Monday, March 24, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Ever snuggled with a lazy blue-eyed baby cougar?
Maria Collett never thought the chance would come -- let alone, having it happen at the movies.
But sure enough, the furry bundle of muscle curled up in her lap for a prized Polaroid moment Sunday as part of a special promotion for the hit movie "Jungle to Jungle" at the Rancho Santa Fe 16 theaters in northwest Las Vegas.
"It's really not the picture I wanted," said Collett, an animal lover with two cats, two dogs and a horse at home. "I just wanted to hold her -- she's just beautiful!"
Crowds packed the lobby to steal a glimpse; others paid a $10 donation to get a photo as Collett did.
Cheyenne and Cherokee, the two 12-week-old female cougars, stole hearts. Harlie, a 5-year-old Harlequin macaw, and Freddy, an umbrella cockatoo, flirted with spectators. One young boy was bold enough to get a hug from three boa constrictors at the same time.
The biggest snake in the bunch? Julius Squeezer ("Yeah," says handler Michael Noack, "like Caesar").
All donations from the event, which continues today, are going to Jungle Friends, a Las Vegas nonprofit sanctuary and rehabilitation facility for primates.
At least, monkeys was how it started out.
"I've had people drop off everything from burros to chickens, pigs, goats, ducks, rabbits, lizards," said founder Kari Bagnall. "I've found my mission in life."
Monkeys dominate her one-acre facility not too far from the movie theater. Jungle Friends currently has 18 primates, among them three different types of Capuchins.
Samantha was her first, purchased about four years ago by a former boyfriend who Bagnall said she spent about a year trying to dissuade from the idea.
"I was really opposed to having a wild animal as a pet," said Bagnall, who at the time was an interior decorator. "He went ahead and got her anyway. Then, after she started breaking his artwork and everything else in the house, I got her."
Monkeys need to socialize, touch and be held to develop emotionally and physiologically, Bagnall said. So, with Samantha's best interests in mind, monkey joined Mom at work. For a short while.
"I'd put up a drape and she'd pull it down," she said. "The people I was decorating for didn't like it."
Some people tried to assure her that leaving Samantha at home wouldn't hurt. "She'll cry for a few minutes," they said, "but she'll be OK."
So Bagnall set up a video camera to test the theory.
"For two hours she'd climb up the side of her cage and just let go, drop to the floor. She'd cry," Bagnall said. "It was like she was trying to hurt herself."
She turned next to the experts, poring over behavioral studies of Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall, and talking with animal trainers. In the end, Mother Nature held the answer: a playmate.
Samantha's breeder provided Bagnall with the primate's sister, and then eventually turned over his entire monkey family when the man went back to school for a master's degree.
Jungle Friends was formed.
And, sadly, in a way, it has continued because of a massive amount of monkeys purchased by naive animal lovers willing to shell out an average of $6,000 for a creature that never loses its primal instincts.
"People see monkeys in a pet store and think they're cute, they dress them up in a diaper," Bagnall said. "They are monkeys, and they are cuddly, but they are wild animals. Most people don't realize what it takes to give them a proper life."
Every year, pet monkeys are seriously injured and burned from household appliances, beaten by owners who have been bitten, and killed from stress or boredom from spending their lives in a cage.
Bagnall is trying to stop the growing problem with a video for potential monkey owners.
It depicts the endearing moments of cuddling such an intelligent creature along with the real-life experiences of urine washing, feces smearing, destroyed toys and aggressive behavior.
"As humans, we're taught to think things through," Bagnall said, holding a proud cockatoo on a forearm scarred from 14 stitches that sewed up a 15-pound monkey's damage. "Animals just react."
While clearly living an animal lover's dream, Bagnall's own dream is to raise enough money to purchase land in a Costa Rican rain forest where her monkeys can return to a semi-normal world. She's found the spot; now it's a matter of funding.
As a nonprofit organization, Jungle Friends spends all donations on its animals for food, habitats and care. Volunteers get the day-to-day duties done -- six hours a day cleaning every animal's habitat, feeding and exercise.
They also join Bagnall and her mother, pet photographer Marylou Churchill, on fund-raising outings like the "Jungle to Jungle" promotion.
Jungle Friends tries to educate the community about conserving the rain forest for its natives -- monkeys, snakes and the like -- when menagerie members get out to local schools.
"Hopefully it will make people think before they throw an aluminum can in the trash, use a piece of paper once and throw it away, or buy a fast food burger," Bagnall said. "It's all gonna be gone if we don't actively do something to stop it."
Century Theaters, which operates Rancho Santa Fe, has invited Jungle Friends back for the openings of "Jungle Book II," "Anaconda" and other upcoming animal-theme movies.
"We wanted to promote 'Jungle to Jungle,' but we also thought this would be good for the community," said Ron Malit, the theaters' general manager.
"It's not very often that people are able to see these kinds of animals up close and take pictures with them, and it really ties in with the issue of conserving the rain forests and brings it to people's attention.
"We want to see people coming out to have fun and to be a part of the movies. Just seeing the reaction from these kids really speaks for itself."
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