The Monkey Sanctuary based in Looe, Cornwall will open to the public this Mothering Sunday, offering all visitors a special entry price of £1 to mark the start of the new season.

The long-established tourist attraction, which is our flagship project, opens from April to October; closing in the winter to make necessary adaptations and to provide a period of respite for the monkeys.

In preparation for the coming season the team have been busy improving the facilities for its long-term residents as well as for its seasonal guests.

Wild Futures is very passionate about education and our specialised training has been recognised by Oxford Brookes University who have sent their students, studying for an MSc in Primate Conservation, to our flagship project The Monkey Sanctuary for the last 4 years to learn from the Sanctuary’s Primate Welfare Team.

Susan Cheyne, Associate Lecturer for the course said the following on her return,

Retail Manager Gemma Lawrence invites you to celebrate the launch of the new Wild Futures Store!

At Wild Futures we believe that our customers deserve the best; beautiful, ethically sourced products at affordable prices, with 100% of the profits going to support the work of Wild Futures and its flagship project, The Monkey Sanctuary.

Source: Jamie Doward, The Observer, 10th October, 2010

The UK’s largest coffee chain is under pressure to pull its first television advertising campaign amid criticism that its use of monkeys encourages people to buy them as pets.

The row threatens to become a major headache for Costa Coffee, owned by leisure giant Whitbread, as it seeks to up the ante in a marketing battle with its arch-rival Starbucks.

COSTA Coffee launches its first television advert this evening amid uproar from animal welfare organisations who are appalled by its use of wild animals.

In recent years there has been a flurry of articles in our national press questioning the suitability of wild animals taken from their natural environment to be kept in private hands, those used as “service animals” or in entertainment[i] and over 31,000 members of the British public agree that the pet trade in primates should be outlawed[ii].

In a week when the Prime Minister stated that there was no need for a regulatory regime to protect primates kept in captivity, two monkeys, who would naturally inhabit the lush rainforests of South America have been reduced to roadkill on the streets of the UK. Another, as yet unidentified, has escaped and is on the loose in Lincolnshire. The sad events have added weight to the argument of the primate welfare and conservation charity, Wild Futures, who have asserted that the trade is poorly regulated and animals are not sufficiently protected by UK laws.

Following his visit to Cornwall on the 9th July, and being asked by Wild Futures campaign staff what his government intended to do on the issue of primates as pets in the UK, the charity’s staff were deflated today at the PM’s formal, and somewhat overdue, response.

A capuchin monkey rescued from captivity could emulate legendary Nintendo star Donkey Kong when he becomes immortalised in his own videogame, to be released on Facebook later this month.

Kodak’s Jungle Rumble has been designed to help raise awareness of the plight of primates such as the titular star, who was captured in the wild from French Guyana in 2003.

Kodak was sold to the pet trade in Greece but was later handed over to a rescue organisation and is now one of the happy residents – and star attractions – at the Monkey Sanctuary in Looe, Cornwall.

On the 9th July 2010, at a public event marking the first time that David Cameron has visited Cornwall since his election, Wild Futures’ campaigns staff took the opportunity to ask the Prime Minister what his government intended to do on the issue of keeping primates as pets in the UK. After admitting that he had “absolutely no idea” about the current policy governing the cruel, and still legal, trade in this country, he allowed the charity’s representative to explain the case to him.