A monkey and ape sanctuary in the Swansea Valley has seen bills treble and said new Brexit rules make it extremely difficult to rescue animals. The Wales Ape &Monkey Sanctuary, which has saved animals from across the globe for 24 years, struggled to cover basic costs during lockdown and now face sky-rocketing energy bills and nightmare paperwork due to Brexit.
"The animals here are not a commodity or a collection as they're called in zoos – they're our family and our residents," said owner Jan Garen, who first set up the animal sanctuary at Caehopkin, Abercrave, in 1999 with her husband Graham Garen.
In January 2021 the sanctuary was already in a "critical financial situation" thanks to national, local, and firebreak lockdowns putting a stop to regular visitors which the sanctuary relied on to cover costs. Despite receiving grants from the Welsh Government and Powys Council the staggering £30,000-a-month cost to run the sanctuary proved difficult to cover while the popular animal attraction was closed to the public.
