Primarily Primates Newsletter
Summer 2010


The Director’s Diary:

The Arrival of Joey, a Capuchin Monkey

Summer 2010

In March, we received a call from a Pennsylvania couple about to leave the country. They hoped to place Joey, their 7-year-old capuchin monkey, at a sanctuary.

Joey was the baby of a black-and-white capuchin and a cinnamon capuchin. Pet breeders sometimes mix species of capuchins to sell for high prices. One website called Primatestore.com markets baby black and white capuchins for up to $7,500.

Baby Joey was taken from those black-and-white and cinnamon parents and sold to someone who knew nothing of the care a monkey needs. When the Pennsylvania family acquired Joey, he couldn’t move well or be touched without screaming in pain.

A veterinarian diagnosed the young monkey with severe rickets -- a disease of the skeletal system resulting from Vitamin D deficiency and insufficient exposure to sunlight. Rickets caused a softening of Joey’s bones. Joey’s spine is slightly curved, and both his arms and legs are bowed.

Two years of medical treatment had Joey living in and out of casts. The new owners supplemented the monkey’s diet with Vitamin D.

On 18 April 2010, Joey arrived at Primarily Primates. Our first priority was to introduce this confused youngster to Honey, a black-and-white capuchin aged 22. Like Joey, Honey was a pet. For 17 years. Honey couldn’t socialize. But that changed when Honey met Joey. Honey immediately stated grooming Joey and he returned the gesture. Joey picked up on Honey’s food choices, and began to explore new foods. Honey and Joey are now good friends, and rarely leave each others’ side.

A Surprising Arrival

Last year, Primarily Primates’ veterinarian, Dr. Val Kirk, noticed that Tina Marie, a black spider monkey in her late-20s, became pregnant by her long-term companion Minkey – another black spider monkey who arrived at the sanctuary as an infant 23 years ago. Typically, former pet monkeys do not breed. Other spider monkeys at the sanctuary have been given vasectomies, and Minkey now has had the procedure.

On 16 January 2010, Tina gave birth to the baby, whom she proudly held. But Dr. Val was concerned within a short time. Tina Marie’s milk wasn’t plentiful enough nor sufficient in quality.

The sanctuary recruited the help of a volunteer primate specialist who agreed to provide round- the-clock care for the baby for the first six months until she’s off formula, able to be reunited with Tina Marie and Minkey, and capable of chewing and consuming a normal spider monkey diet of fruits and vegetables.

Meanwhile, we’re renovating another wooded area to provide a new, stimulating living area for five or more other spider monkeys.

We’re also holding a Name-the-Baby-Spider-Monkey contest at the sanctuary’s first annual fundraiser event at Green Restaurant in San Antonio on 28 May 2010. The baby’s name will match the level of love and care our community is ready to offer.

Deeter the Leader

In the late 1990s, the United States Air Force moved to divest itself of the “space chimps” housed at The Coulston Foundation (TCF) in New Mexico.

The Air Force began using chimpanzees in the 1960s, subjecting them to decompression studies and centrifugal research. At TCF, their fates also involved vaccine testing involving exposure to serious diseases such as hepatitis and HIV.

Primarily Primates placed a bid to receive chimpanzees from the Air Force, and 30 arrived. Today they have grass-bottomed living areas which overlook the sanctuary’s two-acre pond. One chimpanzee was pregnant; Deeter was born on 28 May 1999.

Deeter’s mother lacked the skills of a wild-born chimpanzee, so for the next two years, Deeter was raised by the sanctuary’s care staff. Six days before Deeter’s first birthday, the research laboratory released an infant chimpanzee named Jewel. Soon the sanctuary had a pair of rambunctious baby apes racing about the place, exploring every nook and cranny, until Deeter and Jewel were old enough to join the big apes.

Today, Deeter is a respected adult in a group that includes Jewel, Hope, Grace, and Amy, along with Mallory and Stella, in a beautiful, newly constructed, all-natural habitat.

Pets Out of Mountain Lions? Are You Kidding?

James, at 17, is a beautiful mountain lion and sanctuary resident who started his life as a pet. He’s castrated. The owners were likely attempting to tame him.

James ended up at a Texas refuge for big cats, along with his brother, Jesse, but eventually the refuge failed to survive financially, and the big cats were all placed in other sanctuaries. Seven went to Primarily Primates. James and Jesse now share a large natural habitat that contains several areas and constructions for lounging and sleep.

Dr. Kirk recently gave James a physical examination, and noted that the pads of his feet, especially the rear feet, appear to have shrunk and become hard since his former owner declawed him on all four feet. This means the third bone of each toe, with its attached claw, is removed. The pad is left intact, but the cat is then left to walk on the second bone of each toe. In mountain lions, this can lead to changes in the structure of the bone, as well as to the pad.

We’re grateful to the sanctuary’s supporters for the funds that provide veterinary services to help our residents recover from the trauma caused by the pet trade.

Monkey Found Running With Texas Dogs

In late 2001, the people of Fort Bend County, west of Houston, reported seeing a monkey running with a dog and her puppies. The mother dog must have recognized

that Walter -- only a year-old at the time – was harmless. Likely abandoned from the pet trade, Walter spent weeks in the company of the homeless dogs.

Walter is a white-crowned mangabey monkey, who really belongs in a community native to (and struggling to survive on) Africa’s Ivory Coast. Deforestation threatens these monkeys; and they’re hunted as bush meat, and captured for the pet trade. Yet it’s unusual to find a white-crowned mangabey in captivity.

Walter arrived at Primarily Primates eight years ago. The timing was odd. Tulane University had purchased 55 white-crowned mangabeys after their capture from West Africa. Although they were destined to be used in a leprosy research project, university experimenters decided the mangabeys were the wrong sub-species for their project. The mangabeys ended up with animal dealers, and were scattered.

Two years after Walter’s arrival, Primarily Primates received Maggie, a white-crowned mangabey from another sanctuary that wanted her to have a companion. Maggie copes well with the energetic Walter.

But what does Maggie know of Walter’s mysterious past?

A Round of Applause for our 2010 Sanctuary Partners for Chimpanzees!

B. Andres Dutcher – Primarily Primates Daily Champion

Pamela Starr McKenna – Golden Sponsor

Kathleen Lupe – Sponsor

Maryanne Appel – Sponsor

Janette Craig – Sponsor

Nancy R Sacerdote and Alan S. Sacerdote – Sponsors

Stacy Vrame – Sponsor

Denise Voggs – Sponsor

Jean K. McBride – Sponsor

Jill Denton – Sponsor

Marcia P. Lane – Sponsor

Tina Upton – Special Member in Amy’s Circle

Laura Lubin – Sponsor

Mrs. Revel Miller – Sponsor

Edith K. Kraemer – Sponsor

Lorraine Wright – Sponsor

Many Thanks …

We love Labatt Food Service in San Antonio for consistent, generous donations of produce that we can then offer the sanctuary’s primates. Thank you also to Mr. Birdeez in New Braunfels, Texas, for wonderful contributions of bird seed which the refuge’s birds enjoy.

Your Help Assures a Future

Please accept our heartfelt thanks for investing in the refuge through membership support and special funding requests. It means the world to us, and about 400 residents who depend on us.

Warm regards,

Priscilla Feral, President

Stephen Rene Tello, Executive Director

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