NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) — The Primate Rescue Center has been tucked away on private land in Jessamine County for 30 years, yet many central Kentuckians have never heard of it. That’s because the center is truly a sanctuary, not a zoo or tourist attraction.
Currently, nine chimpanzees and 40 monkeys live at the 30-acre site. They landed here after spending years in research labs, the entertainment industry, or private homes.
The Primate Rescue Center was founded in the late 1980s when Clay Miller gave his wife, April Truitt, a monkey as a pet.
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“As they investigated the industry, they realized there were a lot of monkeys out there that were purchased as babies and raised in the home that quickly outgrew that cute diaper-fed stage and became wild animals in people’s homes,” said executive director Eileen Dunnington Dallaire…