"Service to All Life with Grace Through All Philosophies"
Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary
Kari Bagnall ~ Founder of Jungle Friends & Samantha
Kari Bagnall ~ Founder "Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary"
Beacon of Light Award ~ Spring 2008 ~
"Your tireless, loving, compassionate energies have brought such light and love to all those beautiful creatures in your care, that as Founder of the NIC, I honor you and your staff for all that you do."
Samantha, pictured above with Kari, is how all of this monkey business began!
Samantha was originally purchased as a pet by an ex-boyfriend who soon grew tired of her continuous shenanigans and gave her to Kari. Samantha lived on Kari's body for the first year of her life. Having experienced first hand what is was like to have a monkey on her back, Kari set about the business of learning all she could about these creatures of the rain forest. Eventually, word spread about the wonderful care Kari was giving to Samantha, and soon she was being asked to take in many more cast-offs, and monkeys quickly took over her life.
Kari's background with abused and neglected children was most helpful in creating Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary, which was created as a safe haven for primates, where we re-teach monkeys how to be monkeys. All of her monkeys are ex-research laboratory (having lived in cages and experimented on for 20 or 30 years), ex-pets abandoned by their owners, and monkeys who have been abused and/or confiscated by authorities. At Jungle Friends, Kari and her staff rescue and offer a permanent, safe haven for monkeys from around the United States ~ where all the monkeys get reintroduced to their own kind, and get to live the remainder of their lives in peace, harmony with their monkey friends, and as monkeys.
Jungle Friends Primate Sanctuary is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and since 1997 is located on 12 acres in Gainesville, Florida, and is accredited by the American Sanctuary Association and The Association of Sanctuaries. At this time, Jungle Friends is the sanctuary home for 101 monkeys and we have an ever-growing waiting list.
Jungle Friends currently produces annual calendars, notecards, and original art created by the monkey residents! We honor Kari and her staff for the blessed work they are doing for these beautiful creatures of God. Please take a moment and visit Jungle Friends and treat yourself, as I have for myself and to others as gifts ~ to some original monkey art!
For more information and to order original artwork, or make a loving donation ~www.junglefriends.org
