mucha ado about nothing

Sorry to start a story with a quote from Shakespeare, but it seemed appropriate. Life here toodles on. Fortunately, there is something always going on.
Several weeks ago, we visited the Monkey refuge. I wanted to visit there to find and create pictures to paint from. I had previously talked with the owner of this refuge and they are wanting art to sell to help raise money for their efforts to help injured monkeys. Soooo, I took several hundreds of pictures. I love my camera and I got lots of really great photos. Also photos of my kids too. It was like these monkeys knew that I was going to paint them and would pose. Of course, some of them just wouldn't sit still for long. There were about 7 breeds of monkeys that I saw. They were all about the property being free and loving there home and exploring the tourist. The capuchins loved to explore our pockets and one little guy almost got away with 5 bucks from mine. I forgot that it was there or I would have removed it. There were 2 monkeys that I really got attached to. One was a spider monkey and the other a young howler monkey. The spider monkey had been dropped from a height when his mother was shot by hunter and had sustained head injuries and for the most part was very friendly but occasionally he would have a hyper bout and turn from Hyde to Jeckle. But he was still lovely. The howler had been raised by humans and wanted nothing more than to be loved. Rachelle, Dane and I each took turns hugging this little fellah.
I was sad to see that the owner, "Ivan of the monkeys", had just received a baby monkey from the coast. His little hip was dislocated and was irrepairable. The vet said that if he could have see him within the first 24 hours something might have been able to be done, but now it was not possible. The little guy was very fragile and sweet. He had been rescued by some policemen on the coast and phone Ivan to come to the rescue, which he did immediately and had just gotten back from the coast. It turns out that monkeys need a certain amount of daylight and fresh air per day or they die. So Ivan was out and about with him. A couple of times, one of the spider monkeys, who was a female wanted to care for the baby but they had to keep her away as she would take the baby up into the trees and they would have had a hard time to retreave the baby.
The interesting thing was that a short while later, as in several weeks later, I ran into a biologist and he showed concern for this project as he was scared of the fact that this coastal monkey could damage the fragile interior monkeys as the coastal monkeys carry a malaria that is different than the interior. He felt ,however, that there is so much cross contamination between species due to the pet industry, that it might not be a real concern, but it was a possiblility to consider. So goes the battle of science vs the heart. Both people trying to do their best for their environent and both possible correct for doing so and both possibly wrong. It was good to hear though, both sides, of the story.
I do have to say that I like Ivan and his ideals, as I love animals too, and I have to say that I would probably do the same as he. Ivan also has a very good success rate with repair and survival of the monkeys, over 75% of his monkeys live. In the refuge there were also other animals as well. The fabulous coatamundi (south america's idea of a raccoon), a south american badger, tortoises, a small version of the capabarri ( small rodent that in many ways is like a small dog), some parrots etc.
Inside the building, there were monkeys that were, what can only be discribed as uncontrollable and unsafe. These monkeys had been locked up in zoos in situations that had caused the monkeys to go insane. These monkeys really made me sad as human don't often think of the animals and the future of the animals but only of themselves and the animal has to pay for it. I have seen this same reaction with birds as well. When people cannot meet the needs of the animal and the birds go insane and create nervous ticks and remove all their plumage. It is sooooo sad, when this happens. That is one simple reason I would never take in a wild animal into my house, but transport then to a place that could take care of them as best possible.
Now I take you back to when I ran into the biology, whose name is Lou. His has an incredible mind, flexible and knowledgable, an interesting combination. I had first heard about Lou, when his orchid garden what robbed. Apparently, he had gone intothe jungle of several expeditions looking for undiscovered plants. He had at times had to wait for long durations of time to get special permission to enter and be guided into those regions. He had several plants that were undiscovered and rare and were making biological history. The lost of those plants is a disaster.
He can never replace those plants and I guess that the orchid market now has several stolen plants within its hidden circle. I understand that the orchid society also loves rare orchids and will do whatever to get them, similar for the butterflies and bugs as well as animals and fish. That is one of the circumstances here: The need for survival by selling their ecology and preserving the ecology. But in Lou's situation as one door closes another opens. What happened kind of next, is that Lou became involved with a foundation that buys virgin forest for preservation. What they have also done for these people is that they have hired some of the relatives of the sellers of land, educated them and hired them to help guard the land ( a must here or people will squat on the land for homes or food). Then he helped provide jobs for these people by teaching them how to grow coffee organicly/low impact and found a buyer in England who buys a large promised amount per year. Snaps to them. So far the program is working well, and Lou can continue his own projects. Everyone wins..... at this point.
Not that long ago, several people from Japan or was it China came in and tried o steal 1,000 large beetles, they put then in suitcases but the border stopped them and now both citizens from both countries are searched at the border. I hope that these new regulations will become firmer and more difficult to break.
Needless to say although there are many, many problems here with what people have done to the I still get very sad when I think of the poachers, and the unbelievable damage of the worlds biggest oil spill in the world in the jungle, and the pollution in the waterways, but when I see people try, I still have faith in humanity.
Talk with you all later, keep the faith and try to be one of the people that creates positive change in the world.
Robin