Dear Friend of Primarily Primates:
Reviewing an impressive year at Primarily Primates makes us so grateful to you. Your support has made the successes of 2011 possible. As you know, Primarily Primates endured and passed the test of the most daunting weather San Antonio has ever faced.
In record heat and drought, we ensured that the moneys, apes, birds, rescued cows and all animals on our grounds have had fresh water, nourishing food, and comfortable shelter. Our land has become a refuge for other animals fleeing nearby wildfires.
Throughout it all, we’ve stayed ahead of the curve with renovations and offerings for the animals in our care.
We’ve accepted complex rescues, and the rehabilitations for these animals are now under way, supported by exemplary medical care. New arrivals and longtime residents all benefit from our constant improvements, and their enjoyment shows.
We’re creating new habitats for the former lab macaques who arrived, skinny and bewildered, last year. Today, their fur shines and they are confident; enjoying their expanded grassy outbacks and their new splashing pools, swings, hide-and-seek platforms, hammocks, toys and vegetation.
Primarily Primates now has a full-time enrichment coordinator whose know-how provides more than a dozen care staff with treats that 400 chimpanzees, gibbons, monkeys, lemurs and other residents love: frozen-fruit and carrot popsicles, peanut butter and raisin balls, popcorn, and intriguing puzzles which yield seeds and nuts. Your kindness is powerful.
Coming to the sanctuary this year, Shelly Ladd brought along an Acme Juicer, and has been juicing extra carrots for ice treats. But—what raw treats to make out of the pulp?
“I soaked some bread, added the pulp, the raisins and a little peanut butter,” said Shelly. “I rolled them in balls . . . the monkeys love them!”
They love Shelly’s enthusiasm too—we all do.
We need your help to support our great staff as they do their fine work into 2012. By renewing your membership now with Primarily Primates, you’ll ensure Primarily Primates continues strong, ready for those animals who need us.
Your contributions go directly to care, food, and housing for the animals—assuring highquality rehabilitation for primates in special need. Like Neytiri, whose one-on-one time with Shelly will conclude soon—for Neytiri is just about ready to go to a habitat on our grounds that’s full of greenery. There Neytiri will be able to live, as Shelly says, “like a monkey with her real monkey parents.”
Birds also enjoy refuge and rehabilitation at Primarily Primates—where, for the first time in their lives, they are empowered to live like birds. This year we rescued dozens of birds from a bird mill, as well as four monkeys kept as pets in deplorable conditions in Tennessee. The birds now live in our lovely aviaries, and fundraising is needed to construct expansive permanent housing for monkeys in the year ahead.
We welcomed a 17-year-old rhesus macaque named Soutine from a research institute in New York. Soutine’s health and stamina have blossomed. Soutine relates well to wonderful care, nourishing food and intriguing surroundings.
We’re also graced with Elfie, a sweet, five-year-old Java macaque, who came from a home in Utah. Today, instead of living in isolation, entirely dependent on human companionship, Elfie thrives in a social group of macaques.
When you invest in membership, your gift gives hope to animals. It supports on-site veterinary care, and a future for a critically important, unique sanctuary among 78 acres in Texas hill country.
Please send your tax-deductible gift today. Please be as generous as you can. Weather patterns have brought new challenges to already difficult economic times. For seeing our animals through, you have our enduring gratitude.
Warm wishes,
Priscilla Feral
President