The Monkey Sanctuary was founded in 1964 by Len Williams, father of John Williams (guitarist), as a cooperative to care for rescued woolly monkeys. Based in Looe, Cornwall, the sanctuary is home to woolly monkeys that are descended from the original rescued pets, a growing number of capuchin monkeys rescued from the current UK pet trade, and a small group of rescued Barbary macaques. The monkeys live in large enclosures that the general public can view during the Sanctuary's open season in the summer months. There is a colony of rare lesser horseshoe bats living in the cellar of Murrayton House, a 19th century building that is the visitors' centre and accommodation for staff and volunteers. The bats can be observed from the "bat cave", a room that shows CCTV footage from an infrared camera installed in the cellar.
The Monkey Sanctuary is the flagship project of Wild Futures (UK registered Charity number 1102532). Wild Futures is dedicated to promoting the welfare, conservation and survival of primates. Wild Futures campaigns to end the primate trade in the UK and abroad, and to end the abuse of primates in captivity. Through talking to visitors, schools and other groups, they aim to educate the public and raise awareness about the issues primates face in captivity and in the wild, and to promote and support conservation efforts worldwide.
Famous quotes containing the words monkey and/or sanctuary:
“Do you suppose I could buy back my introduction to you?”
—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Arthur Sheekman, Will Johnstone, and Norman Z. McLeod. Groucho Marx, Monkey Business, a wisecrack made to his fellow stowaway Chico Marx (1931)
“Proverbs, like the sacred books of each nation, are the sanctuary of the intuitions. That which the droning world, chained to appearances, will not allow the realist to say in his own words, it will suffer him to say in proverbs without contradiction.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)