Paradise for Primates: Our vision for a sanctuary on Maui
The Callitrichid Conservation Center; we are a non profit organization dedicated to rescuing monkeys, passionate about education and environmental sustainability.
Our goals are big! Securing land is a crucial first step for our mission. Without this step we cannot begin developing the sanctuary or implementing our conservation initiatives. We strive to accomplish our vision by collaborating with supporters, donors and like-minded organisations and people to secure funding and resources for purchasing land and beyond.
Our vision is for the land to be close to the Haiku, Pauwela, Makawao area. This area provides the perfect environment for our rescued monkeys to thrive in, model temperatures, ample growing potential and a peaceful forest environment, as close to their natural habitat as we can get. Once the land is acquired, this is where our journey truly begins and where we start to see our vision come to life! We will continue our detailed planning of the land, community engagement and construction of sustainable facilities. We will liaise with experts in permaculture, sustainable construction, and animal care to develop the property. Our plans include planting a diverse food forest to provide natural sustenance for the monkeys, their caregivers and the human primates on the island too. We strive for abundance! We will build eco-friendly housing for caregivers and volunteers, and create educational programs to engage the local community along with building immersive, natural enclosures to house the monkeys we rescue.
Some of these things we have already begun. One of our founders, Aidan Callahan is currently working on the planning of our food forest, doing many mock diagrams of how many producing trees we can fit on different land types and sizes. He has done extensive research on plant cultivation and has begun cultivating different types of exotic and native plants to see what thrives and to then keep the strongest, best producing plants ready for when we have land. Our other founders Jessica Franco and Gini Ward have been focusing on social media, offering education to the community while we wait for land, along with all the logistics that come with starting a non profit, which is pretty extensive! We are learning as we go and are grateful to everyone who has helped us so far.
The holiday season is here and the Callitrichid Conservation Center is in its first year of being a 5013-C non profit organisation. To achieve everything we hope to, community support is what is going to get us there! We dream of being able to give back to the land and the community when our little sanctuary is in action!
We invite you to visit our “how to help” page on our website and hope to see our community throughout our journey and continue to be a part of our mission long after opening!