Darwin the IKEA monkey facing imminent homelessness as Story Book Farm faces financial troubles

Poor Darwin the IKEA monkey just can’t seem to catch a break.

The world’s most famous monkey in a shearling coat may soon find himself homeless, if Story Book Farm, the sanctuary where he currently resides, can’t find a new site to relocate to in the next two months.

The founder of the sanctuary, who started Story Book Farm 14 years ago, is now selling the house and land where the sanctuary resides and will no longer be able to host the sanctuary there. In order to relocate, Story Book Farm needs to raise $250,000.

Many people found out about the Sunderland, Ont. sanctuary as part of the IKEA monkey saga, the viral story that started when a tiny monkey in a coat was spotted at a Toronto-area IKEA in 2012. His owner, Yasmin Nakhuda, ended up being fined $240 for owning an exotic pet, and Darwin was sent to Story Book Farm, although not before the Internet made as many IKEA monkey memes as possible.

Despite Darwin’s worldwide fame, it didn’t result in significantly increased funding for the organization, which is run entirely by volunteers.

“There was interest in Darwin, but I’m not sure if there was interest in additional donations,” Daina Liepa, member of the Stony Book Farm board of directors and volunteer with the sanctuary, told Yahoo Canada.

“It’s not just Darwin’s story, there are 19 other stories.”

Story Book Farm is currently home to 20 primates, including lemurs, marmosets, spider monkeys, capuchin monkeys (including the famed painter Pockets Warhol), baboons, macaques and a squirrel monkey. Darwin, a Japanese macaque, joined the sanctuary in 2012 after seizure from an Ontario woman by animal protective services.

While Darwin’s story is arguably the most well-known of the monkeys there, it’s relatively tame compared to some of the sanctuary’s other residents.

Boo and Gerdie, a pair of Rhesus Macaques, came to the sanctuary after spending 17 years as part of a testing lab. Prior to coming to Story Brook Farm, the pair had never been outside. Now, regardless of the weather, the pair spends as much time as they can out of doors.

“The two of them have always been together, and they like nothing more than to be in the sun,” said Liepa, “They watch birds fly by, they catch flies.”

Liepa says that part of what makes Story Book Farm so integral to save is its uniqueness. As the only monkey sanctuary in Canada, they provide somewhere for monkeys to go when they no longer have a home, and cannot be returned to the wild. A chimp sanctuary in Montreal, Fauna Foundation, offers a home to chimpanzees in the same situation.

Animals that come to the sanctuary reach there either through animal services, as was the case with Darwin, or are surrendered by their owners. Some of the sanctuary’s residents are monkeys that were acquired through the North American exotic pet trade, but others are former lab monkeys. Just this month, Liepa says, a Canadian university that she did not wish to identify reached out to the sanctuary about surrendering two macaques, as they were no longer going to be needed for lab testing.

“It’s not just saving these 20 monkeys,” said Liepa of the monkeys who are currently at Story Book Farm. “It’s saving the ones out there that wouldn’t have another opportunity.”

Since the residents and volunteers of Story Book Farm found themselves in the situation of soon losing their home, they have been actively looking for a new location and means of getting them there.

“We’re looking at couple of different options: We need a property with buildings, because not only do we need to house the monkeys, but someone has to live on the property at all times,” said Liepa.

If the board isn’t able to find a property with buildings already on it, they’re looking at purchasing land and putting up the required buildings themselves. In order to have enough space to house the monkeys, the volunteer living on the property and to be far enough from any nearby road, Story Book Farm is looking for at least five acres of land, but ideally needs 10.

In order to address their unique needs, the sanctuary is considering some out of the box solutions.

A member of the public contacted Story Book Farm this week offering portables that were no longer being used for office space as a possible solution. They’re also looking into retrofitting shipping containers; while shipping containers have been used as an alternative housing solution for people in recent years, if Story Book Farm went ahead with the shipping container idea, they’d be the first sanctuary in the world to use the shipping containers for monkey enclosures.

For now, though, Story Book Farm is still looking to raise the money for the new facilities. They have 58 days left to go on their Tilt fundraising campaign, and have gotten some famous support to help them along (and not just from Darwin). Jane Goodall, world-renowned primate researcher, has sent a message of support in hopes of bolstering donations to the cause. Liepa says she and the other volunteers are confident that people care about the monkey sanctuary as much as they do, and that Story Book Farm will reach its goal.

“In our minds,[not reaching the goal] not an option. We have every confidence that we can hit the goal. These monkeys have nowhere else to go, we’re not going to get rid of them in any way shape or form. We’re committed to making this work.”

To donate, visit the Tilt fundraising page or visit storybookmonkeys.org and click ‘Donate.’

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