(4 Aug 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Perkinston, Mississippi – 25 July 2025
1. April Stewart, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary founder, opens gate to spider monkey enclosure
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED BY SHOTS 1 & 3++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) April Stewart, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary founder:
"I’m a military veteran, and a military veteran with PTSD, and one of my coping mechanisms has always been animals."
3. April Stewart, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary founder, puts coconut oil in squirrel monkey’s paws
4. Spider monkey taps the head of April Stewart, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary founder
++SOUNDBITE FULLY COVERED BY SHOT 4++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) April Stewart, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary founder:
"And we turned our property into a monkey sanctuary."
6. Kinkajou yawns
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED BY SHOTS 6, 8 & 9++
7. SOUNDBITE (English) April Stewart, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary founder:
"The sanctuary is helping me learn to trust people, just like John is a veteran, and we have other people who come here who have trust issues with people."
8. Spider monkey hangs from enclosure
9. John Richard, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary volunteer, stands outside spider monkey enclosure
10. Spider monkey climbs on April Stewart, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary founder
++SOUNDBITE FULLY COVERED BY SHOT 10++
11. SOUNDBITE (English) April Stewart, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary founder:
"By helping the primates learning to trust, we’re also re-teaching ourselves how to trust, and we’re giving ourselves grace with people."
12. Spider monkey swings on John Richard, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary volunteer
++SOUNDBITE FULLY COVERED BY SHOT 12++
13. SOUNDBITE (English) John Richard, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary volunteer:
"I went through a few things like a lot of us in the service, and it kind of messed me up I guess."
14. John Richard, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary volunteer sits inside spider monkey enclosure
++SOUNDBITE FULLY COVERED BY SHOTS 14 & 16++
15. SOUNDBITE (English) John Richard, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary volunteer:
"It kind of — it just shut me down, you know, and being out here has brought back a lot of faith to me."
16. Spider monkey embraces John Richard, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary volunteer
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED BY SHOTS 16 & 18++
17. SOUNDBITE (English) John Richard, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary volunteer:
"It’s helped me more than over 20 years of the VA. It really has."
18. Spider monkey climbs on John Richard, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary volunteer
19. Spider monkey follows John Richard, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary volunteer inside
++SOUNDBITE FULLY COVERED BY SHOTS 19, 21 & 22++
20. SOUNDBITE (English) John Richard, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary volunteer:
"I think about the animals walking around out here knowing that nobody’s going to hurt ’em. You know, and it just brings a peace over me. It truly does."
21. Spider monkey looks up
22. John Richard, Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary volunteer holds spider monkey
23. Spider monkey walks up to camera and sniffs it
STORYLINE:
In the embrace of a cheerfully chittering spider monkey, a military veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder finds peace.
“Being out here has brought a lot of faith back to me,” said John Richard. “There’s no feeling like it.”
Richard volunteers at the Gulf Coast Primate Sanctuary, located in Perkinston, Mississippi. The sanctuary, which claims to be the only primate sanctuary in the state licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was founded in October by fellow veteran April Stewart.
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