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

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International Adoptions of capuchin monkeys

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The Monkeys - woolly capuchin

The Bats that live alongside the woolly monkeys

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About Woolly Monkeys

About Capuchin Monkeys

Wildzone - all about capuchins and woollies

Monkey Rehabilitation Programme

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Monkey Sanctuary - Educational Resources

Sanctuary Links

Ban reimposed on export of Malaysian macaques

By HILARY CHIEW

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/8/nation/21484492&sec=nation

PETALING JAYA: The Cabinet has reinstated the export ban on the protected long-tailed macaque, ending months of uncertainty about the fate of about 250,000 ‘urban’ monkeys that are in demand as exotic food in East Asia and in laboratories in the West.

Confirming that the Cabinet made the decision last month, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said:

“The decision was taken to reverse the earlier lifting of the ban after considering the arguments and views of the various groups. A Cabinet paper on how to tackle the human-macaque conflict, especially in the urban areas, was submitted and approved as well.

“An allocation of RM1.6mil has been made to Perhilitan (Department of Wildlife and National Parks) to resolve the conflict either by relocating or culling those problematic monkeys. Perhilitan will be presenting its action plan to the ministry next week.”

There had been fierce objections from animal rights and conservation groups when the ban was lifted last June. Citing the nuisance and danger posed by monkeys living in small pockets of forests in the cities, Douglas’ predecessor Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid had recommended the 23-year-old ban be lifted.

Azmi later conceded to the demands of critics and agreed to reinstate the ban but never got around to submitting the request to the Cabinet prior to the general election.

While the issue was in limbo, it is learnt that about 2,000 macaques were captured by a company that sold the export idea to Azmi. The monkeys were held at the exporter’s facility in Ulu Piah, Perak, pending shipment.

Douglas said Perhilitan had been instructed to look into the systematic release of the captured macaques back to the jungles.

Malaysian Animal Rights and Welfare Assocation (Roar) president N. Surendran, who had led the protest, welcomed the decision as the first step towards a more humane way of handling human-wildlife conflict.

“Besides relocation which could end up transferring the problem to another area, the authorities should consider sterilisation to control the population. Culling should be the last option and existing green spaces should be left alone as buffer zones between human settlement and wildlife habitat.

“Exporting the macaques should never be an option. Our wildlife should never be exploited for profit,” he added.

According to Wildlife Department’s statistics, one-third of the country's 742,000 long-tailed macaque in the country are found in city areas, including Kuala Lumpur.

In 1984, the Government banned the export of the macaque after their peninsula population dropped 25% between 1957 and 1975, when their trade was unregulated and the monkeys were routinely caught for export to exotic food kitchens in East Asia and animal-testing laboratories in the West.