Alison Cronin
{{short description|American primatologist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Alison Cronin
| honorific_suffix = MBE
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Alison Lorraine Ames
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1966|9}}
| birth_place = United States
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Zookeeper, primate behavioural expert
| years_active =
| known_for = Monkey World
| notable_works =
| spouse = {{marriage|Jim Cronin|1996|2007|end=died}}
| children =
}}
Alison Lorraine Cronin, MBE (born September 1966) is the American director of Monkey World in Dorset, England, a sanctuary for abused and neglected primates. She is widely acknowledged as an international expert in the rescue and rehabilitation of abused primates, and in the enforcement of international treaties aimed at protecting them from illegal trade and experimentation.{{cite news |title=Huge recognition for owner of Monkey World |url=https://www.wessexfm.com/news/dorset-news/2667433/huge-recognition-for-owner-of-monkey-world/ |date=August 25, 2018}}
Cronin was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2006 for Services to Animal Welfare along with her husband as well as for founding the Endangered Asian Species Trust.
Early life and career
Cronin was born in September 1966 as Alison Lorraine Ames in San Diego, California.{{cite web |last1=ltd |first1=company check |title=DR ALISON LORRAINE CRONIN director information. Free director information. Director id 911101463 |url=https://companycheck.co.uk/director/911101463/DR-ALISON-LORRAINE-CRONIN/summary |website=Company Check}} She studied biological anthropology at Cambridge University. It was while she was living in the UK that she met Jim Cronin at Monkey World in 1993. They married in 1996. They were joint directors of Monkey World. After her husband died, Cronin continued running the site and working against animal smuggling and the pet trade.{{cite web |title=London Calling |url=https://grahammack.wordpress.com/2016/10/06/london-calling-2/ |website=Mack's Craic |date=October 6, 2016}}{{cite news |last1=Hevesi |first1=Dennis |title=Jim Cronin, Foe of Illegal Trade in Primates, Dies at 55 |work=The New York Times |date=March 21, 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/21/world/europe/21cronin.html |language=en}}
Cronin became known through the television series Monkey Business (made by Meridian Broadcasting and shown on ITV Meridian in the UK and on Animal Planet worldwide) which has documented the frequent rescue missions and undercover investigations throughout Europe and Asia. The show began in 1998 with Monkey Business which was then replaced with Monkey Life in 2007. It covers the low and high-profile rescues, one of the most dramatic being in January 2008 when Cronin led a huge rescue of 88 Capuchin monkeys from Chile.{{cite news |title=Monkey World's Capuchins |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/dorset/content/articles/2009/03/24/monkey_world_capucin_one_year_on_feature.shtml |language=en-gb}}
In 2008, Cronin led the creation of the Dao Tien Endangered Primate Rescue Centre located in Cát Tiên National Park, Southern Vietnam which is a rescue, rehabilitation, and release centre focusing on golden-cheeked gibbons, black-shanked douc langurs, silvered langurs, and pygmy loris.{{cite web |title=Monkey World - Ape Rescue Center |url=http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/idp/idp/entry/522 |website=pin.primate.wisc.edu |language=en}} Cronin has written on primates as well as fought to get legislation changed to protect the primates.{{cite book|author=Alison Cronin|title=The Old Man of the Forest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U12IAAAACAAJ|year=2002|publisher=Creative Characters Partnership|isbn=978-1-902857-06-0}}{{cite book|author=Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee|title=HC 984 - Primates as Pets|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LdPzAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA32|date=June 10, 2014|publisher=The Stationery Office|isbn=978-0-215-07288-7|pages=32–}}
In 2018, Cronin was awarded an honorary degree from Oxford Brookes University for her work.{{cite web |title=Conservationists of the built and natural world to receive honorary degrees - Oxford Brookes University |url=https://www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brookes/news/conservationists-of-the-built-and-natural-world-to-receive-honorary-degrees/ |website=www.brookes.ac.uk |language=en |access-date=September 11, 2018 |archive-date=December 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211072409/https://www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brookes/news/conservationists-of-the-built-and-natural-world-to-receive-honorary-degrees/ |url-status=dead }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.monkeyworld.org Monkey World]
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Category:21st-century American zoologists
Category:American animal welfare workers
Category:American emigrants to England