Monkey World


The Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre is a ape and monkey sanctuary and rescue centre near Wool, Dorset, England.

History

Set up in 1987 by Jim Cronin with assistance from both Jeremy Keeling and later operated by both Cronin and his wife Alison along with a team of care staff led by Keeling, Monkey World was originally intended to provide a home for abused chimpanzees used as props by Spanish beach photographers, but is now home to many different species of primates.
Monkey World's first resident was a female
Bornean Orangutan named Amy, who had been hand-reared by Keeling. Amy was later paired with a male orangutan named Banghi, who was given to Monkey World on loan from Chester Zoo. In 1997, Amy and Banghi had a son together named Gordon before Banghi passed away in 1998.
On 13 July 1987, Monkey World's first chimpanzees Paddy, Busta, Jimmy, Micky, Sammy, Taffy, Beth, Cindy and Zoe arrived at the park.
In April 1998, Monkey World rescued a young female chimpanzee named Trudy, who had been filmed being beaten by Mary Chipperfield. Chipperfield was later charged with 12 counts of animal cruelty.
On Saturday 17 March 2007 Jim Cronin died in a New York hospital aged 55 years from liver cancer. His widow Alison Cronin and the staff at Monkey World have continued to run the centre.
Monkey World works with foreign governments to stop the illegal smuggling of wild primates. In January 2008 the group performed what The Guardian called "the world's biggest rescue mission of its kind," when it saved 88 capuchin monkeys from a laboratory in Santiago, Chile, where some of the animals had been kept in solitary cages for up to twenty years. The operation was carried out at the request of the laboratory, and with help from the Chilean Air Force, who flew the animals to Bournemouth airport with special permission from the British government.
In August 2010 Monkey World rescued a Bornean orangutan called Oshine from Johannesburg, South Africa.
On 7 December 2010 Monkey World rescued an orphan baby Sumatran orangutan called Silvestre from a zoo in Spain. In January 2011, Monkey World rescued a chimpanzee named Kiki from Lebanon.
In September 2018, Monkey World rescued a female chimpanzee named Toprish, who had been stolen from the wild for the illegal pet trade before being left at a zoo in Turkey. In October that same year, Monkey World rescued another female chimpanzee named Naree, whom Alison Cronin first encountered with Jim in 2003.
In February 2020, Monkey World rescued a 37-year-old chimpanzee named Kalu, who had been kept as a pet on a stud farm in South Africa until her owner's death.

Dao Tien Rescue Centre

In 2008, Monkey World along with the Pingtung Rescue Centre, Cat Tien National Park and the Forestry Protection Department worked together to create the Dao Tien Rescue centre in South Vietnam to save gibbons and other primates from the pet trade, smuggling, theme parks and restaurants. Since opening, Dao Tien has confiscated and/or rescued over 50 endangered primates including golden-cheeked gibbons, pygmy slow loris, black-shanked douc, grey-shanked douc, southern white-cheeked gibbon, northern buffed-cheeked gibbon, white-faced saki and silvered langur. 27 of these primates have been rehabilitated and released into native habitats. After release they are tracked using radio collars. Dao Tien is run by the charity Endangered Asian Species Trust, who rescue and rehabilitate endangered Vietnamese primates. The work of Dr. Marina Kenyon and her team has been documented in the Monkey Life TV series since Series 2.

Television appearances

The TV documentary Monkey Business has completed its 9th season and its successor Monkey Life, recently finished its 12th season. Other television appearances include:
Russell Brand often used to talk about Monkey World on his old BBC Radio 2 programme and podcast.

Awards

Monkey World has won a number of awards, including:
Jim Cronin and Alison Cronin jointly received the Jane Goodall Award for their work with Monkey World.