Simon and his wife Peggy took on the role of persuading the Spanish authorities (Guardia Civil) to confiscate the chimps and provide them a more safe environment.
Peggy had started a degree in modern languages at Bangor University in Wales but decided to join the Women's Auxiliary Air Force with her close friend known as Bim.
In the latter part of the war Simon was moved to a training role (many of the early Mosquito pilots had been killed).
At the end of the war the family moved to Paris, where Simon joined the European partnership of Price Waterhouse, and was sent to open up an office in Barcelona, Spain.
Simon and Peggy moved to Barcelona, after a spell in Paris, a few years after the Second World War.
They lived in Barcelona until Simon retired and then built a new home in Breda (designed by Peggy), near Girona with lots of spare land.
At around this time they became aware that baby chimps were being smuggled into Spain from Africa to be sold on the black market.
The apes would be physically and mentally abused - given drugs to keep them calm, beaten to remain sedate, given a poor diet, have their teeth knocked out to prevent them biting and would then be killed when they reached puberty once they became uncontrollable.
The Templers worked extremely hard to end this trade and the mistreatment of chimpanzees by recruiting assistance from the Spanish Authorities, the Guardia Civil Council.
Simon and Peggy needed to find much bigger accommodation for their beloved chimps and Jim promised to build a sanctuary in Dorset, England to re-home the chimpanzees.
All the chimpanzees at Monkey World that were rescued from Spanish beach photographers were saved by the Templers in the mid 1980s.
The MONA Chimpanzee Sanctuary was founded by the veterinarian, Olga Feliu, who was often called upon by Simon and Peggy Templer.
Simon Templer died in March 1997 while on holiday visiting his son, Peter, in Nairobi, Kenya.