Primate Update E-Newsletter, Vol. 3, Issue 8, Part 2

WHAT’S HAPPENING at PPS?

Farewell Anne and Morgan

Mother/daughter team Anne and Morgan has been volunteering at Pacific Primate Sanctuary for the last three years. Additionally, the third member of the family, Chip, has come in to volunteer when his daughter, Morgan, was unavailable. This wonderful family has been such a valuable addition to the PPS team. With their busy school and work schedules, they have found it increasingly difficult to find the time to continue volunteering. Sadly, they will no longer be volunteering on the Sunday PM shift during the school year. We will miss their positive energy and bright smiles. However, they are planning on coming back during school breaks, and we greatly look forward to seeing them!

Anne writes:
The Sanctuary has been such a special and important part of our lives for the past three years and we feel very blessed, honored, and humbled by the experience. It is with great sadness that we temporarily say goodbye… Thank you so much for allowing us to be apart of this wonderful service and thank you for all that you do! To the Monkeys we say: thank you for the incredible beings you are, for the joy you have brought to our lives, and for all you have taught us!

We hope to see you back again soon Anne and Morgan!


Helping the Monkeys
We are currently in need of more local volunteers! If you live on Maui and are interested in becoming one of Pacific Primate Sanctuary’s Angels, and volunteering your time and skills please e-mail us at PPS@aloha.net. We are looking for Animal Caregiver Volunteers, as well as Office Assistants, Handymen, and Gardeners/Landscapers.


How to Donate Directly
We deeply appreciate your continued partnership. You, and your family and friends, can make tax-deductible donations to the Sanctuary on our Website: www.pacificprimate.org and on FaceBook, using PayPal, or by sending a check to:

Pacific Primate Sanctuary
500-A Haloa Road
Haiku, HI 96708

With your support, you make everything we do possible!

PPS INTERNSHIP

We bid a fond farewell to Intern Simon who has completed his Internship, and is headed off to get his Masters in Primatology at Oxford Brooks University. Simon has made many valuable contributions including: passing on the knowledge he gained at the Sanctuary to our newest caregivers, Dawn and Caroline, creating a Geriatric Monkeys care document and a Special Medications Inventory list, which will help future Interns and Volunteers to be better caregivers.

Simon’s Farewell

… when I think about my service here one thing is clear: my experiences have been tremendously rewarding. From training in emergency care, to learning how to dice up Jack Fruit, I was constantly learning new things. But the rewards of this internship go beyond mere knowledge. I was introduced to some of the most selfless people you could ever hope to meet. And let’s not forget the marvelous monkeys who give us all a sense of purpose. It has truly been an unforgettable experience.


… even though all of my academic training has taught me never to anthropomorphize, whenever I see Leticia grooming her crippled mate, Iktomi—even though she must know full well that he can never reciprocate the favor—the only explanation I am left with is that she does this out of unconditional love. This pair never ceases to amaze me. Iktomi is one of the first monkeys to capture the affection of his caregivers, due to his condition and his gentle demeanor. But Leticia deserves credit too for being such a dedicated mate, and for tolerating the smaller enclosure even though she is completely able-bodied. I was absolutely delighted to see these two finally move in to their new double-sized enclosure, just as my internship drew to its close. Watching Leticia adventurously scamper about from branch to branch while Iktomi puttered around on his platform level was utter euphoria to witness. And I’ll never forget the day Dawn and I took Iktomi out for his first session outside in the shady grass, boundless blue skies overhead.


Then there was the moment when the new Spider Monkey Enclosure was completed and we finally—after months of failed attempts—had moved both Montana and Carlos in. It took so long to capture them for the move because the PPS method was to use a slow-going strategy that minimized stress. Our patience finally paid off. Once moved, watching them brachiate from one side of their expansive new home to the other was remarkable. To see them come alive in their new world—more than triple the size of their old one—was a glorious sight to behold.


I recall the day the Cotton top tamarin babies were born, two fuzzy…little monkeys with slicked back hair… And how later that day Mary Catherine, Olivia, and I found one of them on the ground, cold, and seemingly lifeless. I scooped the baby up and we prepared baby formula for her, which she ravenously gulped down. After a spell in the incubator she was completely restored to normal. When I grabbed her to take her out and return her to her family she instinctually wrapped around my finger and clung like some sort of miniature woolly salamander clinging to a twig, eyes like big black prayer beads. It was such a surreal moment. And then to see her be welcomed back by her family upon reintroduction, I was humbled to be witness to this act of—dare I say it—humanity…


If it were just me and the monkeys that would have been a fully rewarding experience in and of itself. But there was also the rest of the PPS team. There is such a high concentration of unadulterated good people at PPS and every single one of them continually inspire me.


… This sincerely has been a monumental experience. My reflection on this experience has convinced me of just how much I’ve learned here, both professionally and personally. Now I am armed with the necessary experience I sought out in order to create my own sanctuary. I can only hope that I was able to give to PPS at least a minute fraction of all that it bestowed upon me. I am going to deeply, genuinely miss the primates at PPS—both those with tails and without. Thank you, fellow primate custodians. To say it has been a pleasure would be an understatement. Let me close by saying my hope is that this isn’t really the end of my internship, but rather the beginning of a lifelong collaboration between PPS and the sanctuary I aspire to build.

Introducing Linda, Our Newest PPS Intern:
We are very pleased to announce the arrival of Resident Intern, Linda! She has been here for a week now, and has shown great enthusiasm in her training.

In her acceptance letter, Linda writes:
It is with great excitement that I accept this internship position at PPS and the opportunity to dedicate myself to the primates at the sanctuary.

I recently graduated from Colorado State University with a bachelor’s degree in Zoology. I’ve always had a love for animals as well as for all living systems on Earth so I knew that PPS would be a great match for me.


Some of my goals for this internship would be to gain experience, meet others, and to challenge myself. I am currently applying to veterinary school and with the valuable experience that I gain volunteering at Pacific Primary Sanctuary, I believe it will move me one step closer to becoming a veterinarian. The hands on environment… will make this a life changing experience… I believe that this internship will help me grow as a person as I will be away from my family and out of my comfort zone. I will have the chance to try new things, push my boundaries and stay open minded.


My desire to come to PPS was heightened after reading the information on the website, the emails, and speaking to Lucy and Erin at the sanctuary. I could tell that they have so much passion for what they do and will give their all for the lives of these primates. These are the people that I want to be surrounded by and their experience is exactly what I want to experience.

This Blog and its content is copyright of Pacific Primate Sanctuary, Inc.—

© Pacific Primate Sanctuary, Inc., 2009. All rights reserved.

Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following:

you may print or download to a local hard disk extracts for your personal and non-commercial use only

you may copy the content to individual third parties for their personal use, but only if you acknowledge the website as the source of the material

You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system.