A RESCUED chimpanzee from Monkey World has inspired a Crossways musician to write a new song.

Sally the chimp, who was used as a photographer’s prop in Spain before being brought to the sanctuary near Bovington, is the subject of folk singer Alan Whittle’s new composition Hello Sally.

He says the song is apt for a new genre he calls Monkey and Western.

Mr Whittle, who performs under the name Big Al Whittle, started visiting Monkey World after seeing it on the TV programme Monkey Life and became interested in Sally’s story.

He later ‘adopted’ her under a scheme run by Monkey World.

Mr Whittle, 62, who performs on the local live music scene, said: “One of the great things about living in Dorset is being able to be a frequent visitor to Monkey World.

“The centre has rescued and given nicer living conditions to all sorts of wonderful monkeys and primates. It has also successfully bred species of monkeys that have been in danger of extinction.

“It’s a great day out at Monkey World. It was there I met Sally, and soon this song came to me”.

Mr Whittle added: “They run a scheme where you adopt the apes and my wife and I both adopted chimps.

“I am like a lot of people –I went on holiday to Spain and had my photograph taken with a lion that was being used as a prop.

“I feel like I contributed to this situation and seeing Sally, it really moved me. I read about this sort of thing after I moved here from the Midlands and that’s how we have ended up here.”

Monkey World spokesman Sarah Lambert said: “Monkey World receives support for the park and primates in many ways, but Al’s song ‘Hello Sally’ is certainly one of the more creative contributions we’ve had.

“Sally has since been a very caring adoptive mother to many of the baby chimpanzees we have rescued and so it’s lovely to hear that she has such fond support”.

Mr Whittle has no plans to release ‘Hello Sally’ at the moment, but he has experienced chart success before.

‘Buster the Line Dancing Dawg’ proved to be a hit in the UK country charts during the 1990s, but his biggest success was in Germany with the cult classic ‘Rummenigge’.

After his success in the German charts, Mr Whittle found himself appearing on numerous German TV shows.