“However, where there still are states that have very loose laws when it comes to owning primates privately, then there just has to be places like us.” “We wish we didn’t have to exist as an organization, that there wasn’t a need for organizations like us,” Dallaire said. The primates that end up there are unable to return to the wild because they’ve been kept as pets or held in laboratories. The Primate Rescue Center is a quiet sanctuary nestled in central Kentucky that gives chimps and monkeys a safe place to live out their days. Of the exotic pets reported in the state, Brace said one type is more common than all the rest – primates. Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife conservation officer James Brace said that illegal exotic pets are reported in central Kentucky about once a year, and that illegal native wild pets are reported far more often. So they find ads and find monkeys and breeders and bring them into the state, don’t do their research.” “So people find a way, and too, a lot of people are just unaware of what the laws are. “There is a robust network of illegal pet trading,” Dallaire said. That doesn’t stop exotic and wild pets from winding up in Kentucky, said Eileen Dallaire, the executive director of the Primate Rescue Center. But the sale and ownership of wild pets isn’t illegal everywhere in the country. Wild pets, both exotic and native, are largely prohibited by Kentucky law. The long-tailed macaque, Ted, was being kept as a pet before he became too much for his owners to handle.Īfter hearing Ted’s story, LEX 18 Investigates sought to learn more about what wild pets are found in Kentucky, and what kinds of problems they can cause. As you can see, your work at a monkey conservation volunteer project will thus have a measurable effect on the lives of the current monkey population in your chosen volunteer destination.Last month, a monkey was surrendered by its owner in Lexington. The more people you are able to get on board, the fewer monkeys will become prey to unregulated hunting – it really is as simple as that. The goal is to get the local population to support your monkey conservation efforts. If you are planning on becoming a monkey conservation volunteer in one of those regions, where monkey body parts are still believed to possess medicinal or even magical properties, you will likely be asked to educate the local public by hosting various seminars or other events. The following tasks might also be part of your job description as a monkey conservation volunteer: As such, you will be working alongside trained monkey conservation professionals that will support you in completing various GPS tracking, habit assessment, and lab work activities. A big part of monkey conservation is tracking the local monkey population. While you will likely get to feed and interact with monkeys at a monkey orphanage, your job as a monkey conservation volunteer might be closer to that of a researcher. Definitely consider joining a monkey conservation volunteer project listed here if you want to do your part to prevent these magnificent creatures from disappearing from this earth altogether. From wild monkeys that are illegally kept as pets to animal testing performed on monkeys, if it was not for your work as a volunteer in monkey conservation, many of these monkeys would not stand even the slightest chance of surviving. Of these, 24 monkeys are critically endangered, with an extremely high chance of soon becoming extinct in the wild.ĭeforestation and the overexploitation of all kinds of natural resources are two further factors that are contributing to more and more monkeys nearing extinction. Fifty-eight of the threatened species live in South and Central America, 46 in Asia and 26 in Africa. Half the 262 species of monkeys in the world are threatened with extinction. Through your charity work, you will be able to fight the unregulated hunting and poaching. If you would like to do something about this, then joining one of our monkey conservation volunteer projects is certainly the way to go. There are several reasons why monkeys are endangered:Ĭlimate change and global warming are just two of the factors that are putting entire monkey populations at risk of becoming extinct. Unfortunately, most species of monkeys are either endangered or critically endangered.
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