Monkey Sanctuary | How You Can Help

Monkey Sanctuary Trust is a unique environmental charity dedicated to:

Woolly monkey welfare, including the welfare, conservation and survival of primates, particularly woolly monkeys and capuchin monkeys.
Capuchin monkey welfare, including Working to end the primate and monkey trade and abuse of primates and monkeys in captivity.
Conserving natural habitats of woolly and capuchin monkeys through education and sustainable living.
monkey rescue, including promoting the rehabilitation of rescued woolly and capuchin monkeys and primates to natural habitats.

Woolly Monkey - what is it?

The woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha) is one of the largest and most beautiful of the South American primates. They live in the middle and upper Amazon basin to the west of the rivers Negro and Tapajos. There are four recognised sub-species of woolly monkey. These are mountain or long-haired woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha lugens), the brown woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha poepiggii), the grey woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha cana) and the brown-headed woolly monkey (lagothrix lagothricha lagothricha).

Woolly monkeys are arboreal (meaning tree-dwelling), spending most of their time high in the canopy of the trees and rarely venturing to the forest floor.

Woolly monkeys have evolved in a way which enables them to exploit this tree-top niche, to travel easily along narrow limbs, to reach nuts, seedpods and fruits at the end of branches, to leap between gaps safely and even to sleep securely 150 feet above the ground.

Capuchin Monkey - what is it?

Capuchins were named after capuchin monks because the dark fur that forms a cap on their heads and extends down in 'side-burns' resembles the cowl or headdress of the capuchin priests.

Capuchin monkeys are one of the most intelligent and adaptable of all South American primates. The first capuchins (Cebus species) appeared 16.3 million years ago in South America and, like all monkeys capuchin monkeys share about 97% of their DNA with humans. All capuchin species are neotropical, in other words capuchin monkeys are mainly found in northern and central South America. Within this range only the howler monkey is as widespread, and the black-capped capuchin or tufted capuchin has the widest distribution of any new world monkey, as capuchin monkeys are found in every South American country except Uruguay and Chile.

Monkey Sanctuary Trust is based at The Monkey Sanctuary in Looe, Cornwall, UK. The Monkey Sanctuary is home to a social colony of Woolly monkeys and a group of rescued ex-pet Capuchin monkeys. The Trust provides advice and support for primate, woolly and capuchin monkey rescue centres and sanctuaries around the world.

Each year the Monkey Sanctuary Trust educates thousands of visitors on monkey life in the wild and in captivity, on the ethics and problems of captivity for woolly monkeys, about ideas for rehabilitation as well as other animal welfare and conservation issues for woolly and capuchin monkeys.

Monkey Sanctuary Trust Home page

The Monkey Sanctuary Trust's Work

History of the Monkey Sanctuary

Contact the monkey sanctuary

Support the woolly monkeys

Adopt a woolly or capuchin Monkey

International Adoptions of capuchin monkeys

Donate to help woolly monkeys

Volunteer to help the Monkay Sanctuary

Become a woolly monkey Keeper for the Day

Jobs at the monkey sanctuary

The Monkeys - woolly capuchin

The Bats that live alongside the woolly monkeys

Woolly monkey Rehabilitation Programme

About Woolly Monkeys

About Capuchin Monkeys

Wildzone - all about capuchins and woollies

Monkey Rehabilitation Programme

Monkey Sanctuary Visits and Talks

Monkey Sanctuary - Educational Resources

Sanctuary Links

Ways to Donate to the Monkey Santuary

The Monkey Sanctuary Trust receives no government funding; we rely heavily on the generosity of people like you. No matter how large or small your donation, every penny helps towards our work to improve the situation for monkeys around the globe.

Here are a few examples of what your donation could achieve:

£5 would feed one monkey for a day.
£10 would buy a bale of sawdust for an indoor monkey room.
£25 would enable us to enrich a monkey enclosure.
£50 would provide 50 minutes of veterinary attention.

Please donate now by credit or debit card securely online.

If you would rather send a cheque/postal order or credit card donation by post you can send to:

The Monkey Sanctuary Trust,
The Monkey Sanctuary,
Looe
Cornwall
PL13 1NZ.

You can also choose to make a regular donation by standing order. A regular standing order means we can rely on your support and can plan for the future more effectively. Click here to download the standing order form, then just print it out, fill it in and send it to the above address.

Unfortunately we are unable to accept foreign cheques because of the costs incurred by The Trust.

Gift Aid

If you are a UK tax-payer Gift Aid enables us to make the very most of the donations we receive. For every £1 donated under the scheme, we can reclaim an extra 28p from the Inland Revenue – at no extra cost to the donor, but it is a huge benefit to the monkeys and our work.

Following changes to the Gift Aid Scheme in March 2000, charities can now reclaim the tax on any donation made after 6th April 2000 as long as the donor completes a Gift Aid declaration form confirming that they are a UK taxpayer and wish us reclaim the tax. The donor doesn’t need to sign a new declaration for each donation – it remains valid until the donor ceases to be a UK taxpayer.

Payroll Giving

Employers:

Payroll giving is a simple, tax effective method of regular giving and it is easy to administer.

Employee donations are deducted from their pay before tax and there is no limit to how much people can donate. Because donations are pre-tax your employees can give more money to charity without it costing them any extra.

Employees from companies large and small feel that payroll giving is an excellent benefit both for the workplace and ourselves. Offering payroll giving to your employees can benefit your company by helping to build better employee relations and demonstrating your commitment to corporate social responsibility.

You can obtain all the information you need on how to set up a payroll giving scheme from the Inland Revenue.

Contact them by telephone: 08453 020203 or visit their website at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/payrollgivingAs one of the charities that benefit from this scheme, we would strongly encourage you to talk to them.

Employees:

If your company offers payroll giving you can authorise your payroll department to deduct regular donation from your pay. Because donations are taken before tax, you can give more money to the Monkey Sanctuary Trust without it costing you more. If they don't then show them the information above!

For more information about Payroll Giving click here.