In the United States and Zambia, thousands of monkeys like vervets and baboons are wrenched from their mothers and sold as pets. Born Free helps fund two projects in the U.S. and Zambia - the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary and the Zambia Primate Project (ZPP) - that offer a second chance to these victims. Urgent rescue requests need funding, to ensure monkeys suffering in private ownership can be rescued and transported to our facilities for proper nutrition, medical care, and rehabilitation.
Monkeys are victims of the growing exotic pet trade. In Zambia, primate mothers are slaughtered for meat and their babies sold illegally and kept on the end of short chains. In the U.S. more than 15,000 primates are kept as pets. Some are auctioned - baby monkeys kept in cages and sold to the highest bidder. Even people with the best intentions cannot properly care for these highly intelligent and sensitive wild animals who suffer distress, nutritional deficiencies, and often premature death.
Both projects collect intel or receive urgent requests to rescue monkeys in desperate need. Funding is a limiting factor as the cost of transport, food, supplements, medical care, rehabilitation and enclosures are significant. Funds would enable Born Free USA and ZPP to rescue more monkeys who need our specialist care. In the USA this means lifetime care at the Primate Sanctuary. In Zambia, rehabilitated monkeys are released back to the wild where they are monitored and supported for a year.
ZPP and the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary not only care for hundreds of monkeys each year, they also work to educate the public to stop the legal and illegal exotic pet trades. In the U.S., Born Free USA is working to pass the Captive Primate Safety Act to ban ownership of primates. ZPP works closely with local communities in 'hotspot' areas to raise awareness that keeping primates is illegal and build empathy towards primates. Each animal saved is another step towards ending this cruelty.
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