4th Octo­ber was Inter­na­tio­nal Ani­mals Day and Inter­na­tio­nal Ani­mal Kee­pers Day, cele­bra­ted in honour of Saint Fran­cis of Assi­si, patron saint of ani­mals. The pho­to abo­ve, sho­wing two kee­pers at Lwi­ro Pri­ma­tes trans­por­ting an anaesthe­ti­sed chim­pan­zee to be relea­sed into semi-free­dom, sym­bo­li­ses the impor­tan­ce of ani­mal kee­pers around the world. The­se pro­fes­sio­nals are vital to pro­jects in con­ser­va­tion, res­cue, reha­bi­li­ta­tion and the well­being of any ani­mal spe­cies under human care.

And here at SOS Pri­ma­tes we want to empha­si­se this impor­tan­ce, whi­le wishing the kee­per at Zoo-Aqua­rium de Madrid a swift reco­very after the acci­dent she suf­fe­red whi­le wor­king in the gori­lla area.

We also encou­ra­ge any kee­pers to send us their ideas to see if our orga­ni­sa­tion can colla­bo­ra­te with the ins­ti­tu­tions whe­re they work. More infor­ma­tion at info@sosprimates.org.