STL Zoo saves endangered spider monkeys from pet trade

ST. LOUIS – At the Saint Louis Zoo in Primate Canopy Trails, a series of walkways and paths take visitors up close with four new, endangered spider monkeys.

“We have Ozomatli, Chico, Xochitl, and Cula…and then Patty is our older lady spider monkey,” Shannon Farell, Keeper Primates, Saint Louis Zoo, said.

These are endangered spider monkeys – wild animals, not pets as the staff at the Saint Louis Zoo want to remind the public.

In spring 2024, federal authorities seized the monkeys, which were believed to have been poached from the wild. They were sold as exotic pets and, as the zoo says, a victim of a global criminal network.

“These animals were confiscated at the border. In several different confiscations,” Farrell said. “They were trafficked from the wild where their parents, especially their mothers, are usually shot where they can be taken and across the border. They were brought here after they were confiscated. So, they had a long way to go like a rehab time period.”

Patty, a 35-year-old female spider monkey, has been showing the one-and-a-half-year-olds the ropes at Primate Canopy Trails since April.

Zookeepers want the public to come visit the new spider monkeys in person and are seeking an end to the primate pet trade.

“There’s a lot on TikTok and social media or people interacting with these animals,” Farrell said. “But these are wild animals. They need to be with their own kind; they don’t need to interact with people.”

The Saint Louis Zoo hopes for the passage of the Captive Primate Safety Act, a bill that would regulate the possession of non-human primates for use as personal pets.