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by Mary Beth Barton (see her bio on the volunteers page)
- How come you can have monkeys and other people can't?
Colleen laughs and says this is the question I am asked most. I personally do not have these monkeys. I
believe these monkeys have me. I am their maid, waitress, nutritionist, and whipping post. Some of them really can and do become physical with me. They pull my hair and bite if given a chance. Mostly I am the provider their care and needs. I do not own them; I've been educated in the care and welfare of them, which is my life. Frisky's is a Sanctuary, the monkey's live here - it is a place of refuge away from mankind.
- Is it fun working with all the animals? Yes, sometimes it is fun but mostly it is a lot of worry and responsibility that caring for them brings. It is really a lot of hard work. It does make me smile when they are all happy and playing and doing well. Even the llama loves to gallop around the pasture.
- How long have you been working with them? It seems as though I have been working and caring for animals most of my life. I have always have pets, but I started Frisky's and saving lives in 1970.
- What would you say is the most interesting animal you have ever had?
Good question. I would have to say Black Bear cubs, baby raccoons, Rhesus Macaque monkeys. It was interesting in learning their behavior patterns and nutritional needs. I suppose monkeys are the most interesting, because they get bored very easy, so figuring out ways to keep them occupied is an interesting
challenge.
- How many monkeys have you hand raised like Johnny and Gizmo? Infant care for monkeys is a 24-hour job, so it is easy for me to remember how many I have cared for. My first was Gizmo, a male Rhesus Macaque monkey. His mother rejected him at birth. He was my first infant in 1989. My second was Babee, a female Weeper Capuchin monkey. Her mother suffered severe bleeding and had to have a hysterectomy, which left her fighting for her own life and too weak to care for her newborn baby. Then there was Scotty Jr, a male Vervet Guenon monkey. An elderly man who had a colony of Vervets was worried about the welfare of his monkeys if he should die. So he wanted the baby monkey placed at Frisky's Sanctuary as a "lifer" to prevent his sale to a research lab or zoo. Scotty came to us in 1985. Babee and Scotty Jr's birthdays are only 10 days apart. I carried them on me for one and a half years. I must say I lost a lot of hair from their constant pulling. And last but not least there is Johnny, a male Weeper Capuchin monkey, Johnny was one of a set of twins. Overwhelming his mother since it was her first time at motherhood, Johnny was also rejected by his mother.
- Why did you choose this kind of work? I am not sure I did choose this work, and work it is. I think it choose me. When I first started saving wildlife, I studied and took classes in Backyard Wildlife and Wildlife Biology. I wanted to make sure that what i was doing would be everything I could possibly do. I found it was very rewarding when I was able to save a life. I also tried to learn
what one would die and others would live. Wildlife Biology and behaviors are never ending stories. The more lives I became responsible for, the more involved I became, and gradually it became my life.
- How did you get started doing this? That is another good question. I am also asked this question a lot. A neighbor's dog had invaded a nest of baby bunnies in her back
yard. The mother rabbit was badly wounded. My neighbor asked what to do so I started caring for the baby bunnies. I lived close to the railroad tracks, which I loved to hike on. Finding wounded animals was not uncommon. However, helping these animals was part of the common gossip. I was a young wife and mother. My husband was in the Marines for four years. He did two tours of duty in Vietnam. I was raising two sons all alone. So the bunnies, birds, fawns, raccoons and even a baby bear cub were brought into our home. They would be cared for and when able released back into their natural environments and not kept as pets.
- Where do you get your animals from? The animals come from farms, yard and tree services, even pool services have bought in squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies, and birds rescued from
swimming pools. A large number of wildlife is rescued from the jaws of local dogs and cats. Some come out of dumpsters or even off the ground after being knocked out of their tree nests during a gusty storm. Hundreds of baby bunnies come in every year because someone mowing his lawn disturbed their nest.
- What kinds of animals do you have here, generally? There are always monkeys. To be exact there are seventeen of them. They are the "lifers.~ They will live here always. There are squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, opossums, and a variety of birds, and of course farm animals such as chickens, ducks, geese, and goats. We also have exotics, such as ferrets, a llama, turtles and seagulls.
- Is this a medical facility for rescued wildlife? That is exactly what Frisky's is - a sanctuary or refuge for them to recover. Not a zoo. It is a peaceable kingdom. It is usually nice and quite, except at feeding time.
- Have there been any major or fatal fights between the animals? Yes, we have had fights. Fatal, well I think once with a couple dwarfs white Russian hamsters, but I am not positive about that. Major, they do happen from time to time, but we do have video and sound surveillance, so any fights are broken up quickly.
- Why can 't people just come and look around? Because this is a sanctuary a place for rest. It is not a zoo. It is a medical facility - a place for healing. Most animals need peace and quite with no disruption. Stress can do harm; for instance some monkeys cannot handle a commotion. One of our monkeys is an epileptic, another has cancer, two are diabetics, and two others have liver problems. These are just some of the monkey's problems. Also a lot of the animals and monkeys are very dangerous. Why take the chance?
- Is there any limit for pet adoptions by one person? We use to have just one per family, but lately we do more. We have found that some families can provide the love and attention as well as provide for their many needs.
- Do you feel you can really understand the animal's thoughts and feelings?
Sometimes, yes. I put myself in their place and keeping in mind our five senses, I try to keep life, sounds, smells and foods familiar to each animal. Change upsets all of us, whether it is for better or worse.
- Just how unpredictable are the animals? Animals are very unpredictable. That is why we always have to stay alert and never use jerky movements or loud voices. By doing so we can keep Frisky's a frisky but peaceable kingdom. If an animal is injured or in pain they can be very dangerous and unpredictable. Humans are that way too.
- Do you ever feel like saying 'forget it" and give up? Not in years though... I used to.... One of my sons is handicapped and would need so much from me, that I would sometimes feel that he was being neglected ... or I'd sometimes I would wonder what it would be like to have a romance and relationship with a man. Sometimes I feel there are too few places that animals and monkeys can find help and refuge. Or just straight out wish I could get the HELP and FINANCES that would make this struggle to SAVE and CARE easier.
- How long does it take for a new monkey to trust you? For me usually not long. However, there are still a few that have been here for a year that I cannot hold or even touch. Some bond right away and others do not. I always spend several nights on a cot next to their enclosure after their arrival. I never change their names and I only make nutritional changes in their diet so that they get the best nutrition possible.
- Is there evident hierarchy between you and the animal? Yes, with a
few. We all have our own personalities which must be accepted by others from time to time.
- Do you think the animals enjoy the Sanctuary? Yes, I do. I try very hard to do just
that. And believe me it takes a lot of hard work to provide a comfortable and nutritional home along with enrichment. For example raccoons like hollow logs, monkeys like baby and parrot toys, ferrets like hammocks and cat toys,
and goats like to climb on dog igloo houses.
- Do you take volunteers? Yes, those that are sincere in working for the animals' welfare. on h~nd1inQ is rare. However. if a rabies shot is required from the health department, handling of the animals is a possibility. Once they find out it involves a lot of cleaning, they change their minds. My son says Frisky's is a fertilizer-making farm.
- Do you hire people for paying jobs? Once in a great while. if we need an electrician or plumber or a bricklayer. These are jobs that Scott Robbins, the other manager at Frisky's and I cannot do.
- Do you except monetary donations? OH YES! Whenever they are offered. We only started taking monetary donations when we became a registered nonprofit
organization. We never receive any pay whatsoever. All donations go to the animals and the monkey's welfare. And I will NEVER have it any other way.
- Do you ever get horses? Yes, once in a while there are special cases that need quiet and or special diets. Some need constant medications like the horse that was stabbed deeply several times with a pitch fork. He needed large doses of penicillin several times a day and lots of rest.
- What happens to the wildlife after they are better? All wildlife is returned to their natural environment. Most go to Maryland's Patapsco State Park, which is nearby.
- Are there any improvements you would like to make at the sanctuary? OH YES! Bigger; better enclosures, and big outside cages with concrete floors. We desperately need to build another monkey house, which will house the large Macaque monkeys. We have been trying hard to raise the fourteen thousand dollars to do it, but it is taking time. We will have garage sales every weekend starting in April on Saturdays and Sundays 9-5 pm. I am hoping this will be our biggest success.
- Are donations tax deductible? Yes they are. We are incorporated and registered; a nonprofit organization. Anyone who makes a donation will get a receipt.
- Do you take animals that are healthy but unwanted? Yes. For instance we have cockatiels, ferrets, rabbits, turtles, guinea pigs, hamsters, goats, pigeons, and even a llama just to name just a few.
- How much does it cost to run something like this? It takes well over fifty thousand dollars per year; and the bills and costs constantly go
up. We try hard to cut corners and we do without. It is hard to make do when it is all for their welfare. We spend two hundred and fifty dollars a week just on monkey groceries alone.
- Do you ever get to go on vacation? NO, NO VACATIONS... which upsets a lot of my relatives that live across the United States. It is hard for them to visit me too with all the dangerous animals here or just my being too busy to visit. My son Rick moved from Savage to
Sykesville, Maryland, almost a year ago and I still have not seen his apartment. He visits me because I need to see my grandson who is four and a half years old and growing very quickly.
- What chores do you do mostly? Well there is a ton of cleaning, laundry, dishes, and shoveling to do. I mostly CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN.
- How many cages do you have to clean a day? Several
dozen. There are monkey cages, ferret cages, rabbit cages, cat cages, chicken cages, etc. I could go on and on.
- Do you clean every cage every day? No, I would like to but I can't. Usually every few days. For the monkeys you do surface cleaning daily and change the bedding. This takes about twenty minutes per day per cage.
- You volunteer your whole life to giving and doing for the animals just to release them.
Where do you find the reward for all you have done? I have volunteered my life to the sanctuary. Why waste it and do nothing. Life is a gift. I know how lucky I am to be alive. The reward is when I succeed in giving an animal or a monkey a chance to live a peaceful life....
We all deserve a chance. FRISKYS WILDLIFE & PRIMATE SANCTUARY & RESCUE was started and founded by Colleen Layton. She is open and bluntly honest to a fault. She welcomes and answers all questions put before her. Write or fax your questions today
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