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Winter 24/25

Friends of Animals Staff Gets Up Close and Personal Look at Sanctuary Life

Sometimes Friends of Animals staff members must wait a while to feel the fulfillment of winning a lawsuit or getting legislation across the finish line.

But walking around Primarily Primates, which FoA has managed since 2007, there was instant gratification. They relished witnessing 300-plus animals once exploited by research, entertainment and the exotic pet trade bonding with each other, enjoying enrichment activities or simply peacefully basking in the sunlight.

That was the consensus of FoA’s team from its Connecticut headquarters and Centennial, Colorado offices, who visited the sanctuary in November.

For some it was their first time volunteering at the sanctuary, so they got a tour before chopping produce, creating food enrichment items, spreading mulch in grass bottom enclosures, and mucking the paddocks of the three wild horses who also call PPI home.

The first stop was meeting chimps Cheetah and Shu Shu. Before being rescued by PPI in 2003, Cheetah went through every trauma imaginable. He was part of the last group of infant chimps taken from the wild in Sierra Leone in 1975. He was then sold into the exotic pet trade before being exploited by the entertainment and biomedical industries.

Shu Shu was used for breeding and constantly had her babies taken from her when she was exploited at the now defunct Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates. Staff were filled with awe at the resiliency of these two chimps.

“It was difficult to hear about the hardships and inhumane treatment that they suffered, but it was so inspirational to hear about all their progress and see how they could trust humans again despite being harmed by humans,” said Andreia Marcuccio, FoA’s senior associate attorney. Shu Shu is known as the sanctuary sweetheart.

She stole FoA’s communications assistant Jack Keller’s heart.

“I’d never seen anything as pure as Shu Shu clutching her plush chimp as if it were her own baby,” he said.

Gabe Ahmed, FoA’s director of development, was drawn to Buddy the macaque and his lip smacking. Often, a monkey will lip smack to a more dominant monkey as a sign of submission. You might also see monkeys lip smacking after having a disagreement as a way of apologizing.

“The bonding moments with Buddy when we were lipsmacking back and forth is something I won’t soon forget. I plan to sponsor his care for years to come.”

Enrichment Coordinator’s Work is Essential

In the wild, animals spend much of their time traveling, foraging for food, exploring new habitats and socializing. In a sanctuary setting, it is our job to introduce as much variation as possible for them to keep their brains and bodies active. That’s why the enrichment coordinator job is so essential! Laura Jackson, a San Antonio native, has been our enrichment coordinator for about two-and-a-half years and was an animal caregiver for two years before that. 

How did your career path begin? 

I was always interested in animals growing up, reading magazines like Your Big Backyard and Ranger Rick. I went on to study wildlife and wildlands conservation at Brigham Young University. I saw a flyer one day for a study abroad in Central America through the Maderas Rainforest Conservancy. After watching howler monkeys for a month in the rainforest, I was hooked and decided I wanted to be a field primatologist. I was accepted to Central Washington University and after completing my thesis on Tibetan macaques in China, I received my masters of science in primate behavior. I went back to Texas and taught high school biology for four years. After realizing it wasn’t the right fit, I found out about Primarily Primates. 

What are the four different types of enrichment?

 Food is the most popular. To encourage natural foraging behavior, we hide their food in a paper tube, a pile of shavings, a puzzle feeder or empty water bottles. Social enrichment can include playing animal sounds for them, showing them a mirror or pictures of other animals. Structural includes adding or moving perching, hammocks or water sources. Lastly, object enrichment appeals to sight and sound and touch, so new toys, music and scents are all good examples. 

Are there any animals who stick out in your mind who really get excited over enrichment? 

We have some chimps who are very passionate nesters such as Thomas and Buffy. Baxter, Willie, and Jason also like to paint. Monkeys Phoebe, Olivia and Sally Ann love a hammock to swing in. Capuchins Sampson and Sidney love to push toys around their enclosure and bang them around. The monkeys love to forage (not the lemurs so much) for treats in a pile of shavings, sand, leaves or mulch. The parrots and chimps love nuts with shells. Capuchins Squirt, Charlie and Nina especially love lemons and onions to rub on themselves, which is a process called anointing. (It can be done to repel insects, self-medicate, communicate, etc.)

Is there a particular animal you feel a strong connection with at the sanctuary? 

Sidney capuchin is a sweet boy who is best friends with his roommate, Sally Ann. He is vibrant and fun and is always excited to see me. He was one of the first monkeys I connected with here, and I love to visit with him when I pass by.

Horsing around at Primarily Primates

Thousands of wild horses lose their freedom annually in the U.S. because the Bureau of Land Management rounds them up to placate the meat industry.

Primarily Primates rescued three wild horses from BLM’s life of imprisonment. Moxie was just a three-month-old filly when she was orphaned during a BLM roundup in the West Douglas Herd Management area in Colorado. Bindi, a mare, and Comanche, a gelding, were torn from tribal lands in Antelope Valley, Nevada—land that BLM pimped out to gold mining companies.

Today the trio is thriving, having formed their own band after a slow introduction. Our approach to their care is different than that given to the primates. We want the primates to create social bonds with each other rather than their human caretakers.

We must be a bit more hands-on with the horses now that they are in a domestic setting. Like primates they will mutually groom each other to bond, maintain hygiene, regulate body temperature, calm each other, etc. But we provide additional coat, mane and tail care; administer vaccinations and make sure their hooves are in good shape. A farrier provides hoof care every six weeks.

Unlike domestic horses, they were not used to human touch when they arrived, so we brought in a trainer to get them halter trained so that we can safely provide any care they need.

Of course we love interacting with the horses, but our hearts soar the most when we see them galloping around the pasture, just being wild horses like they were on the range out west.