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Deep in the wilds of Wainfleet — is an exotic place where you may see one of the most rare and endangered animals on the planet.

Ringtail Ranch and Rescue is a small, family run operation with some big plans to help save a photogenic and wildly popular primate known as the lemur. But trying to save the lemur involves a lot more than just a little ‘monkey business.’

What’s black and white — and nearly extinct? This guy.

Joni Cook runs Ringtail Ranch and Rescue: “They are now the most endangered mammal in the world.”

The black and white lemur is one of a number of Lemur species, native to Madagascar. But their native habitat has been so degraded there — that their numbers are rapidly diminishing. Joni and her husband Mark Drysdale wanted to do something about that. And so, almost by accident, Ringtail Ranch and Rescue, was born.

Joni: “We found Penny — she was in a 4×4 cage up in Guelph.”

Penny is just part of menagerie that includes a Patagonian Mara, a South American Coatimundi, and a Big Red Kangaroo. All have been rescued — but none faces the challenge that Penny the Black and White lemur does.

Lemurs mate for life — and breed on only one day a year. So, breeding them — is tricky, to say the least. In their efforts to build their program, Joni and Mark have made contact with some interesting allies: “Duke University. The St. Louis zoo. Richard Branson – they are all working at breeding these lemurs, to bring them back together.”

Branson, in fact, now has a growing colony of lemurs on his private enclave of Nekkar Island — in the Caribbean. And, he’s been talking about exchanging breeding pairs, with Mark and Joni.

But that is still a couple of years off. Before then, Ringtail Rescue is hoping to build a three-thousand square foot winter enclave for the lemurs and they are hoping to get a hand from corporate sponsors, and private donors and volunteers: “They can contact us and donate anything from food to money to time, to help us out.”

And if you find yourself drawn to lemurs — Joni says this, is the best way to get close to one: “Everybody wants a monkey, and lemurs are primates, they’re monkeys. Everybody sees them and says ‘oh! I want one, I want one!’ They are not good pets.”

Click on the link If you’re interested in finding out more about Ringtail Ranch and the lemurs.