By Brett Milam
Editor
When I first met him, looking proper with his tuxedo, he gave me a high five and stared at me with his button brown eyes.
His name is Louie Ray, a capuchin monkey, who turned 20-years-old on March 21. He was sitting on the kitchen table of Teresa Bullock’s home, the owner of the nonprofit Misfitland Monkey Rescue in Moscow.
Misfitland is a farm located on 300 acres at 100 Bullock Lane with a “strong desire to educate others about monkeys with the whole truth about life with them from health to housing and fun to gross.”
Louie was rescued by Bullock on June 3, 2018 in Grove City, and as Bullock likes to say, he’s found his “forever home.” Which is more than what was likely to happen, had Bullock not stepped in: The previous owner was about to put him to sleep within a few days. She couldn’t physically take care of Louie anymore.
She still checks up on Louie, though, and even sent him nuts recently.
Misfitland’s slogan is, “Life is too short to fit in,” but it’s more than just a slogan, it’s a mantra and way of life for Bullock.
She also owns macaque monkeys, like Bugs and Penny Rose, Ralphie D and Gunner, who she is only babysitting for a spell. There’s a potbelly pig, and at least four or five dogs roaming around, one of whom, Sara, was quite jealous of the attention anyone else received, along with a cat.
Also hanging out with the monkeys and watching cartoons — yes, the television with cartoons in the small indoor enclosure is for the monkeys’ viewing pleasure — is Grace the parrot, who perhaps is a little shy and prefers to speak when others aren’t around, but is sure to give kisses upon request and fan her feathers.
She does like telling the monkeys they are “baaaaad.”
Bullock, 51, grew up on a similarly-sized farm a few miles from where she lives now and has always had a special love for animals.
“Depression is something that I have fought my whole life and them needing me and knowing that without me, they could face a very rough life, if they had a life at all, has made me have a purpose in life,” Bullock says on her website.
When I visited on a rainy, cold March 18, trying to stave off the coming spring, the monkeys bounded around in their enclosure to see who had arrived and the dogs peeked around the corner with curiosity.
Tucked back behind Pumpelly Road, the first thing you notice is not the red garage or home, but the giant wooden enclosure with a Misfitland banner at the top. It almost looks like a playground for children; there’s balls, trampolines, spring animals, rope, play sets and more.
And in a way, the monkeys are children. Curious, playful and they even stick their tongue out at you. They also require diaper changes prior to playdates, even with reporters from The Clermont Sun. During the course of the interview with Louie, he would also get thirsty for his bottle and suck on it like a baby would. The bottle is a nutritional shake.
But monkeys also aren’t children and that’s sort of the message Bullock is trying to educate people on. People see monkeys like Louie and think he’s cute — and objectively, he is — and think they want to own something cute and “exotic” like him, but there’s more to it.
Not to mention, given that monkeys are always climbing around with their arms, they have the strength of an adult woman and ones like Louis, before his front teeth were removed, could bite strong as backed up by an alpha mentality.
“It’s not like they’re perfectly behaved — they’re not little people,” Bullock said. “They got little hands, like us and thumbs, but they’re not a little kid. And a lot of people go get ‘em and think that they are.”
So, Misfitland aims to be part rescue and sanctuary for animals and also part education.
“We do it with him because the worst he’s going to do is get slobber on you,” Bullock said, regarding using Louie for such playdates.
They’re like dogs in that way, too, but also not like dogs because you don’t pet a monkey. They get a little paranoid if you start reaching around to the back, as you would a dog.
Curious Louie, and the case of Angel Louise
The COVID-19 pandemic means masks and masks for monkeys are an invitation to ask, “What’s underneath there?” It turns out, a smile. Because he’s a monkey. In a tuxedo. Sitting on the kitchen table a foot from my face.
My zipper jacket also invited such inquiry, as Louie would zip it down a few inches and look back to Bullock to see if it’s okay — that was a perpetual refrain from Louie, to look back, “Can I?” — and of course it’s okay, so he zipped it down all the way. Underneath was a Rocky t-shirt with a dollop of paint from a home project. Louie moved on.
There were crickets (unwittingly jumping around in a container carefree) and snap peas to eat, his favorite vegetable. Louis was a bit more liberal with the crickets; some leaped to safety by my feet. Bullock said she’ll bring Gunner in later and he’ll hunt each one down.
“It’s a game for him, he loves it,” she said.
Louie also enjoys playing ball, zipping a fastball my way that would make Nolan Ryan sweat, but again, he’s not a dog in that, he’s not fetching when I inevitably don’t catch the ball and it sails across the room.
“You can go a lot of places and see a monkey, but you can’t go a lot of places and actually get to interact with a monkey,” Bullock said.
Bullock loves what she does. She says she’s been infatuated with monkeys since she was a little girl. Now, she’s been taking care of monkeys for nearly 25 years, and able to make Misfitland her full-time gig in the last few years.
“They are so personable. They all got their own little personalities, and likes and dislikes,” she said.
Bugs was her first rescue; she got him when he was only 14 months old and now he’s 21-years-old. Monkeys like him can live into their late 20s.
However, Angel Louise was her first monkey at just 10-days-old, who passed away in November 2018 just shy of 22. Angel Louise was the monkey that helped to put Misfitland on the map, racking up millions of views on YouTube and featured on various television shows.
Angel Louise is the one who helped make the dream a reality. Bullock joked that she’s the founder of Misfitland, but really Angel Louise is the founder of all of this.
“I tell ya, God just took care of me. I lost my Angel, and I was in a very bad frame of mind,” she said.
That’s when she got the baby monkeys, Penny and Ralphie D in May 2019, and that helped to turn things around, along with a trip to Malaysia with a friend for a month. There were monkeys everywhere, she said.
“And I realized this is what I’m supposed to be doing,” Bullock said, upon returning.
She wants to save monkeys from labs, zoos and euthanasia.
Holding on through the pandemic; ways to donate
Despite the pandemic, Bullock said they’ve actually been doing “pretty good,” thanks to $5,000 and $3,000 grants.
Also, because of COVID, Bullock said they were able to get their first loan and line of credit.
However, the pandemic did put a stop to Walmart meet and greets with Louie, which hurt, Bullock said.
The idea for the money for the all-volunteer nonprofit is to expand the space for the monkeys.
They’ve got a lot of space outside with the playground structure, but not so much inside the monkey barn where the cartoons are playing. That red garage, for example, would become retrofitted for the monkeys. She also wants to establish a training room for meets and greets.
In addition, Bullock wants to get a fence/outside pen built for the monkeys. They need big outside space to expend their energy, to hunt, to forage, and to move about.
One of the ways Misfitland tries to make additional money and “stay afloat,” Bullock said, is playdates with Louie, like what I did.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance,” she said.
Regular price is $20 per half hour or $30 for an hour. Kids 12 and up are welcome.
The kitchen table is where Louie is most comfortable.
“I love these guys,” she said. “I want to provide them a forever place that offers them an outside life that they so long for with the inside life that they’re used to.”
She added, “They require a lot of special care. They need special housing. It’s something that the vast majority of people would not enjoy, would not like, would not tolerate, no matter how you raise them.”
To schedule an appointment, call Bullock at 513-888-8777. You can also email to schedule an appointment at misfitedmonks@gmail.com.
Looking ahead, the second Saturday in July, Misfitland is preparing to hold its annual Homecoming fundraising event. They usually have music on hand and other monkeys come visit.
People can make tax-exempt donations to the nonprofit as well.
Individuals can also make a donation by shopping through AmazonSmile — which allows shoppers to donate 0.5 percent of their eligible Amazon purchases to a charity of their choice through smile.amazon.com at no extra cost to the buyer; just search for “Misfitland” — and through Kroger community rewards. On Kroger’s website, sign into your digital account, search for “Misfitland” and click “enroll.”
Like with AmazonSmile, the Kroger community rewards don’t cost anything.
“It’s a free way to help the animals,” Bullock said.
For further information, visit misfitland.org or find them on Facebook at Facebook.com/misfited4life.