A busy weekend ahead.

This is Friday night and the weekend approaches and it promises to be a busy time. We have been in preparation for the arrival of two monkeys this weekend. Lucio is a Howler monkey and we also expect Pablito. But I will tell you more about them when they arrive.

Pablito needs a little explanation because he is a Capuchin monkey.

ARFA Animal Rescue Association had a facility at ‘Hidra Finca’ near Las Vagas. The management decided not to continue operation in that location, although of course the organization carries on its great work of education and support.
ARFA ‘Hidra’ has closed down. The upshot has been that there is now a vacuum in facility for care of Capuchin Monkeys. Hidra’s special service was the preparation of groups of Capuchin monkeys for release into the wild. Hidra ARFA carried out this program successfully for many years. We at Canaote were able to assist this program on one major occasion. We cared for a group of five Capuchin monkeys for about 6 months whilst their release facility was being prepared. This was an interesting time here and we were able to meet several human families who wanted their monkeys released into the wild. Many of those people are still correspondents and visitors to us to this day. The group that was prepared here was successfully released by ARFA at Hidra and we have had reports of their good integration into the wild.
At Canaote we do not provide a release program. Instead we are a shelter facility. I have written about this difference in approach several times on this blog. We have space for a small number of capuchins. We decided to do this when we heard that ARFA ‘Hidra’ was no longer able to provide a release service. Our capacity is small, a maximum of five Capuchin monkeys. We will be looking for some support for this. Clearly five Capuchins are going to be quite demanding of food and Veterinary support and helpers.

We have constructed a special house for Pablito. Like our former Capuchins, he is to share a location with green parrots and Macaws. The house we have designed for Pablito has a special revolving door. This door should prevent the birds from invading his house. The additional problem about integrating monkey and bird is feeding. Pablito’s food tray is situated just outside the enclosure, on a corner, where he can reach it with easy but the birds cannot.