Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary

Current Advocacy Efforts

 
Sanctuary Manager Megan Stark Advocates in DC:

In 2016 Sanctuary Manager Megan Stark met with Congressman Ted Yoho's aide to discuss H.R. 2920: The Captive Primate Safety Act! After discussing the details of the bill, she was able to hand over nearly 100 letters signed by Jungle Friends' supporters urging Congressman Yoho to cosponsor this bill! While she was in Washington DC, she spoke with multiple animal advocates and policy makers; these conversations all had the same message: Your Voice Matters! Our elected officials want to know what's important to us, and they take our phone calls, letters and emails very seriously. Contact your Local Representatives to encourage their support for The Captive Primate Safety Act! It can often take many months (or longer) to get policies like these passed, so it's important for us animal lovers to keep spreading the word.

Founder Kari Bagnall Briefs Congress on HR 2920:

On March 22nd, 2016 Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary Founder Kari Bagnall spoke on Capitol Hill as part of a panel in support of the Captive Primate Safety Act. The Captive Primate Safety Act (H.R. 2920) would amend the Lacey Act of 1981 to prohibit any interstate or foreign commerce involving nonhuman primates for the exotic pet trade, including sale, transportation, and acquisition. See the photo album from her trip.

A big part of the mission here at Jungle Friends is to educate people about monkeys and to advocate for the safety of all non human primates. We encourage you to support this act by writing to your local congress members.

H.R. 2920: Captive Primate Safety Act:

Currently, we are focused on gathering support for the Captive Primate Safety Act (H.R. 2920). This bill expands on existing environmental policy to prevent ALL Non-Human Primates from being transported and sold across state lines. This would prevent breeders from selling their monkeys around the country and would prohibit non-licensed primate “owners” from using their monkeys as attractions at fairs. The Captive Primate Safety Act would be a considerable blow against the exotic pet trade and would prevent more monkeys from living in people’s bedrooms, basements and backyards. One important thing to note: this bill exempts zoos, sanctuaries and labs. This means that when we get a call about a monkey being kept illegally in a certain state, Jungle Friends is still able to safely and securely transport the monkey to our sanctuary grounds.

Contact info@junglefriends.org for more information about the Captive Primate Safety Act today!

Banana Derby and other Monkey Rodeos:

Monkey Rodeos, such as the Banana Derby, are unfortunately common at state and county fairs and other festivals around the USA. These rodeos often take capuchin monkeys, extract their teeth, dress them in ridiculous costumes and chain them to dogs to race around a track. As with the Banana Derby, after the race, many of these rodeos also offer the opportunity for visitors to pay to take photos with the monkeys.

These rodeos are problematic for a number of reasons. The monkeys themselves are not only toothless, they are also incredibly skinny and small for their age and have demonstrated caged behavior from anxiety and stree. During the actual races, we also have numerous photos and videos demonstrating that the monkeys are threatening the crowd and trying to escape from the dogs they are chained to.

Furthermore, these types of cruel acts teach children in the audience that monkeys are tame and that it is acceptable to use them for entertainment and as pets.

In October, 2015, Founder Kari Bagnall, our volunteer vet Dr. Carla Haddix DVM and other key supporters spoke to the Alachua County Commissioners against the Banana Derby! Not only were we able to BAN Banana Derby and other monkey acts from future fairs- the commissioners went further to BAN ALL exotic animal shows from future fairs in Alachua! Monkey Rodeos are exactly the types of exploitative “attractions” that Jungle Friends is against- help us STOP THEM from coming to your county by contacting us at info@junglefriends.org today.