About

Francine Roy adopted Toutie, an orphaned capuchin monkey, in 2013 while living in the Bocas del Toro region of Panama. In order to give her the best possible life, Francine realized she needed to provide Toutie with plenty of space to express herself; a space away from any dangers.

In 2013, Francine and Toutie moved to Urraca Private Island, where they built a beautiful home among the mangroves. Over the years, Francine has adopted additional monkeys who were either abandoned by their pet owners, or found orphaned due to habitat loss or hunting in the wild. Now, all these monkeys belong to a troop where they can socialize, groom, and play with other monkeys every day.

Visitors come to our island to learn about the incredible primate biodiversity of Panama and the qualities that make each species (and each monkey) unique. Most of all, the goal is that our visitors leave the island with the powerful realization that monkeys are wild, social, and very smart beings who deserve to live in groups in the wild, not to be raised in solitude as pets. 

We provide lifelong, quality care for Panamanian monkeys; and work hard to ensure our current residents (and the ones to come) are given the best possible life, excellent care, and lots of love. 

What we do is providing other monkeys who weren’t as lucky as Toutie with a chance to be monkeys again, in a new home where their needs to socialize, belong, and become part of a troop will be satisfied. 

Offering life-long quality care for monkeys who were separated from their families at a young age, and therefore don’t posses the skills and knowledge to survive in the wild.

Providing them with love, attention, plenty of space to express themselves, and the opportunity to socialize with other monkeys. By doing so, we encourage their rehabilitation (phisically, emotionally, and psychologically), and thus, promote the development of natural behaviors and typical traits characteristic to each of their species.

Delivering happy lives & wellbeing to our resident monkeys; while we raise awareness on the detrimental effects of the illegal pet trade by offering guided educational tours to the public.

Visitors must leave our island with a desire to advocate for these creatures, and most importantly, with the strong realization that monkeys are energetic, wild, social beings that should never be bought or raised as pets.