Hi 'Monkeyarmy', I'm guessing you've not posted before and were just looking for advice on Wild Futures prior to going to volunteer there. I understand why the 'rescue and no-breed' ethos of a primate collection sounds really great, but I think that's like swearing to a lot of people on here, and you wouldn't have known that. Monkeyworld doesn't get so much biting criticism on this site I think because they participate in a number of EEP breeding programmes for some species alongside their rescue work. I understand that you didn't mean anything by your initial comment, other than it was a positive thing about Wild Futures, as opposed to being a zoo for monkeys.
IMHO the context I think is that there is some bitterness about the direction the Looe sanctuary took when it applied its 'no breed' policy to its successful (well, without the gender skew) breeding group of woolly monkeys, given how few institutions worldwide have really succeeded with this species, and the fact the captive population has been consolidated to so few collections able to maintian and breed them with any success (Monkey World interestingly being one of these). The consensus on this site seems to be in favour of maintaining captive populations, and particular value being given to species either dwindling in captivity or just rarely seen. Woolly monkeys fit this category I suspect. Had Wild Futures evolved from a sanctuary breeding capuchin monkeys and macaques (both of which came later), I think nobody would have cared whether they bred them or not.
The irony is, the captive woolly monkey population is not comprised of pure subspecific animals, but of many generic 'hybrids' between subspecies, and it is not possible to split off any pure stock as there aren't sufficient numbers to do this any longer in terms of genetic health. Some will argue this is why the Looe animals should have joined the EEP, but their numbers aren't so significant it would have allowed subspecific groupings to be formed out of them (plus, I assume there are mostly generic animals at Looe).
I personally don't agree with 'no-breed' for social animals, particularly primates, and favour very limited breeding to create a multi-generational group structure for, apart from anything else, behavioural enrichment and social cohesion. But with limited resources, a higher risk of infant rejection, and a desire to rescue further animals, I understand why Wild Futures might not want to do this with their capuchins or macaques. The woolly monkeys at Looe have had a gender skew in their birthrate towards males over the years (something that has happened at other collections, too), so it may have not been too long before a bachelor group remained anyway.
I have respect for Wild Futures and they have clearly committed to a long future working with primates at Looe since diversifying into other species. What will be interesting in the coming years is whether they continue to maintain the last few woolly monkeys in a smaller group as older animals die, or if there will come a time that they revisit their policy and rehome those individuals with a dynamic, thriving group at an EEP institution such as Apenheul or Monkey World?
I'm aware the sanctuary tried to send two of its adult male woollys back to the wild in the 1990s. I don't know what the outcome of this was, but I think it was the early stirrings of a change in direction for the sanctuary, and appeared to have been abandoned (I imagine due to the level of success in repatriating these two initial animals) in favour of the 'no-breed' policy.
Good luck with volunteering there. I have never worked with woolly monkeys - what a privilege to be able to do so.
