My sister Joanna Hicks, who has died of cancer aged 76, was a passionate animal welfare worker and activist.
Around 2000, she and her husband, John, moved to Goa, in India, where they founded an animal sanctuary, the Tree House, in Camurlin – they had previously visited and become concerned for the welfare of street dogs in Goa.
The centre originally catered mainly for dogs, but also helped other animals, such as cats, cows and snakes. Jo would also collect fish that had been stranded in puddles formed during the monsoon and return them to rivers after the floods.
It eventually became clear that there was a need to help monkeys that had been orphaned either by accident or deliberately so that they might be sold to tourists. Jo and John campaigned for a change in the law – and keeping primates as pets was made illegal in Goa in the early 2000s.
Jo was born in Stalisfield, Kent, to Donald Forrest, an artist, and Mary (known as Jill, nee Gill), a teacher and riding instructor. When she was a child, the family moved to Hastings and, after attending Hastings secondary modern school for girls, Jo worked in various jobs, including in a laundry.
However, her real talents were in dealing with living things. She had a job growing flowers and later worked for animal sanctuaries, including Animal Tracks, which she and John set up in the West Country.
Much of Jo’s work with animals was with her husband, John Hicks, whom she met when he was consulted by a sanctuary she was working for; they married in the early 1970s. Their activities included hunt sabotage, a hunger strike in protest against beagles being forced to smoke in animal-testing laboratories, the founding of Animal Activists, and the running of animal sanctuaries.
John became head of West Country operations for the Hunt Saboteurs Association in 1982. In 1989 Jo and John co-founded International Animal Rescue (IAR).
In order to create a special sanctuary for monkeys in Goa, Jo and John set up the Primate Trust in 2005. Jo loved gardening, but more and more of her garden at the Tree House was given over to accommodating monkeys, mainly bonnet macaques. Having the monkeys there was at first supposed to be temporary, but they stayed for years.
When John died in 2015, Jo continued with their mission. She was expert in caring for monkeys and was especially concerned that they should not become lonely or bored. They were usually kept in group cages and were let out in relays, but on long leads, being at risk from local troops of wild monkeys.
Jo is survived by her sisters, Judith, Philippa and me.
