Talking Animals

Kari Bagnall, founder of Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary

 

Kari Bagnall—founder and director of Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary—recounts the history of how she launched this facility in Gainesville, FL that houses for more than 100 monkeys that were formerly part of the exotic pet trade or had been used in laboratory research. kari_bagnallShe explains the rationale behind Jungle Friends deciding to concentrate on new world monkeys, and this refers to the five families of primates found in Central and South America and parts of Mexico; examples include marmosets, spider monkeys, tamarins, capuchins and 20111014-4squirrel monkeys. Bagnall also discusses how monkeys arrive at the Sanctuary, including the uneasy relationship she maintains with research labs and other scientific institutions that place primates at Jungle Friends, and the attendant ongoing need for the facility to add habitats and expand it’s acreage. Bagnall outlines the vegan lifestyle she promotes among those who work, volunteer or intern at Jungle Friends, and the important philosophical consistency she feels this brings to caring for the monkeys. (www.junglefriends.org)

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COMEDY CORNER: Tim Harmston’s “Seagull”  (http://timharmston.com)

MUSIC: Rebekah Pulley’s “Talking Animals Theme,” Chuck Prophet’s “What Makes The Monkey Dance,” instrumentals

NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE:  The Beatles’ “Dig A Pony”

AUDIO ARCHIVE: