Good Good Good · 2 hours ago

Monkeys Rescued From Illegal Trade Now Thrive in veteran-run Sanctuary

On a 15-acre property in rural Mississippi, two military veterans have built a sanctuary where the displaced find their footing again - primates rescued from the illegal pet trade, and the veterans who help care for them. April Stewart, whose own PTSD once felt like "a cancer... a trauma that was never properly healed," recognized that the principles guiding a traumatized monkey back toward trust are the same ones that can restore a person: consistency, patience, boundaries, and earned grace. The Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary's Unplugged program invites veterans and first responders to assist with sanctuary operations alongside the animals, not as a replacement for clinical care, but as something quieter and harder to name. For volunteer John Richard, holding a chittering monkey named Louie has returned something he'd lost: "Being out here has brought a lot of faith back to me. There's no feeling like it." What the sanctuary understands, and gently proves, is that healing is rarely a solitary act - it tends to happen in the presence of another creature willing to try again.