By Dr. Liz Tyson | Director of Animal Welfare and Advocacy
In the last 18 months, Born Free USA has rescued four former “pet” monkeys. The non-profit works tirelessly towards ending the cruel trade in primates as pets by providing lifetime sanctuary to its victims and lobbying for a federal ban. Read on to find out about the 175-acre sanctuary’s newest residents:
Lyla is a young Rhesus macaque found in some of the worst conditions our staff had ever seen. Confiscated from a hoarding situation, she had spent seven long years in a tiny, filthy dog crate. On arrival at the sanctuary, Lyla was suffering from stress related behaviors known as stereotypies. She would pace her enclosure and spin in circles; disturbing behaviors which spoke to her past trauma. As time passed, these behaviors diminished, and she is now embarking on her new journey of making monkey friends for the first time in her life.
Gizmo the vervet monkey was surrendered by his owner after an attack on a family member. Purchased when he was a baby, Gizmo gradually became more aggressive and dangerous as he got older. This ended in the attack, which led to 18 stitches in the man’s head and shoulder. It took two adults to pull Gizmo off him.
Since his arrival at the sanctuary, Gizmo has settled into a social group with other vervet monkeys. He now lives in a large, open-top enclosure and spends his days socializing with his new friends and exploring his expansive space.
Pablito the Rhesus macaque was spotted running free around Texas border town, Laredo. He was hit by a car and suffered significant head injuries. Incredibly, he survived his ordeal and arrived at the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary in March of 2024. He quickly settled in and has now been paired with long-term resident, Dawkins. It is illegal to keep monkeys as pets in Laredo which is perhaps why his former owner never came forward. He is now safe under our care.
Julian the Japanese macaque arrived in March 2024. Little is known about his background, other than that he was kept as a pet and then confiscated by law enforcement. As a youngster of around five years old, we were confident that he would integrate well into a social group. We chose to introduce him to the large troop of fifty monkeys living in one of our multi-acre enclosures. We were delighted when, after a careful process of letting him meet selected individuals, Julian was let out into the large space and very quickly settled in. He now roams freely in five acres with trees, brush, ponds, and – most importantly – friends.
While rescuing monkeys from the pet trade changes the lives of those individuals forever, we can only rescue a tiny number of the thousands kept as pets in the United States. We continue to work hard to see the Captive Primate Safety Act introduced. This law would ban the keeping of primates as pets on a national level and end the suffering of monkeys like Lyla, Gizmo, Pablito, and Julian.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser