Shop

Name: Lily

Species: Woolly Monkey (Lagothrix spp.)

Who is she? The Playful, Mischievous One!

Special skills: Spotting her carers from far away to seek out a treat!

Adopt Lily

or

or
Please note that overseas adoptions cannot be paid for by monthly direct debit. You can pay annually via credit/debit card.

Adopting

Adopting a monkey with Wild Futures really is a gift with a difference. Whether it’s a gift for yourself or another, you will be supporting the work of our charity and enabling us to protect primates and their habitats worldwide. The monkeys featured in the adoption scheme reside at projects run by Wild Futures. Each monkey is unique with their own characters and personalities so please do check out their monkey pictures and profiles. As a Monkey adopter you will receive:

  • A cuddly monkey toy (optional)
  • Personalised certificate of your adoption
  • Photo of your adopted monkey
  • Your monkey’s story
  • Species factsheet
  • Wild Futures newsletters throughout the year
  • Discounted entry fee to our Monkey Sanctuary

About Lily

Name: Lily

Species: Woolly Monkey (Lagothrix spp.)

Who is she? The Playful, Mischievous One!

Special skills: Spotting her carers from far away to seek out a treat!

Lily was born on Saturday 18th October 2014, to woolly monkey Maya; but her birth wasn’t exactly planned. Wild Futures Monkey Sanctuary has a strict non-breeding policy for ethical and practical reasons. We invest much of our resources into caring for rescued monkeys, campaigning for primate welfare and preserving their remaining habitats, rather than captive breeding. Methods of contraception are chosen to minimise health risks to the monkeys and to limit any social disruption, but, as in humans, contraceptive methods are not 100% reliable and along came Lily!

At 22 years old, her mother, Maya, was quite elderly when she gave birth to Lily, but she did a fantastic job of caring for her new baby. Sadly, Maya passed away due to old age related health-problems when Lily was just 16 months old, but all of the males in the colony were besotted with Lily and happily took up the job of teaching, caring for and protecting her. 

Lily has grown into a feisty and adventurous monkey who is always up for exploring!. Like her mother before her, Lily was rather spoilt by the other monkeys and firmly believes she is the boss of the whole Sanctuary! Her favourite things to do are swinging around her enclosures, foraging for tasty treats and pestering Pablo for a good tickling game! Lily is often the monkey most visitors recognise and know, as she is often loud and always memorable!

Woolly monkeys are endangered in their homelands in South America and are at great risk as they are highly specialised monkeys designed to live in the rainforest canopy. They are highly susceptible to environmental changes and therefore deforestation, one of the largest problems in the Amazon in South America, has a huge and devastating impact on their population numbers. Woolly monkeys were very fashionable in the 1960s and 70s as pets and this trade once again dealt their species a heavy blow in terms of population sizes and distributions. The method of capture (which is still the same today) was to shoot at colonies of monkeys, selling the dead adults as bush meat and the babies as pets.

The trade in woolly monkeys in Europe is now illegal, however they are still kept as pets (often illegally) in South America.

Adopting Lily means that you are helping to provide the resources needed to give Lily the best life possible. Your adoption also enables Wild Futures to continue its vital work campaigning for an end to the primate pet trade in the UK and abroad.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Our adoptions are purely symbolic, which means you will not receive any real animals in the post! Monkeys are wild animals – not domesticated pets.

The need for rescue and rehabilitation of primates from private ownership:

  • There are at least 5,000 privately owned primates in the UK
  • All monkeys are wild animals and inherently unsuitable for keeping in domestic situations.
  • UK law allows for the legal keeping of primates as pets, despite lack of recognised care standards and insufficient enforcement of licensing laws, leading to many pet primates being kept in inadequate conditions.
  • Lack of adequate species knowledge, diet, veterinary care, social opportunity and space leads to mental, physical and emotional suffering for pet primates.

How our sanctuary meets their needs:

  • We guarantee a home for life for all rescued monkeys.
  • We give individuals the opportunity to socialise and form natural bonds with other monkeys.
  • We provide an expert team of carers with the relevant skills to meet the complex physical, social and emotional needs of each individual.
  • We have a high carer-to-monkey ratio which ensures that all needs are met, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Our charity receives no government funding, so financial support is vital to allow us to continue our important work.

By purchasing a symbolic monkey adoption, you are agreeing to our Terms and Conditions.