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July 25, 2005

Dear Friends of Jungle Friends,

Most of you are aware of how difficult it has been to find the funds for the capuchin lab monkeys new habitats, however, we now have two habitats completed...but wait there's more...we have Bongo and CB socialized in one habitat and Goober and Angel in the other! The boys are doing better than any of us could have hoped! For monkeys who had been living in small lab cages alone for nearly two decades, they remembered what it was like to have a friend. They are hanging out together, double threatening new volunteers and grooming each other.

Bongo and CB, who have been together the longest, have even been seen playing together! We consider the 'play state' the highest state a primate can achieve, human primates included.

Udi is also very happy these days, with the arrival of Lizzy, another baby spider monkey just a few months older than Udi. Lizzy is another ex-pet whose 'owner' told me that she looked like an 'abused woman' just from Lizzy's rough play! Well, spider monkeys certainly do play rough, but Udi is not complaining. The two youngsters play and play and then play some more. It just warms our heats to watch Udi & Lizzy chase after each other, rolling around on the ground wrestling. It wasn’t all that long ago that Udi couldn’t even walk due to the metabolic bone disease. While watching Udi and Lizzy at play, you would never guess that there was ever anything at all wrong with Udi!

More good news...Lucy has a new friend! Marvin is also an older weeper capuchin who arrived about a month ago. Much of Marvin's history is unknown. He was in an abusive situation and was so emaciated that they could not perform his vasectomy when they were taking care of his dental problems. Marvin still has one snaggle tooth, but it is a healthy tooth and we think it just gives him character. Lucy and Marvin have already made a ‘love connection’. They have been talking, flirting, playing and even grooming each other! They are still separated by one fork and cannot be too intimate, but it allows them to groom and play together. Marvin is looking so much better, that I have scheduled his vasectomy for next Monday. Once he has recuperated, we will remove the last fork so that Marvin and Lucy can get "up close and personal"!

Even more good news for our lonely monkeys...Jimmysett will have a new friend! Her name is Mimi and she will arrive from a sanctuary in Oklahoma once we are able to fund habitats for the two of them. Jimmysett is still in the old bird habitat, and we want to build them the same type of octagonal habitats and indoor enclosures that we built for the squirrel monkeys that retired from the lab. We are hopeful that we will have the funds by September, as that will be a good time for Mimi to come to Jungle Friends and acclimate. You may remember that Jimmysett lost his companion prior to coming to Jungle Friends. Poor Jimmysett calls and calls all day in search of another friend. Mimi also lost her companion recently, so we are sure these two will become fast friends.

We are still waiting to hear the final report on little Skeeter; I will keep you posted.

Louie has good days and bad days. Today Louie is having a very good day! For those of you who were planning to visit Louie, please go ahead and make your plans to come, I know Louie will be happy to see some of his old friends and family.

And please don’t forget to spread the word about Jungle Friends to everyone you know, we are desperate for funds right now. Feel free to forward any of the Jungle News posts and if you need any help with sending a plea to your loved ones, I will assist you. Thank you so much for all of your generous support!