In a parrot cage in a room in a house with no heating and curtains drawn. That is the life two Squirrel Monkeys were forced to endure, for years. No license required, no inspections, no standards to follow, no one who could help them knew they were there suffering. The suffering and stress and boredom inflicted is unimaginable.
A parrot cage is bad enough but a parrot cage where the sides and floor was coated with excrement, built up over a long period. No enrichment, nothing clean, dry and soft to sleep on.
Today they enjoy a vast inside and outside space with connecting tunnels. They enjoy sunbathing, catching insects, playing chase and sleeping on a clean hammock in a heated barn at night. Their minds are kept busy with visual stimulus of the team and other animals, enrichment toys and enriched feeding techniques. They can run, leap and climb. Having said that, this is still not the wild where they should be.
As I write this, out there are other monkeys enduring the unendurable, hidden from view.
