Responsible animal sanctuaries don t exploit primates ocala.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ocala.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A 7-month-old red kangaroo, Ruby, takes a subtler approach, gently hopping around to ask the painters for bananas, grapes and apples.
Two umbrella cockatoos, Casper and Cassandra, who are said to be ACDC fans, watch from the corner and occasionally squawk “Hello.”
The sanctuary, which has been rescuing primates and other exotic animals for around a decade, introduced the painting sessions about four months ago to educate visitors on the pet primate trade and raise money to rescue animals from breeders.
From cats and dogs to lemurs and tortoises
Chase Rescue Sanctuary, located an hour south of Ocala in Webster, started out as a rescue for cats and dogs 14 years ago. Nina and Donna Vassallo, who own the rescue, would occasionally take in birds but didn’t get into exotic animals until someone brought Tracy, a common brown lemur.
Over the past year, like a lot of people during the coronavirus pandemic, Meagan Harding found herself with more time on her hands than usual.
So, the 27-year-old, who lives in unincorporated Deltona, decided to stop waiting for the right time and do something she d always dreamed of: start a rescue and sanctuary for exotic animals.
Creating the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission-licensed nonprofit, which became official in September, took a mountain of paperwork, Harding said. But it s the greatest thing ever.
At her grandparent s property, where Harding also lives, near northeast Deltona, there are more than a dozen animals that make up 101 Paws and Claws.