Wild Futures to close Cornwall’s Monkey Sanctuary after 60 years

After sixty years of taking in rescued monkeys, one of Cornwall’s best-known animal charities is preparing to close its sanctuary. Wild Futures has announced that The Monkey Sanctuary at its Cornwall site will shut, and that the careful work of finding the monkeys new homes has already begun. In a statement, director Sarah Hanson called it “the announcement we all fought hard not to make.”

A buyer who dropped out

The charity put its home and sanctuary site up for sale in June 2025, hoping to find a sympathetic buyer who would let the team stay on and help improve the place so it could move forward. Towards the end of 2025, it looked like that buyer had been found. The plan was a partnership. The new owners would take on the long-term maintenance and care of the site, while Wild Futures carried on the work of the sanctuary.

Then, after six months of what Sarah described as intense negotiations, the buyers pulled out without notice. That left the long-term plan for the sanctuary up in the air.

A site no longer fit for purpose

A detailed land assessment carried out during the negotiations found something else. The site had begun to develop structural issues that increasingly make it unfit for purpose and no longer suitable as a long-term sanctuary.

Wild Futures says it would not be responsible to pour hundreds of thousands of pounds into a site whose future is in doubt, and whose upkeep now costs far more than the money the charity has available. “As such, we have made the difficult decision to direct funds towards securing a safe future for the monkeys,” Sarah said. Their welfare, she added, remains the top priority.

Finding the monkeys new homes

The rehoming has already started. Wild Futures says it is working with carefully selected sanctuaries and organisations that share its values and ethics, with welfare at the front of their work, so the monkeys keep receiving the expert care they are used to.

An emergency appeal will launch shortly to help cover the significant cost of moving every monkey safely and looking after them throughout the transition. Anyone who currently supports a monkey through the charity’s adoption scheme will be contacted personally in the coming weeks.

Sixty years of The Monkey Sanctuary

What grew into a world-class sanctuary began in the 1960s, with the rescue of woolly monkeys from a thriving pet trade. Over the decades it adapted to meet the evolving and demanding needs of the UK primate pet trade. Wild Futures says it was the first GFAS accredited wildlife sanctuary in Europe, and that it has educated hundreds of thousands of visitors on animal welfare, conservation and the case for a ban on the primate trade. Many people now doing similar work around the world first trained at the sanctuary.

Sarah thanked the team still caring for the monkeys while their long-term placements are finalised, along with supporters, donors, volunteers, and staff past and present. “Together we have achieved incredible things,” she said. “None of this would have been possible without your belief in our mission and your commitment to improving the lives of primates.”

The mission is not over

The charity is clear that closing the sanctuary is not the end of Wild Futures. It intends to keep campaigning, educating and working on conservation around primate welfare, including its push to end the primate trade.

“Although this chapter is coming to an end, our mission is not,” Sarah said. “We remain determined to protect primates through campaigning, education and conservation, and we hope you will continue to stand with us as we begin this next chapter.”

Wild Futures has published a set of sanctuary closure FAQs for people with questions, and other queries can go to [email protected]. The emergency appeal to fund the moves had not yet gone live when the closure was announced.

📷Credit: Wild Futures