Throughout time man has had a fascination with monkeys and apes. Children in particular seem mesmerised by their intelligence, playfulness and inquisitiveness. From Curious George to Marcel’s feature role in Friends our love of our closest relative has never waned.

But in some parts of the world many species of monkey are under threat from the destruction of their habitat and exploitation by man. Which is why across the world there are teams of dedicated volunteers working to protect these animals, safeguarding their habitats and working with local communities help to create a better future for people and wildlife.

The Lilongwe Wildlife Centre in Malawi is one of them. Staff at the sanctuary rescue injured monkeys and help them to recuperate before releasing them back into the wild. Supported by Born Free, the sanctuary relies on donations from companies and people to keep their great work going.

Lee Stewart, who heads up the sanctuary at Lilongwe will be joining us live to tell you everything you ever wanted to know about monkeys and introduce you to some of the 40 vervets and baboons at the sanctuary, all with their own incredible stories.

Joining Lee is Heartbeat’s Joe McFadden. Joe, who plays PC Joe Mason in the ITV series, is a long-standing supporter of Born Free. And alongside him will be Bruce Learner of Kellogg’s – who has teamed up with Born Free to give people the opportunity to take part in the amazing Adopt a Monkey scheme. From January to March 2009, people have the chance to directly help these animals and ‘Adopt a Monkey’ by collecting three special packs of Kellogg’s cereal. Each adoption will last six months and will help Born Free rescue and rehabilitate monkeys and return them to the wild.

To learn more about these incredible creatures and how you can help your children understand more about the monkey kingdom, log on to our live WebTV show.

H: Victoria Letch, host
L: Lee Stewart, Lilongwe sanctuary
J: Joe McFadden, actor
B: Bruce Learner, Kellogg’s

H: Hello and welcome to the Good Causes Show, Vicky Letch. Now then what is it about our fascination with monkeys and apes? Children in particular seem mesmerised by their intelligence and playfulness. From Curious George to Marcel’s feature role in Friends our love of our closest relative has never waned. Despite our obsession many species of monkey are under threat from destruction of their habitat and exploitation by man. The good news is, is that there are volunteers out there working to turn this situation around. Kellogg’s have teamed up with the Born Free Foundation, to give you the opportunity to help the little fellas out. Joining us today is Lee Stewart who heads up the monkey sanctuary, and Heartbeat’s favourite policeman – yes favourite – Joe McFadden and Bruce Learner from Kellogg’s. Welcome along, thank you very much for joining us. Now do remember of course all of you watching at home, we are totally live, so if you have any questions or queries pop them in the box on the screen, click submit and we’ll endeavour to work very hard to get them answered, won’t we boys?

B: We will

J: We’ll do our best

L: Yes

H: Three yes’s. Good start. Alright then Lee, I’m going to start with you. Monkeys, as we all know and would appreciate are fascinating creatures, just amazing, so the chance to work with them every day must be truly incredible. Tell us a bit about the work that you do

L: Yes, no I’m very lucky. I actually work out in Malawi in the capital city Lilongwe where there’s a small sanctuary that we’ve just developed, two years old. And our primary remit really is to rescue, rehabilitate and get these orphans back to the wild. Now we work with the department of national parks and in recent years they’ve not really had the resources so with the backing of the Born Free Foundation, we’ve managed to set up something that’s actually going to support the orphans, whether – it doesn’t have to be primates, but any animal that comes in. We’re the only facility of its kind. So we support the national parks in actually trying to get out to the places where these animals are being orphaned. If not there then we kind of pick them up when they get into the urban areas. So many of the animals that have come in, they’ve all come from very bad kind of situations. Some are very young, some are very old and have spent up to ten years in captivity. But pretty much all of them are kind of victims of the illegal pet trade that goes on out there, and when I say the – sorry more bush meat trade, bush meat is really local people kind of looking to put food on their tables, and they go into the national parks and they poach illegally, after killing the animals you’ve got the little off-springs that are left, and they kind of end up in the illegal pet trade and that’s where we kind of step in and work with national parks to try and educate but enforce the laws of Malawi, which is it’s illegal to do so

H: Ok

L: So when they eventually come, they go into a quarantine, for 35 days and it’s during this period we kind of get to know each individual monkey, they all have really different personalities which is very interesting. A lot of them look similar but their personalities are totally different, and once they’ve gone through their screening we kind of decide which group they’re going to best fit in, so it’s pretty much like when you first go to school – primary school, you kind of pick your friends and we just help them along the way and just hopefully they’ll learn kind of to be a monkey again and then when they’re ready we put them back in the wild

H: That must be quite difficult because I know you’re doing a job, obviously, but you must get emotionally attached with all these little chaps?

L: Yes, no you do – especially those that you hand rear. Some of them are so young, maybe a week old –

H: Oh I – I wouldn’t be able to cope. Yes.

L: But you kind of get used to it, I’ve been doing it a while now and you do have that sense, you’ve got to be detached from the animals because very rarely you do lose one, some of them come in in very traumatic conditions and very emaciated. And – but the majority of them do come through and then you have to release them back to the wild which that’s our goal, it’s – it – there’s no point keeping them in captivity, they want to be back in the wild, they want to be back with their own kind, and we just help them on their way which is great

H: So you’re talking about individual monkeys. I’ve been hearing stories, wild tales about a certain chap called Bruiser? A little cute little monkey?

L: Yes he’s getting quite famous in the UK now. Even Joe’s picked to adopt him as well

H: Would you like to take him home with you?

J: I really would, in fact that’s the reason I’m on board. No that’s not true, that’s not true

H: Is this really the Get Joe Bruiser campaign?

J: Yes

H: I don’t think it’s going to work. Well because you are all such fans of Bruiser, we’re going to make you fans of him as well. We’re going to show you a short film, if you just look down here

Video Footage

“He’s called Bruiser, he came in about two weeks ago. He came fromDzlanyama. It’s a small forest reserve about 60k’s west of Lilongwe. The story goes is that he was actually transported on the back of a bike, in a milli meal sack. So when he arrived he was actually quite greasy with oil but he had this white sheen over him from the milli meal. Ok little Bruiser here, obviously needs a lot of care and attention. At this age, he would literally be strapped to his mum 24 hours a day. So we’re literally replacing his mum who was obviously killed by the illegal bush meat trade.”

H: I want one. I realise though I can’t have one. Now Joe, let’s get to you, because it’s quite interesting, obviously we’re talking about an actor here. How on earth did you get into a situation where you were supporting the Born Free Foundation?

J: Yes well I was just approached by Born Free really and obviously was very aware of the work that they do, as most people are, and yes, they’re just such a fantastic organisation because they’re all about getting animals back into their natural habitats, looking after them, and these animals that really wouldn’t have had help from anyone else, this sanctuary in Malawi, there’s nothing else like it in the country, so these animals would be destitute without the Born Free Foundation. And it’s a real honour to do something, to do something worthwhile instead of running around pretending to arrest people. It’s good. It’s a good thing to spend your time on I think

H: Excellent. Now I know lots of people will understand exactly how this works. Let’s just make it clear, although you’re looking after these animals, it is very different to a zoo because you’re final aim obviously at all times is to release them back into their natural environment

L: Yes, no definitely. We – as a sanctuary we don’t breed exchange animals, we literally wait for them – it sounds very sad, to become orphaned or injured and we step in and kind of like do what we can to get them back to the wild. So we, yes we don’t look for animals, it’s literally whatever comes our way that we will do the best we can and get them back

H: Ok brilliant. Now we are going to talk in just a moment about how you can help at home if you want to adopt one of these lovely little monkeys. But before we do that we’re going to show you some more film that explains a little bit more about the work that you do at the sanctuary. So take a look

Video Footage

Kasangu National Park, Malawi

“Ok so we’ve just tested the radio collars. They work from about a kilometre away. So they’re working fine. So just head back now, and almost ready to release the baboons.

H: What a beautiful film. I have to say thank you very much to Bruce Philips on that front, that was the film maker, that was absolutely beautiful. Lovely music as well. Well done Bruce Philips everyone! Ok now then Bruce let’s get to you – not Bruce Philips – Bruce whose going to tell us all about Kellogg’s and the scheme that you’re running with Born Free

B: Yes we’re doing this because for Kellogg’s what we’re trying to do is add something extra for people when they buy a box of our cereal. We’re trying to add a bit of fun as well. So for example this time last year if you’d bought a box of Corn Flakes you could have gone for a free swim. Year before that you could have got a cyclometer. This year, we wanted to go down the good cause route, so we decided to team up with Born Free, the Born Free foundation and enable people to learn all about the issues that you’ve just seen on the film and that Lee’s talked about, but adopt your own monkey and really what we really want people to do is continue the relationship with the Born Free Foundation so that Born Free have got hundreds of thousands of new members and supporters in years to come

H: Ok. Now it’s a nice thing for children isn’t it?

B: Yes

H: It’s a lovely thing maybe if parents do it for their children. I’m very nosy naturally and I’ve spotted an adoptions certificate down there which is a lovely thing to give to one of your kids

B: Basically what people need to do is to get down the supermarket and you need to buy 3 packets of the promotional cereal

H: Yes

B: You’ll recognise them because there’s monkeys all over them

H: Ok

B: You’ll get a code of each of the three packets and then you can visit the website which is www.adoptamonkey.co.uk. Then you’ll see up to 30 monkeys we’ve got, 30 young monkeys at the moment, you fall in love with one of them, you adopt them

H: Yes

B: And when you do that you get this adoption pack which includes an adoption certificate, a photo

H: Lovely, yes

B: A story, about the animal, and also the opportunity to get some stickers as well

H: So you can learn about these monkeys? I’m not going on and going I’ll have that one – I can learn about their characteristics and their name and –

B: Absolutely. What we want people to do is to get really engaged with this, to feel a kind of affinity with the work that Lee and Born Free are doing. But take a real interest. The next time a wildlife program comes on television or you read something in the papers you’re a bit more engaged. People are a bit more understanding about the battle that we face if you like to preserve and look after these creatures

H: It’s also a great learning tool for children to learn about monkeys, and the monkey bum facts I particularly like

B: Absolutely. I didn’t know that the difference between a monkey and an ape –

J: Monkeys have tails

B: Correct

H: Oh Joe McFadden everyone! That’s why he’s on this sofa!

B: Joe and I have both learnt something new already

H: Yes but I wouldn’t necessarily know that either. I mean so far my experience has just been Gorillas in the Mist. Great film.

L: Very good

J: Not as good as Born Free – which was a far better film

H: Well yes

J: No offence Meryl

H: Ok. Right let’s start with these questions then, we have things to do men and we’re running out of time. So this is from Jack, Jack thank you very much. Remember we are live so if you have any questions do try and pop them into us and we’ll try and get them all answered. Jack says “my mum says we can adopt a monkey. What kind of monkeys can we adopt?” Who wants to go first?

B: Well done

L: You can adopt yellow baboons, velvet monkeys, olive baboons and we have one hamadryas

H: A who sorry?

L: Oh sorry and a blue monkey. Sorry

H: A blue monkey?

J: Is he blue?

L: He is blue-ish. Yes blue –

H: Like a purple rinse?

L: Yes

H: Jack you’re too young to know what I’m talking about. A little hint of the purple. Great

L: So a variety on there

H: Ok good, a variety of monkey. Now I’ve been dying to ask this question, because this is from a member of the Joe McFadden fan club –

J: Ok

H: Were you aware that there was one of those? No only joking. Right, he says –

J: I told them not to call you!

H: He says “Joe – “ right I don’t know who it’s from because it’s just from your fan site. It says “we’re really pleased that Joe’s involved with this wonderful charity. Why is he involved and on a more personal note, does Joe have a favourite wild animal?”

J: Why am I involved? Just basically what I was saying before about how it’s kind of, I just think it’s a nice thing to do, it’s a good thing to do. These animals need our help and our support and yes I do feel a wee affinity with monkeys and – what’s my favourite wild animal? I’ve seen a lot of animals over the past year, working on Heartbeat. Lots of sheep

H: Yes

J: Quite a lot of – we’ve had kittens, we’ve had pigs –

H: Go for something more manly Joe

J: An ape. I do like apes

H: There you go. I’m sure if it was a female she wanted you to say tiger or something like that, but we’ll go with apes, good. Yes. Let’s go to a question from Lucy, so Lucy thank you very much for your question. She says “I’d really like to adopt a monkey for my son and was wondering how it works. Do you get an adoption pack and how long does it take?” We’ve touched on this briefly but we can talk about this more. “If your monkey is let back into the wild in the middle of your adoption do you then back a different monkey?” Good question

B: Yes that is a good question.

B: Yes you do get an adoption pack, it should take a couple of weeks to come through to you, yes? Now the good news is your adoption will last for 6 months. We reckon all the monkeys will be in the sanctuary with Lee for 6 months, then they get released into the wild, which of course is what this is all about

H: Yes

B: Now you will be able to track your monkey in the wild. There will be – we’ll figure a way – Lee’s got some radio collars to track some of the monkeys so we can find out about their progress. But at the end of 6 months if you want to adopt another monkey, please go ahead and do it. You’re helping Born Free you’re helping Lee, but you will have to pay for it this time

H: Ok. But of course going back to what you were saying, that’s the whole idea isn’t it, supporting the monkey until it’s ready to go back into its natural habitat. So there should be a sense of pride that your monkey’s made it back into the real world

B: You’ve helped

H: Yes, definitely

H: Right time for the final question and it’s a good one. This is from Michael. Thank you Michael. This is for you Lee – what is it like heading up the sanctuary, and if a child for example really wants to work with monkeys in the future, how on earth would they ever get into that sort of work?

L: It’s not easy. But I think it does take passion and it does take a lot of commitment. I’ve been doing it a long time and you really need to just get out there and get involved with a project, whether it’s a Born Free funded project or another project, and really show you’re dedicated. And it does take a while, as I say. But it’s worth it in the end because every single day is different. Every day you make a change, you make a difference to – maybe it’s a troops life that you’re putting back into the wild or just an individual animal that comes into the sanctuary. So it’s very, very rewarding. Don’t expect to ever make money out of this, but I think –

J: It’s for the love

L: Yes as I say it’s pretty much do it for the love, and it – you actually feel you achieve something at the end of the day

H: Yes. And hopefully look good in khaki, because I imagine you wear a lot of that. I’m just teasing. Right ok final word with you Joe, because you’re someone who, you know, you’re leading a – well not a normal life, you’re an actor and you’re very successful

J: Very abnormal

H: But you have made a decision on a personal level to support this cause so –

J: Absolutely

H: So if you were to say to the good people out there, why would you adopt a monkey, what would you say?

J: Just because it’s a lovely thing to do and we should look after these poor creatures that can’t help themselves, and it’s a great thing for people to do

H: Lovely, thank you very much. Well thank you so much for your time, very informative, and I’m afraid to say that’s all we’ve got time for today, but if you do like the sound of adopting a monkey, get collecting those codes from Kellogg’s cereals, and for more information go have a look on the website which is www.kelloggs.co.uk/adoptamonkey. I’ll look forward to seeing you next time. Bye bye