VIDEO: Sammy the monkey Needed a Lift

Douglas Zoo in Douglas AZ was closing. “People just aren't coming out," the zoo owner said. "People don't have the money to spend." The owner couldn’t afford the permits, the food, or anything else due to the lack of business.

And so the International Fund for Animal Welfare was contacted by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) to see if we could help with transporting three primates to their new sanctuaries.

There was a lemur, a capuchin and a rhesus. The primates were the worst off of all the animals left. They were just being fed weeds - may not even be safe weeds - for at least a week. Sanctuaries could manage to provide a home for them but were stuck at the cost of transportation.

IFAW immediately agreed to help get these primates to their respective new homes. But before anything else, they needed food immediately! We asked a nearby sanctuary to purchase some monkey chow and produce and take it over to Douglas Zoo.

Sammy needed a ride to Jungle Friends in Gainesville Florida where his new home would be and was moved on October 14^th.

The video above shows Sammy in his new habitat for the first time on Oct. 15th.

The vet warned that Sammy was an escape artist and that he might escape during the transfer. And sure enough, Sammy figured out how to escape from his reinforced carrier at the veterinarian’s office. Sammy loves the ladies and he jumped across one female rescuer’s back, then onto another’s but then he finally jumped from her back right into his carrier for the airport.

The rest of the move went very smoothly for Sammy and for the other two primates who went to other sanctuaries.  All three have settled in and are very happy in their new homes.

-- GA