Ten Fast Facts about the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary

1. The Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary is located on 186 acres near San Antonio, Texas, and provides a safe, permanent home to more than 600 macaques, vervets, and baboons.

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2. Many of the Sanctuary residents were rescued from abusive situations in roadside zoos, research facilities, or private possession.
3. The Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary is unique in that the majority of residents experience, living in free-ranging groups in natural enclosures of several acres.
4. The focus of animal care at the Sanctuary is to provide conditions in which the captive populations of macaques, baboons, and vervets are allowed to live out the remainder of their lives with extensive freedom of movement, choice of food, and choice of companions, in accordance with their social nature.
5. Rehabilitation is a key part of the work we do at the Sanctuary. Many of the residents, such as those who had been kept as exotic “pets,” were deprived of the ability to meet their psychological and social needs. Some continue to be psychologically damaged from their interactions with humans. As part of the rehabilitative process, we provide an enriched and stimulating environment, encourages pair and group living, and enables residents to spend their remaining years among others of their kind.
6. Caring people can support our work by “adopting” one of several rescued primates living at the Sanctuary. Adoptive sponsors help us provide food, care, and rehabilitation to their adopted individual. Sponsors also receive many unique benefits!
7. In order to allow the residents the maximum amount of privacy and minimal human interference, the Sanctuary is not open to the public.
8. The Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary is accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS).
9. The original inhabitants of the Sanctuary were a troop of snow monkeys (macaques) who arrived in Texas from Japan in 1972. They were originally part of a troop that had resided in the Arashiyama forest and had been observed by behaviorists since 1954. Around 1970, a group split away from the main troop and moved into the Kyoto suburbs in search of food. Because some residents viewed these animals as “pests,” the decision was made to relocate them. A concerned American citizen agreed to pay to transport the group to Texas, where a sanctuary was then started.
10. In December 1999, API took over the management of what was then called the Texas Snow Monkey Sanctuary, which became the API Primate Sanctuary and is now known as the Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary. In addition to the group of macaques who were descendents of the Japanese arrivals, the Sanctuary also provides refuge for many rescued macaques, vervets, and baboons who had lived most of their lives in cages.