Jul 22 2008
Monkey World Goes Wild – Dao Tien Rescue Centre for Endangered Primate Species Opens in Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam
Monkey World – Ape Rescue Centre is celebrating the successful completion and opening of the Dao Tien Endangered Primate Species Centre. Known for assisting governments around the world to stop the smuggling of primates from the wild, this is Monkey World’s first insitu conservation project.
Monkey World collaborated with Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam, the Pingtung Rescue Centre in Taiwan and the Endangered Asian Species Trust (EAST, UK Reg. 1115350), a charity set up by Monkey World in the United Kingdom, to build the Rescue Centre, which has taken nine months to construct and a total of seven years from inception.
The aim of the Centre is to rescue and rehabilitate endangered primates and when appropriate release the rehabilitated pairs of gibbons back into the forests of Cat Tien National Park. So far the Centre cares for 6 golden-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus gabriellae) that were rescued from a motorway rest stop and a small schoolyard menagerie. These gibbons have undergone veterinary health checks and are now beginning their rehabilitation process. In the future the centre will also be home to black–shanked douc langurs, silvery langurs, and nocturnal primates called loris.
Dr Alison Cronin, MBE, Director of Monkey World, was at Dao Tien last week to officially open the rescue centre. At the entrance to centre is a memorial in the memory of her late husband, and founder of Monkey World, Jim Cronin, MBE. “This is a very important day for a couple of reasons: this is Monkey World’s first insitu conservation project where we have a chance to keep the monkeys and apes where they belong – in the forests of Southern Vietnam – and on a personal note, this is a project that Jim and I started many years ago. It is truly amazing to see it come together and already making a difference in the lives of six rescued golden-cheeked gibbons. Jim knew that a few people could make a difference in saving endangered species and this is what the Dao Tien Rescue Centre is all about.”
Dao Tien is a 57 hectare Rescue Centre and lays at the entrance of Cat Tien National Park on the Dong Nai River, located in the centre of the natural geographic range for golden-cheeked gibbons in Vietnam. The 10 rehabilitation cages on the island are only phase 1 of a long-term project. Monkey World will now embark upon phase 2, the design and construction of semi-wild enclosure on the island before considering certain pairs of gibbons for release back to the wild.