cease to amaze you by their actions. They watch you and anticipate your every move.
The fifth thing you learn is never go within 3 feet of any of the habitats. If you do, little arms will come out in a flash and go for t-shirts, hair, hats or anything else they can get their hands on. “Robbery in progress” is a constant “crime” at JF. And don’t fall for the con artists like Samantha who will entice you to approach her cage by dropping toys or food just outside her habitat. Then she throws that sad face look at you.
The unsuspecting volunteers fall completely victim to her sad look (don’t believe it for an instant!!) and her little outstretched arms. The Good Samaritan makes the fatal mistake of bending over and picking up the toy or food and then, and only then they realize too late that they’ve been had when Samantha reaches out to grab what ever she can get . . . hair, hat, clothing, etc. It’s actually funny to witness if you’re not her “victim”!
I was tired from my trip from Virginia so I went back to the hotel and took a nap. At 7:00pm I went back to JF and picked up Kari and Nicole and drove into Gainesville for a concert on the green in Gainesville. Great concert. At 10:00p.m. we were all tired so I dropped them back off at JF and headed back to the hotel. I looked forward to getting a good night’s rest before my first day of actual volunteer work at the sanctuary.
I was up at 5:45am on Saturday morning and arrived at the Sanctuary at 6:30 a.m. The first thing I did was watch Nicole collect a urine sample from Connie, who is diabetic. Kari then gave Connie her morning insulin injection. Then it was off to prepare the food trays for each monkey and pass those out. The tray contents differ from habitat to habitat. Food consists of fruits, vegetables, nuts and monkey biscuits and a million other foods that they enjoy. Volunteers started to drift in during the morning. About five showed up to help out with the day’s chore list.
I started to clean habitats. The seventh thing I learned is that the habitats range in height from about 6 feet tall to 20 feet tall. Being about 6 feet tall myself, I found myself continually bumping my head into either the ceiling of the smaller habitats or into the climbing structures in each habitat. A hard hat is not a bad idea if you’re 6 feet or taller. After cracking your noggin on the same tree limb for the 5th time (and you’re only wearing a baseball cap), that hard hat idea is beginning to sound real good!
Cleaning a habitat consists of first insuring that all monkeys within the habitat are outside of the habitat with all access ramps into the habitat blocked off. The last thing you want to do is get into a habitat with a monkey. The second step is insuring that the inner door of each keeper area (the double door entry area into each habitat) is ALWAYS closed at all times in case a monkey does get back into the habitat while you’re cleaning it. No escaped monkeys please!!
Then you take a spray bottle with a solution of water and Clorox and clean all of the poop off of the climbing structures, hammocks and sleeping dens and suspended enrichment toys. Then you take a hose and spray them all down. Then its pick up all debris on the floor. Rake the floor and then place the enrichment devices throughout the habitat.
Enrichment devices consist of plastic bottles filled with a few tasty treats, toys and stuffed animals that are hidden within the habitat so that the monkeys will search for them to get the goodies. This is done to give the monkeys something interesting, fun and rewarding to do. And get them they do in no time at all. You then insure that the inner door of the keeper area is locked and padlocked as you leave the habitat and lock the outer door too.
The eighth thing I learned was that there is a tremendous workload that Kari and Nicole face each and every day of the week. And it’s not easy work. Not only the work described above, but also washing the bedding of all of the monkeys on a daily basis, running the administrative side of the JF, vet visits, telephone calls, answering snail mail and e-mail, never ending facility maintenance, facility expansion, never ending fund raising, etc. The workload would overwhelm ordinary people. But Kari and Nicole charge into it every day of the week. Sometimes on weekends they have the help of a few volunteers but during the week they’re mostly on their own.
The ninth thing I learned was to dress lightly. It gets hot in Florida. Although on Sunday a “cold” front moved in and it was a very delightful 65 degrees. But normally it’s hot so you need to dress appropriately and drink plenty of fluids.
Sunday turned out to be rather chilly according to Florida temperatures. It was drizzling on and off. So after Kari and Nicole finished the feeding, cleaning duties of the morning, we decided the rest of the day would be spent on the computers. Jacob, a volunteer, and I put new blades on the riding lawn mower and the push mower. Then I retired to the house and started working on a draft solicitation for JF.
The tenth thing I’ve noticed about JF and its monkeys is that they really are quiet animals. They get a little excited at feeding time and when strangers enter the sanctuary. But for the most part, you can hear a pin drop during the day.
On Monday, we started all over. Nicole and Kari started with the feeding, medications, laundry, etc. I joined them later in the morning with the cleaning. Kari asked me to write down my thoughts about my visit to JF which I started after I finished helping Nicole with the cleaning. I decided to take a break from the computer and film JF and the monkeys. I made my way over to Gussie and Joni’s habitat and spent most of my time with them.
Joni has such an impact on me. I just sat at the picnic table adjacent to her habitat and watched her and Gussie for half an hour. Joni is such a tiny being compared to her mother and the rest of the monkeys. She moves about her habitat and the ramps with full confidence. Her disabilities don’t hamper her life at all. She’s very quiet although every now and then you can hear her emitting little peeps.
I stand in awe of creatures such as Joni. At work, I witness pomposity, arrogance, selfishness, conceit, backstabbing, political turf fights, etc. It goes on and on ad nauseam. We humans claim ourselves, and arrogantly so, to be the masters of the earth, supreme beings over all other beings of the earth, more intelligent than all others and capable of “rational” thought.
Joni has impressed me more than the vast majority of humans I’ve met in my life. She did this not by saying anything to me or acting in any grandiose manner or accomplishing a great feat. She impressed me by her quiet dignified approach to life and to her physical limitations. I know if I had Joni’s handicaps, I’d be crying like a baby looking for all of the sympathy I could get from everyone around me. Not so with Joni.
I witnessed the same thing at the Elephant Sanctuary with one of their elephants, Shirley. Shirley was attacked by another elephant. Her right rear leg is horribly deformed from a broken leg that was never treated. Yet Shirley does not let her crippled leg stop her from living her life. It may slow her down like Joni, but it doesn’t stop her.
So you have Joni who is only the size of a softball and weighs only two pounds, and Shirley who belongs to the species of the largest land animal on the earth. Ounce for ounce they are more powerful, more magnificent and more inspirational than any human I’ve ever met.
The last thing I learned is that at the beginning, it’s impossible to remember to abide by the JF volunteer rules. Like approaching the habitats, speaking loudly, touching other individuals in front of the monkeys, bending under the ramps, etc. You get so wrapped up in the work at hand that you forget what you’re doing. But even after a few days, I realized I was adhering to the rules more and more. I figure after a few months of volunteering, I’ll remember and practice them all!
I asked Kari what she needed above all else in the management of the JF. Kari said that she needs funding and volunteers to help out with the ever increasing population of the sanctuary.
The work and funding required to run JF is formidable and never ending. It includes feeding and providing health care to the primates, facility maintenance, administrative support, fund raising, and expansion. JF currently finds itself in the unfortunate position of being forced to turn away needy primates. JF now faces immediate needs of obtaining additional funding to expand, build more habitats and enlist the help from additional volunteers to help with primate care and facility maintenance.
YOU can help save these unfortunate souls whose immediate future is euthanasia if they aren’t rescued. There are various ways to contribute: one time donations, recurring donations, sponsoring a primate, donating food, supplies and building/maintenance materials and volunteering.
The monkey’s stories only had a happy ending because Jungle Friends exists and was willing and able to rescue them. Without JF, many could have been euthanaized. Their stories are only a few of the many that have occurred and thousands more that are waiting to happen. JF needs your support of the day-to-day care of the primates, expansion of the current facility and volunteer help.
Please help Jungle Friends today with your tax deductible contribution through Paypal.
Thank you for your continued support.
Lots of Monkey Love,
Kari and the Monks
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Jungle Friends is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization and your donations are tax deductible. Donations can be made on your credit card from the website www.junglefriends.org, by phone at (386) 462-7779, or can be mailed to:
Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary
13915 N. State Road 121
Gainesville, FL 32653
© Copyright 1998-2010, Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary.
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