Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary

Reviews

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  Discovered Story Book through Facebook a few years back and went for a visit June 2016 for the first time. I was sent an email back at the end of April 2016 talking about their Public Open Day happening on a specific days at the end of May, and second weekend of June. Thought it would be a great idea to see the rescued monkeys, so purchased 3 tickets for $40 per ticket. My overall take - I'm not sure about this place, guessing I expected more. Before starting the tour, I though the guide would have given an overview of Story Book, the history, what to expect on the tour, how many monkey's, how many volunteers, if you're interested in volunteering at the end of the tour, etc. Felt the tour guide was either guarded or cool toward us. We asked questions but some answers received were vague or didn't make any sense (I've worked at the Toronto Zoo for 28 years). she didn't elaborate which I found strange. I think it's wonderful the sanctuary and volunteers are trying to take care of these poor monkeys and it's probably better then where some of them were previously but they really need to clean up the area and property, do a complete donated toy purge, tidy up cages, dust off the fan in the kitchen, fix the building housing the monkeys and update their website. I'm sure it would help with more donations, more visitors and more money. Now that I've left, I feel sorry for them - I don't think they have enough space. What they need is a volunteer carpenter. Why don't they advertise on Kijiji? Also, Story Book needs to promote themselves more via Facebook and Twitter, through t-shirts, mugs, pens, etc. How did Farm Sanctuary become what it is now? NOTE: you CANNOT touch the monkeys. Even the tour guide doesn't really have contact with them except provide a bit of food you bring. Some of the monkeys can be vary vicious. See some points below: -In the reminder email, it states "some visitors at our last Open Day asked what they might bring for the monkeys. Some of their favourite foods are peanuts, peanut butter, grapes and bananas". This gave me the indication we were allowed to feed the monkey's ourselves. They should ask for food "donations" instead. -we arrived early and didn't need our tickets, they had our names and we signed our arrival -the tour started right away, our guide, who lives on the second floor of the house has been there 10 years. She proceeded to take our group around first to an empty cage saying they are waiting on 2 research monkeys (so, so sad and wrong) to arrive from Western University- they were supposed to arrive in Feb but she didn't really know when they were coming or indicate what the delay was. Again, thought this was off. Didn't feel a sense of urgency or concern. -we saw Capuchins, Baboons, Macaques, Spider Monkeys,Marmosets, Squirrel Monkeys, Ring-Tailed Lemurs, Brown Lemurs. The website says there are other animals but they no longer have them which is false advertisement -we walked all around the outside of the building that houses the monkeys but on the backside, there is junk laying on the ground along with fair sized rocks. I was pretty disappointed that no one could have cleaned this up before the tour. -there was a group of people who brought a dog with them which agitated 2 of the monkeys. I didn't get this. Maybe someone will read this and consider some items above - I'd be more then happy to help update their Facebook page for them on a regular basis.
  By Tenn463 K, December 20, 2016

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About Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland