The Suncoast Primate Sanctuary is located in Palm Harbor, FL, a bit north of St Petersburg. They take in primates and a few other animals that have been kept as pets and are no longer wanted. Alas, it is a pretty depressing place: while the animals are at least given an opportunity to live out their lives while being well-cared for, it was sad to see row after row of prison cages holding animals that should never have been purchased in the first place (seriously, who on earth thought that keeping a BABOON as a pet was a good idea?). The Sanctuary is currently raising money to purchase the empty lot behind them so they can expand for more space.
Some photos from an afternoon at the Sanctuary:
The Sanctuary is located just outside of town.
The cages are designed for functionality, not aesthetics.
Adult male Orangutan, named Pongo, in his cage.
Pongo looks at me wistfully.
A Gibbon.
Chimpanzee.
One of the Chimp cages.
The Chimpanzee cell-block. Although Chimps are highly social animals, they have no large common area here where they can interact, partly because the Sanctuary doesn't have the room, and partly because all these Chimps were socialized to humans, and don't get on well with other Chimps.
Crab-Eating Macaque.
An African Sulcata Tortoise enjoys his lunch. Back when I did reptile rescue, I got lots of these too--people don't realize how huge they get as adults.
Alligator. Although I've kept young gators (I used to to live reptile shows for a living), they do not exactly make good household pets.
Capuchin Monkeys. The plastic tube allows visitors to drop primate chow in to feed them.
Ring-Tailed Lemurs. They are incredibly cute, but make incredibly bad pets.
Spider Monkey with intense blue eyes.
One of the volunteer staff distributes lunch.