Help Our Friends: Aketi, Pulito, and Squeeky
May I introduce you to three long-distance friends of mine?
Aketi, Pulito, and Squeeky are three primates living in different sanctuaries around the world. But they all have something in common:
They're calling on you to be their friend, too!
My primate friends — and their fellow rescued monkeys and apes — live at sanctuaries in countries where the illegal primate trade is taking a terrible toll: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Chile, and Thailand.
Primates like Aketi, Pulito, and Squeeky must rely on the care provided by grassroots rescue centers that work on a shoestring budget. There are no other alternatives, except a short life of cruel confinement — or the cooking pot.
But, by "answering the call" for IPPL's Sanctuary Fund, you can
help provide them with a better life.
100% of your donation will be forwarded promptly to the three sanctuaries where Aketi, Pulito, and Squeeky now live, where care is so urgently needed but funds are so hard to come by.
AKETI'S STORY
Aketi is a chimpanzee baby living in the DRC, in Africa. His mother was shot by a hunter in November 2008, and he was left to lie on the floor of the hunter's mud hut in shock for days. Aketi was rescued and transferred to the
Center for Primate Rehabilitation in Lwiro ("CRPL" in French), thanks to funding provided by IPPL. Now, we'd like to make his life as comfortable as possible, after all he's suffered.
At CRPL, Aketi joins 44 other chimps and 55 monkeys. They arrived due to illegal activities in the DRC's National Parks, like hunting for bushmeat, mining, battling rebel groups, and poaching animals for the pet trade. Despite this climate of conflict and corruption, CRPL continues to plan improvements—like a large, forested enclosure for its orphaned chimpanzees.
PULITO'S STORY
Pulito is a woolly monkey living at
Siglo XXI, a primate rescue and rehabilitation center in Chile. Chile has no native monkeys, so we think he was smuggled in from Peru or some other part of the Amazon rainforest, which happens all too often.
He was rescued as a two-month-old baby by Elba Muñoz Lopez and her team 13 years ago. He had to be hand-reared and is now a "very spoiled" (says Elba) 20-pound adult male! Elba and her staff care for him and 150 other South American monkeys. We'd like to make sure that Elba can continue to rescue monkeys like Pulito from terrible conditions: smuggled across borders, abused in circuses and labs, or neglected as "pets."
SQUEEKY'S STORY
Squeeky is a crab-eating macaque monkey — and a mom! She and her surprise baby boy Bambam live at the
Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand (WFFT). She had been chained alone to a couch in the home of a Frenchman in downtown Bangkok, until a neighbor alerted WFFT's director Edwin Wiek. Now she lives with 20 more of her kind and is best friends with the alpha male, Friday!
WFFT staff members have not only built naturalistic islands and forested enclosures where many of the 259 primates in their care can live in social groups. They
have also set up a mobile wildlife veterinary clinic, protested the use of baby primates in tourist "photoops," and helped confiscate and re-home illegally imported orangutans.
But these sanctuaries can't do it alone — they need YOU!
Won't you please consider
a donation to help these sanctuaries provide the best possible care to their residents — and help put an end to primate abuse?
Best regards,
Dr. Shirley McGreal OBE
IPPL Founder and Executive Director
P.S. Let's make sure that our "long-distance" primate friends get the care they need and deserve! Aketi, Pulito, and Squeeky are calling on you!
IPPL goes the distance for primates in need
Now IPPL would like to make sure CRPL, Siglo XXI, and WFFT can continue to provide excellent care for their residents while accepting more precious rescued primates. Your help will enable them to do things like...
- Conduct rescue operations of abused and neglected primates, like this one by staff at CRPL.
- Create naturalistic enclosures and social groupings for residents, like these WFFT monkeys.
- Provide the primates with fresh fruits and veggies daily, like this tasty monkey meal at Siglo XXI.
Yes, I’d like to give what I can to help Aketi, Pulito, and Squeeky!
IPPL's Promise
IPPL believes in spending money on primates where it does the most good:
where the primates are! That’s why we will be sending
100% of your donation directly to these three overseas sanctuaries, where primates are in such need but have so few resources.
We believe in long-distance love!
"The aim of all of those involved with the CRPL is to see the chimpanzees out of their old concrete cages and into the new forest enclosure. We have already built the chimp dormitory, but we still need to build the fence around the forested area. With the help of IPPL's supporters, we can see this dream become a reality!"
Balume
Supervisor , CRPL, Democratic Rep. of Congo
"I established Siglo XXI in 1994 as a shelter for woolly monkeys. Now we care for ten different species. Because Chile has no native monkeys, all the primates that arrive at the sanctuary have been smuggled hundreds of miles, under very poor conditions. As a result, many suffer from blindness, dental problems, and physical disabilities. Won’t you help?"
Elba Muñoz Lopez
Founder, Siglo XXI, Chile
"I had a dream in 1999 that I was helping the wild animals of Thailand. At the time, after living in Thailand for almost ten years, I had witnessed so many horrible acts against animals that it became impossible for me to just look away. In 2001, my dream became WFFT. Now I feel that the pressure on wild animals is greater than ever. Please help us fight for them!"
Edwin Wiek
Founder, WFFT, Thailand
Thank you—from Aketi, Pulito, and Squeeky!
Original Letter of Response with photos.
Original Letter of Appeal with photos. 
