This summer has turned out to be abnormally humid, although the temperatures have been comparatively moderate. Everything remains lush from the rains we received from hurricane Alex and a tropical storm that followed shortly after. While the Rio Grande Valley suffered from flooding, we made it through with a few inches of rain which hit at just the right time to keep everything growing. All-in-all, the conditions are just right for our residents, which include some exciting new arrivals!
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In addition to be voted onto our adoption list, Khy is now in a very large structure within the main 56 acre enclosure. Many of the snow monkeys have come to visit over the last few days and several continue to hang out, appearing to be very interested in him. In the wild juvenile males are often the ones to adopt an orphaned baby and if the little one has been weaned then he or she may stand a good chance of surviving. Fortunately Khy doesn’t have to worry about that and has made friends in his new location. We’ll continue to keep a close eye out to see how things progress.
We received a young rhesus female named Poco who was kept as a pet. Since she’s very human-oriented we’re going to try her and Tamae together to see if they’ll get along, being from similar circumstances.
Of course the big news is the arrival of 15 male long-tailed macaques who came from a laboratory that closed. Part of a larger group of 55 monkeys, Born Free has made a life-long commitment to these youngsters who average about 5 years of age and can live to be as old as 30 years. We currently have them housed in a climate-controlled room in cages that we roll out every morning to enable them to experience the sights and sounds of the sanctuary. They are particularly interested in the other monkeys! We’re acclimatizing them slowly since they have been in a controlled environment their entire lives. This also means a slow introduction to a more natural diet of fruit and other varied produce along with the standard monkey biscuits.
The goal is to construct a large introduction pen within the existing 5-acre long-tailed enclosure where they can have time to form their own bonds and also get familiar with the existing long-tails. If everything goes to plan their new life will be realized when we release them into the lush enclosure where they’ll be free to climb trees, dig in the dirt, comb the grass for insects and be with their friends. Building the introduction pen will not be cheap so if you would like to help give our new arrivals the best life possible then please visit our donation page and make a gift today.
Until next time…
Tim