Wild Hearts Lemur Sanctuary

10/02/2026

Wild Hearts Lemur Sanctuary will be tabling at Fall-O-Ween at EPIC Outreach on October 24th. Come on out to enjoy the festivities and learn more about our important work in lemur rescue, rehabilitation, and lifelong professional care.

09/24/2026

Many thanks to Exotic Bird Hospital and Jax Horizon Vet Imaging for helping us try to figure out what’s going on with KJ.

09/24/2026

KJ (left, holding his “staff” below) recently developed a large knot above his left eye. Last week, he went to the vet to get it checked out. It is a strange bone-hard mass. Radiographs, bloodwork, and a fine-needle aspirate did not yield many answers. So today he is back at the vet for a CT scan.

We are incredibly grateful to Maru Nunez for funding KJ’s annual care needs, as medical procedures like this are quite expensive.

Not many of the Wild Hearts residents have donors so dedicated to their care. Become a lemur sponsor today.

Joining forces so rescued lemurs can live wild at heart!

09/21/2026

Get your WILD at Heart t-shirts to help support our important work in lemur rescue, physical and behavioral rehabilitation, and lifelong professional care!

Buy WILD at heart! merchandise that supports Endangered Primate Foundation Inc. Featuring Athletic Heather Premium Unisex Tees, professionally printed in the USA.

09/14/2026

It is with incredibly heavy hearts that we share our beloved Mango passed peacefully today, surrounded by compassion. He was a 23-year-old male ring-tailed lemur who had been a Wild Hearts resident for more than eight years.

His story did not begin with us. Mango was rescued from a substandard attraction where he had spent many years. While Mango wasn’t our oldest resident, he certainly looked it from simply having had such a hard life before rescue.

Once Mango arrived at our sanctuary, his story changed. He knew safety. He knew good food. He knew sunshine and space. He knew companionship. And, most importantly, he knew he was loved.

Mango had far surpassed the median life expectancy of a ring-tailed lemur, which is approximately 16.7 years. We were incredibly fortunate to have those extra years with him. We managed his severe arthritis and watched over him as he grew older. When his tremors became increasingly severe, his mobility declined, his appetite faded, and he began withdrawing from his companions and isolating himself, we knew it was time to make the hardest decision we make for the animals entrusted to us.

We promised Mango that we would never allow his final days to become about suffering. And today, we kept our promise. Loving him meant also knowing when to let him go. Mango passed peacefully and with dignity.

We couldn’t change the first 15 years of Mango’s life, but we made sure the last eight were different. That is the legacy we want to carry forward.

If Mango’s story touches your heart, please consider making a donation in his memory to help another lemur who needs the second chance he received. Your gift can provide food, veterinary care, safe habitats and lifelong sanctuary for animals who, like Mango, have already experienced far more hardship and trauma than they ever should have.

https://www.wildheartslemursanctuary.org/

Rest in peace, sweet Mango.

💔 Our hearts are heavy, but still wild! ❤️

08/29/2026

Even if a place calls themselves a sanctuary, they are not legitimate if they offer direct contact with wild animals to visitors. Please don’t support these places. Also, yet another reason primates are NOT pets.

A common human virus proved fatal to lemurs who were used in a yoga class.

A groundbreaking study has confirmed the first molecularly verified cases of human herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) in lemurs, leading to a tragic outcome for four privately owned animals.

Veterinary researchers at the University of Florida investigated the deaths of four lemurs that developed severe neurological symptoms, including brain inflammation and seizures, before passing away.

Alarmingly, investigators traced the source of one animal's infection back to a public "lemur yoga" session, where an asymptomatic human carrying the virus likely transmitted it through close physical contact.

While HSV-1 is a highly common and largely harmless nuisance for humans—affecting nearly two-thirds of the population under 50 with nothing more than an occasional cold sore—it represents a swift death sentence for lemurs.

Because these primates never evolved a biological tolerance to the human virus, it rapidly attacks their nervous systems.

Unlike accredited institutions that enforce strict biosecurity protocols like wearing masks, private animal encounters often bypass these measures, prompting experts to warn that humans must recognize the invisible dangers they pose to vulnerable species.

source: Wellehan, J. F. X., et al. (2026). Human alphaherpesvirus 1 in two ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta), one black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata), and one Varecia hybrid lemur (Varecia variegata x Varecia rubra). Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine, 57(3), 480-489.

08/28/2026

Join us Wednesday night at Tijuana Flats to eat with purpose!

08/23/2026