6/27/11 New Habitat at Jungle Friends

Jungle Friends staff, interns, and our super local volunteers joined forces with the fabulous volunteers from Tampa to start building a brand new habitat, an event made possible by a grant through the National Anti-Vivisection Society. With the number of monkeys on our waiting list increasing, we have been eager to start a new habitat so that we can accommodate more monkeys in need of a proper home.

The day started off with a short habitat building lesson from our head caregiver Lee, who showed us how to use and distinguish between all of the necessary tools (who knew there were so many different kinds of pliers?) Everyone pitched in to help connect the first three sheets of horse panel together, which we then set upright to start the first curve. The amazing thing about horse panel is that with enough bend it will stand on its own! As some people added on one sheet at a time using small metal rings called hog rings, some used pliers to tighten these hog rings, and some carried the next sheet over. It was a perfect assembly line!

In the meantime, a scaffold was moved into the habitat, which would later be used to build the second level. Soon enough we had connected 9 sheets, which encompassed four trees that would give lots of shade for the monkeys. The challenge was to shape these 9 sheets of panel with dips and curves to increase the stability and strength of the walls while avoiding large limbs that could get in the way of our second and third levels. After some adjustments, the shape of our habitat was set, and we were on our way to leveling the habitat and starting the second level! A trench was dug along the bottom edge of the wall in order to level the habitat, a huge task when it came to an area that was covered in lime rock. But thanks to our strong, enthusiastic volunteers, we were able to crush it one layer at a time. After four hours of grueling hard work by 15 people, we completed the first level and started our second level. During the process, it was clear that the monkeys in the neighboring habitats were already eager to explore the newest addition to the sanctuary!

While the habitat isn't complete yet, with the help of our amazing volunteers, no doubt we will be able to create a fun and exciting environment for the monkeys to live in! If you’re interested in helping us continue to build, please come out and volunteer at Jungle Friends. All of us and the monkeys would sure love the help!

Enjoy this clip of the volunteers and the day’s progress!