Help us protect a habitat for hundreds of free monkeys.

We are a primate sanctuary (laisladelosmonos.org) created for rescued and orphaned monkeys, victims of the illegal pet trade, where our goal is to rehabilitate them and help them create a new family group in preparation for their new lives in the wild. We are located in a Private Conservation Area on a 450 hectare island of pristine jungle in the Peruvian Amazon, 30km from Iquitos. The island is under threat and we need your help...

We are dedicated to the preservation of New World Monkeys through our rescue, rehabilitation and release programs. We work with local authorities who confiscate primates illegally transported or sold through the animal trade and being kept as pets.

Why we need your help

Our beautiful island, home to more than 6 endangered New World species, is threatened by the expanding tourism industry around Iquitos and we need your help to protect it. A plot of farm land that is privately owned on the island is for sale and we need to buy it now.

When the Peruvian Government first deemed our island a Private Conservation Area there were plots of locally owned farm land at the edge of the island. We have been fortunate to buy most of these over our 21-year history, thus securing the island’s future.

Buying the land that has just come up for sale will protect the island’s ecosystem, and ensure that wild populations of monkeys on the island remain unaffected by tourist industries occupying the land to build a lodge and trade on the island’s name.

We understand tourism is essential to the area’s growth but we believe Monkey Island should be a refuge from the encroaching outside world and a place where monkeys can live wild and free!

The land for sale has a small home structure and has been used extensively for farming. Buying the land will enable us to restore the lands ecosytem by planting trees and re-establishing the Amazon Forest, providing further habitat for our wild monkeys on the island.

Why our project matters

Peru has the fifth highest diversity of primates in the world - but they are under a huge amount of threat due to Peru also having one of the highest rates of illegal animal trafficking. A study by Shanee et al. (2015) estimates that the number of primates hunted for bushmeat in Loreto and Ucayali regions annually could exceed 35,000 individuals. The same researchers estimated that at least 10 individuals die for just 1 to reach its destination as a pet.

To date we have rescued, rehabilitated and released over 300 monkeys onto our island sanctuary and surrounding jungle areas. These monkeys are living free back in the Amazon jungle from which they were taken, and have a second chance at life. They have formed groups, families, and have had many babies that now call the island home.

Any donation you can give to our sanctuary will help us to secure the future of over 250 free monkeys as well as the community of people that are supported in part by their work with us on the island.

Any donations received will be added to our total.

Thank you very much,

Gilberto and the rest of the team at La Isla de Los Monos (Monkey Island)

More information coming soon.