Volunteers plant fruit orchard for Indiana primate sanctuary

WINAMAC, Ind. (AP) - Staff at a primate sanctuary in northern Indiana will be feeding the center's menagerie with freshly picked fruit in the coming years thanks to a newly planted orchard.

A team of volunteers helped plant 60 fruit trees last month on the property of the Peaceable Primate Sanctuary, which is home to baboons and macaque monkeys retired from research facilities and pharmaceutical companies.

The new orchard at the primate center is outfitted with an irrigation system and within a few years it will supply the sanctuary with fresh apples, persimmons and other fruits, WSBT-TV reported.

The orchard was planted thanks to donations and a partnership with an organization called The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation.

The next project at the sanctuary, located in Winamac, about 40 miles southwest of South Bend, is to build space for 10 additional primates that will be retiring there, said Scott Kubisch, the center's director and founder.