Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary

Next we visiting, the Labuk Bay Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary. Proboscis monkeys are found only on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia, therefore we made an effort to see them. The proboscis monkey gets its name from its large, fleshy nose. Female noses are not as large as the male monkeys' noses, although larger than most monkeys, and juveniles have small upturned noses. The males are so large that they hang down over their mouths, reminding one of the old comic, Jimmy Durante.

After visiting four different animal sanctuaries over the past two days - turtles, orang-utans, sun bears, and proboscis monkeys - I'm starting to understand the need for animal sanctuaries.  Not so long ago I was not a huge fan of animal sanctuaries. I viewed them as pseudo-zoos, but especially since the human population has doubled from 3.5 to 7 billion in the last 50 years (approximately). There is very little open space on earth left for these animals. Animal sanctuaries are definitely better than zoos.

However, my one big issue with animal sanctuaries is that they allow the inhabitant to live beyond a natural age.  I've seen numerous very old inhabitant of animals sanctuaries that can barely see or walk. If these animals existed in the wild they'd be dead.  I don't understand the need for animals sanctuaries to allow the animals to suffer in their old age.