It's tragic - we were so happy
By Neal Butterworth

MISSION: Jim and Alison Cronin with rescued Bryan the chimp
ALISON Cronin carefully chooses one of the 3,000 letters, cards and emails received at the park since Jim died on St Patrick's Day.

It's a neatly-typed, single sheet of A4 bearing the letterhead 10 Downing Street' and signed by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"Monkey World," he wrote, "is known the world over for its pioneering work rescuing apes from illegal smuggling and I was pleased to hear that, despite the terrible loss of Jim, you have vowed to carry on."

"I know it sounds strange, but I just burst out laughing," says Alison, "and I'm sure Jim would have done too. He wasn't a great fan of the Blairs."

It was Jim's final wish that Alison carries on the work he started 20 years ago and she will stick to her word, backed by Jim's close friend and Monkey World colleague Jeremy Keeling, who flew to be with Jim and Alison in his final days.

But coming to terms with losing the man she met and fell in love with almost 14 years ago is the hardest challenge she faces.
It was just so unexpected," she said.

"We had been visiting family and friends in America and then Australia.

"Jim was happy and fit and apart from a pain in his side, he was so healthy."

But medical tests in Cairns revealed that what they thought might have been a simple gallstone turned out to be aggressive primary cancer of the liver.

Ironically, the news came as the couple had found the perfect site for an Antipodean version of the ape rescue centre, specifically to house the many endangered orang-utans across Asia.

"We were looking for property for Monkey World and found this 300-acre site in northern Queensland.

"It's spectacular and beautiful, with rolling hills.

"We were actually in the lawyer's office signing papers towards the purchase of the land when we got the phone call to return to the medical clinic urgently," said Alison.

The news was grim.

"We just staggered out of the doctor's surgery and collapsed in a heap," she said.

"He was so concerned that it might have been something to do with his lifestyle.

"Whether he's lived it too hard or too stressfully.

"But it was just a roll of the dice, it was a lottery.

"It could have happened to anyone."

Too unwell to travel back to Dorset from Australia, doctors suggested they try to take the journey in stages, via America.

But after they arrived at his home town of New York and despite more specialist care and chemotherapy sessions, it was clear that the journey was to end in his birthplace.

"He was hoping the treatment would make him well enough to come back and talk to everyone here about the situation," she added.

"Monkey World was his home and this was where he wanted to come back to more than anything."

On her return to the UK with Jim's ashes several days later, Alison discovered that his death had been felt acutely around the world.

Boxes of cards, letters and emails had flooded in, mourning his loss and urging Alison to carry on the work.

The Echo website's own book of remembrance attracted more than 500 tributes in a few days.

"People have been so wonderful. We have always appreciated the people who support the park and the cards and the letters are testament to how people felt about Jim.

"Jim was extraordinary. He just loved meeting people and none of that personality people saw when they met him was put on. He was just so genuine.

"The outpouring of grief and support for the park from the community has been overwhelming."

As she walks around the park, visitors stare, some clearly unsure whether to offer their condolences, but she is comfortable posing for a photo with one delighted family.

In these dark days, it is clear that the animals offer some light relief and she climbs over boundary fences to talk to and stroke her primate charges, all of whom react warmly to the familiar face and voice.

Now the work goes on, spurred on by Jim's desire for his wife and colleagues to take the park forward.

"Jeremy and I both promised Jim that the park would continue and that's what we intend to do," she adds.

A pre-planned rescue mission in South America will go ahead soon, developments at the park will continue and the dream of that Australian sanctuary has not disappeared yet.

But the coming weeks will also see Alison oversee a lasting memorial at Monkey World - set amidst a group of oak trees - where Jim's ashes will be buried.

A private memorial service will take place in June and the doors of the park will be thrown open some days later for all supporters of the sanctuary to be able to pay their own tributes to Jim.

"It's still just so hard," adds Alison, "and every morning, there's this great void in my life.

"We were inseparable. We were together 24 hours of the day, seven days a week.

"It sounds ridiculous, but even when he went to get the papers on a Sunday, the dog and I would stand at the door and wave him off and I'd tell him to hurry back.

"When we found out about the cancer, he kept telling me how sorry he was because he knew how upset I was going to be by losing him.

"That's why it's so tragic. We were just so happy together."

7:00pm Friday 27th April 2007

hello to all, we are shocked and upset as we have just found out about Jim,we have watched monkey world when ever we could and last year we decided we had to go to monkey world (a dream come true) as we have always adored watching sally and charlie and the antics 0f the others on monkey buisness, we arrived at mw and we went in the gate and my seven year old son jonty got all excited and said theres jim and sure enough jim was on a golf buggy i was in shock as through monkey buiness jim and alison are our heroes jim stopped the buggy and he chatted to us for a few minutes i shook his hand and told him it was a great honour for us to have stopped the buggy and taken time to speak to us.it would of been even better if alison was there as well,we did not know about his death until yesterday my wife checked the internet and sadly it comfirmed it,we are devasted and send our deepest condolance to alison,if we had known sooner we would of been at the memorial at MW

quote:

Originally posted by bill22:
hello to all, we are shocked and upset as we have just found out about Jim,we have watched monkey world when ever we could and last year we decided we had to go to monkey world (a dream come true) as we have always adored watching sally and charlie and the antics 0f the others on monkey buisness, we arrived at mw and we went in the gate and my seven year old son jonty got all excited and said theres jim and sure enough jim was on a golf buggy i was in shock as through monkey buiness jim and alison are our heroes jim stopped the buggy and he chatted to us for a few minutes i shook his hand and told him it was a great honour for us to have stopped the buggy and taken time to speak to us.it would of been even better if alison was there as well,we did not know about his death until yesterday my wife checked the internet and sadly it comfirmed it,we are devasted and send our deepest condolance to alison,if we had known sooner we would of been at the memorial at MW

Yes it has been such a terrible time, if you read my other post about my visit to the memorial you may find it interesting
Jim was a Unique person I too with my family have visited MW we live 400 miles away but came to Dorset last Oct and we got to meet him which was so wonderful he was just a real charmer so genuinely NICE have a look at my myspace and see some of my pics of MW. Iam sorry that you have only just heard whilst down in Dorset last weekend for the Mem, we had a walk round corfe castle and do you know there are people in Corfe dont even know he has passed we broke the news inedvertantly to 3 different people! it is so sad Alison is deeply sad and so is every one there he WILL be missed!

my heart goes out to alison, jim was a great tribute to the wildlife society and will be sadly missed i never miss an episode of monkey world i think it is a fabulous thing alison and jim have done to save all those primates and also helping other countries to understand they are wild animals with feelings not pets also all the breeding progammes to stop them becoming endangered may the good work go on i am planning my next holiday and hope to visit monkey world.x

we are heartbroken to hear about jim we watch monkey world everynight even though it repeats monkey world jim and alison and all that work there are so special in everyway i would of loved to of done the special things you have done for the primates you both are special people and a inspiration to everyone and jim will be sadly missed and fondly remembered and i think it should be on tv about jim and alison and all they done and still do and how special jim and alison was you both was like a love fairytale and i hope im lucky enough one day to share the special bond you both clearly had not just for primates but for each other to jim you are a special guy and should never be forgotton come on animal planet show the respect jim deserves