A Christmas Miracle for Me Boon

We recently rescued a long-tailed macaque from one of the worst living conditions we have ever seen! Me Boon lived in a tiny 0.75m x 1.25m x 1m cell for all 6 years of his life. Can you imagine spending even just a year in solitary confinement? He could hardly take 2 steps before hitting a wall. He hadn’t been let out in so long that the cage had rusted shut. It took us quite some time to wrestle his door open.

Me Boon was fed pretty well but had no ability to exercise so is now very overweight. His cramped quarters may have also caused one of his feet to turn inwards. He is not the strongest climber or jumper. But now that he is at WFFT, he has space to stretch, play, relax, and learn how to be a macaque. He especially likes to sit in a high corner of his new enclosure that overlooks a separate macaque field full of potential friends. He is very curious about them and watches them all day long. It is likely that he has never seen or interacted with any other macaques before in his life since he was cared for by humans since infancy. After a period of acclimation, we hope to pair him with a family of his own.

Me Boon’s humans seem to genuinely love him since they have visited him several times at WFFT. However, this is a common fate of primates kept as pets. They may be cute and cuddly for a year or two but then quickly become aggressive and unmanageable. The luckier ones like Me Boon are at least fed well. But too often, they end up spending the rest of their lives in tiny cages because their humans don’t have the ability  to care for them as adults. We are glad that Me Boon’s humans sought a better life for him with us instead.

Welcome to WFFT, Me Boon, and a Merry Christmas to all of our followers, volunteers, and sponsors for making possible this rescue and many more to come. Freedom is the best gift we can give!