EMNETH: Charity to help save critically-endangered monkeys by helping to fund centre.

Story by: ADAM LAZZARI

EMNETH charity Ashley's Ark is to help save critically-endangered titi monkeys in Costa Rica's rainforest, by helping to fund an education centre that will rescue injured animals.

The centre is being developed in Manuel Antonio by Kids Saving the Rainforest (KSTRF), an organisation started by children who live there.

Ashley's Ark has donated £3,400 to build a station that will care for injured monkeys and enable visitors to learn more about how they can help preserve the rainforest and its endangered species.

The titi monkey has been on the United Nations Critically Endangered Red List since 1997 and many continue to get killed crossing roads or electrocuted on overhead power lines.

Already the station, which is scheduled to open in February, has its first resident waiting to move in, a titi monkey called Scooter.

President of Kids Saving the Rainforest, Jennifer Rice, said: "Scooter was electrocuted on a live electrical wire with his mother. The jolt knocked him off his back and when he fell to the ground, a stick went through his back and paralysed his hind legs. When his mother came down to the ground to rescue him, he couldn't hold on and eventually she had to leave him. Scooter would surely have died if he was not rescued and brought to our centre. Ashley's Ark has made it possible for us to have a dedicated station for monkeys like Scooter."

Ashley's Ark, set up in memory of animal lover Ashley Sammons, has also agreed to donate £5,000 to the College of West Anglia, where Ashley was a former student on the animal care course.

The donation will go towards erecting animal pens at the new March campus, which is to open in 2010.

The charity would like to thank those who supported a recent bingo at Emneth Village Hall and a market stall in Downham Market, which together raised £1,000.

To find out more visit www.ashleysark.org.