Silver Springs State Park: Hours, Address, Silver Springs State Park Reviews: 4/5. Silver Springs State Park is facing a serious primate problem. Then, after lining up expert witnesses and showing them around the laboratory at night, PETA took the evidence to the police—and an intense, decade-long battle for custody of the monkeys ensued. Taub, who also had no veterinary training, nevertheless subjected the monkeys to surgeries in which he severed their spinal nerves, rendering one or more of their limbs useless. Kayaking Silver Springs is an amazing experience. The animals are breeding … The Dyrt PRO lets you download maps and campgrounds without cell service. While the rhesus monkeys have only become an attraction more recently. SILVER SPRINGS, Fla. - A man kayaking on a Florida river captured wild video of monkeys jumping from the trees into the water around him. He did and began working as a volunteer at the Institute for Behavioral Research (IBR). The paddle is easy and if you don't feel like paddling back up the river to the park you can ferry some cars and take out a few miles down river. Apparently, 12 monkeys were released on an island within the park by a local tour boat operator in the 30s, as an effort to start a Tarzan-themed tourist attraction. If you kayak from Silver Springs, down to Ray’s Landing (our take out point for BK Adventure Kayaking Tours) you should be able to see at least one or two families of monkeys along the way. The Silver Springs monkeys The rural area near Ocala, Florida, was once home to an amazing variety of primate species—some of whom still live there in the wild. A recent study by Wildlife Management found that the Silver Springs monkey population, which started with only 12 rhesus macaques in Central Florida, is expected to reach around 400 by 2022. The rhesus macaque monkeys are not native to Florida—the earliest documentation of the Silver Springs monkeys goes as far back as the 1930s, according to Dr. Brian W. Ogle, assistant professor of anthrozoology at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida. The Silver Springs tourist attraction once housed the spider monkeys in Florida along with Gibbons family, some lemurs, and soldiers of the macaque monkey. It is also the filming location for the black and white Tarzan movies, Creature From the Black Lagoon and a host of other films and TV shows. Silver Spring Monkeys: A colony of primates used by a grant-funded psychologist for research on stroke rehabilitation, which required total denervation, performed on the monkeys by dorsal rhizotomy “Since humans are in close proximity, and the monkeys have a tendency to act in an aggressive manner when humans become too close,” Ogle said. 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In 2017, a group of rhesus macaques were filmed chasing a family in Silver Springs State Park. (Note: this may change as the State now considers the monkeys a health hazard, more below.) This virus can be transferred to humans through bites, scratches, and bodily fluids. The free-roaming, rhesus macaque monkeys are expected to double their population size by 2022. When contracted by a human, this herpes B virus can cause brain damage and death. The owner of BK Adventure, Ram, is from Nepal. The monkeys were released by tour boat operator Colonel Tooey [3] to enhance his Jungle Cruise ride. For example, anecdotal reports stated that thousands of monkeys lived in the park. The monkey was first brought to Florida in the 1930s in the Silver Springs area and they have spread across the state ever since. “Almost all of us grew up eating meat, wearing leather, and going to circuses and zoos. A roving band of feral, herpes-ridden monkeys is … The 4,000-acre Silver Springs State Park encompasses not only the springs, but the entire 5-mile Silver River and surrounding sandhill forest. Silver Springs State Park A colony of rhesus macaques was established around Silver Springs in Florida around the spring of 1938. However, it is always my recommendation with any wild animal, to enjoy seeing them from a safe distance.”, This advice keeps people safe, as well as the monkeys safe from developing harmful behaviors. Meijer: Stop Selling Live Fish as ‘Pets’ NOW! We never considered the impact of these actions on the animals involved. She has lived all over the world as a military kid and enlisted Airman, but no destination settles her soul more than the steely-blue Smokies. A population boom allows for a higher chance of a potentially fatal monkey attack, causing a public health and safety concern. It even led to landmark additions to the Animal Welfare Act—and unrelenting public scrutiny of the abuse that animals endure in experimentation. Monkeys in Florida are not only nothing new; they're the stuff of legend. But now the parcel of 5,000 acres of land is becoming infamously known for the potentially-dangerous Silver Springs monkeys. But what many visitors to Silver Springs do not know is that there are hundreds of Rhesus monkeys in the park living uninhabited. But the problem for the future of the park is the increased human exposure to the monkeys, and how that could alter the behavior of the primates. While contraction is extraordinarily rare, and most commonly occurs through bites and scratches from macaques, the fatal consequences are cause for extra precaution around the Silver Springs monkeys. That’s right—Silver Spring State Park is home to at least 300 rhesus macaques, a monkey native to south and southeast Asia. There are also Vervet monkeys which are more prominent in … By submitting this form, you are agreeing to our collection, storage, use, and disclosure of your personal info in accordance with our privacy policy as well as to receiving e-mails from us. The macaques at Silver River aren’t native to Florida, but they’ve been here for decades. Workers often neglected to feed the monkeys, and the animals would desperately pick through the stinking urine and fecal waste in trays beneath their cages to find something to eat. The Origin of the Silver Springs Monkeys The rhesus macaque monkeys are not native to Florida—the earliest documentation of the Silver Springs monkeys goes as far back as the 1930s, according to Dr. Brian W. Ogle, assistant professor of anthrozoology at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida. “The biggest action I would avoid is extermination without a solid attempt to place these animals in proper captive environments, such as an accredited zoological facility.”. Silver Springs State Park has, in the past, closed down sections of the park directly due to issues caused by the roaming rhesus macaques. The glass bottom boats have been attracting visitors to Silver Springs for decades. In the 1980s, public outcry ensued over the capture and sale of the Silver Springs monkeys. IBR was a federally funded laboratory in Silver Spring, Maryland, now closed down for reasons that will soon become apparent. There are only a handful of known rhesus macaques biting incidents on record. The park has long been known as a tourist attraction in north-central Florida for its glass-bottom boat tours of one of the largest artesian springs in the world. Riley and Wade counted only 118. Truly one of Florida’s natural treasures, and one of the best Kayaking tours in Florida . SILVER SPRINGS — The forest explodes with angry shrieks, grunts and squeals as monkeys fight near the banks of the Silver River, defending their … The Silver Spring Monkeys: The Case That Launched PETA In the summer of 1981, PETA’s founder, Ingrid Newkirk, leafed through the pages of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s list of laboratories, picked the closest one, and asked her colleague, Alex, to see if he could get inside. “This is difficult as many people go to the park for an up close encounter with the feral animals. Terms for automated texts/calls from PETA: asking your congressional representatives, PETA to NIH: Animals Are Sentient—Stop Testing on Them, Shocking Scenes of Worker Cutting Up Pregnant Sheep in New PETA Exposé, PETA Exclusive: Exposing the Businesses That Sell Animals to Labs. There, we found 17 monkeys living in tiny rusty wire cages caked with years of accumulated feces in a dungeon-like room. 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