Wild Futures’ Monkey Sanctuary hosts Important European Meeting

The Wild Futures’ Monkey Sanctuary is a founder member of the European Alliance of Rescue Centres and Sanctuaries (EARS) and last week hosted the second EARS meeting at its site near Looe, Cornwall. 16 members attended the conference between 19th and 22nd May, from as far as Spain, Holland, Germany and Belgium.

The purpose of EARS is to represent wildlife rescue centres and sanctuaries across Europe enabling them to work together to achieve important animal welfare and conservation goals. EARS sanctuaries and centres put a great deal of effort into rescuing unwanted, abandoned or confiscated animals and endeavour to provide them with a high-quality level of care. Many also run educational outreach programmes related to animal welfare and conservation issues.

The conference held at The Monkey Sanctuary near Looe, Cornwall included of a series of workshops and presentations from Wild Futures staff on various aspects including monkey care, nutrition, enclosure design and fundraising campaigns. All delegates were very complementary of the Monkey Sanctuary facilities and found the meeting extremely worthwhile.

Rachel Hevesi, Director of Wild Futures stated: “We were very happy to host the second EARS meeting at our Sanctuary. It was great to be able to showcase our hard work and share knowledge with like minded people. EARS is a great opportunity for animal welfare organisations to share best practice to ultimately improve animal welfare across Europe but it also gives us a platform from which to address legislation at a European level.”

The members enjoyed accommodation and restaurant facilities in Looe and attended a fundraising event on the Saturday evening which raised ₤724 towards a new enclosure at The Monkey Sanctuary.