Winter Springs - Hum-Dinky #9 (a Silver Springs Hum-Dinky™)

Introducing Floridiana Hum-Dinky™ #9 - Winter Springs (A Silver Springs Hum-Dinky).

****Price increased from $75 to $120 because I will now be selling these at the local Downtown Ocala Saturday market and need to keep inventory for this special event. Production time 2-3 weeks. You can buy a Floridiana Hum-Dinky™ at the Ocala Downtown Saturday Markets from 9am-2pm at the original low prices. Thank you for your understanding and support!****

A little bit of Florida icing on a 4" x 4" pound cake painting. Created by Native Florida Artist, Mrs. B. These little guys can go anywhere - on the road, in your camper, in an RV, in a condo or cabin, or heck, hang 'em in your tent! Keep 'em in your curio cabinet to warm you up on those cold Northern nights. Take a little chunk of Old Florida wherever you go! Hand-painted on all 5 sides and varnished with a professional backing. Each Hum-Dinky is numbered and titled on the back. Yes, they will each have a creation number and a certificate of authenticity. Nothing left undone. Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, complete with professional backing and ready to hang. Shipping is free for purchases totaling $75 or more. A free small black stand with the purchase of $75 or more. If the original has been sold and you are placing a custom order to recreate it, a $20 fee is added to the total.

Story Behind the Rhesus Macaque Monkeys at Silver Springs:

"The wild rhesus macaque monkeys at Silver Springs in Florida were released by a tour boat operator in the 1930s to boost tourism.

• In 1938, a local boat captain named Colonel Tooey put a small group of rhesus macaques on a small island along the Silver River.

• He wanted to make his "jungle cruise" tour more exciting for visitors.

• He did not know that rhesus macaques are strong swimmers.

• The monkeys swam off the island almost immediately and spread into the wild surrounding areas of the forest. Some descendants of this wild population were trapped years later and sold to research laboratories. In the 1980s, when the monkey population grew large, state wildlife officials had hundreds of the wild animals removed, and some were sent to dealers who supplied research facilities. [1]

Additionally, the famous "Silver Spring monkeys" animal cruelty case from 1981—which helped launch the organization PETA—involved laboratory primates, but that took place in a research institute in Silver Spring, Maryland, which is the source of the name confusion. [1, 2]"

I am so happy to see these monkeys free and happy. But please don't feed them and don't let them get near. They are wild and unpredictable and it is illegal to touch them or feed them:

Why It Is Illegal

• The Law: Feeding free-roaming, non-human primates is prohibited by Florida law (Rule 68A-4.001).

• Penalties: Violating this law is a misdemeanor that can lead to fines up to $500 and up to 60 days in jail.

• Health Risks: Rhesus macaques in the park often carry the herpes B virus, which can be fatal to humans if transmitted through bites, scratches, or bodily fluids.

• Safety: Fed monkeys can lose their natural fear of humans and become aggressive. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]