Colobus Trust

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Tragic Deaths

Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution | Date: Dec 10 2007 | By: admin

We are very sad to report that on Saturday we picked up two dead Colobus at Leisure Lodge from the same troop as the Nov. 25 electrocution. These were the dominant male mentioned before on the electrocution post, and a large female that was just one week from giving birth. They were both very large (about 2 kg larger than average) and completely healthy-looking, with shiny coats and no injuries.

What’s alarming about this situation is that these monkeys died of a suspected poisoning. Today we are sending the contents of the stomachs to Mombasa to get them examined and then maybe we will find out what kind of poison was used. We are not sure who has been doing this or for what reason. It could be that some hotels have been either trying to poison baboons or using potent insecticides in their gardening.

We can only hope this doesn’t turn into a whole new issue that the Colobus Trust has to battle. We are going to have this matter investigated as much as we can, and hope for the best.

Isabelle
Colobologist

mama colobus

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5 Responses to “Tragic Deaths”

paula, on 10 Dec 2007

Beautiful picture of my favourite monkey, and thank you for this information. I hope you have photographs of the dead animals - dont be shy to post them here. If it is poisoining please let us know asap - and do start an intelligence gathering project asap to find out what is being used and why. Send a worker to a chemist to ask what he can kill monkeys with and see if the chemists are advising the locals. Typically used is Furadan and related chemicals. We are observing wildlife poisoning across Eastern and southern Africa and we need good data in order to start a campaign to stop it. You could be key to stopping this madness at the coast. Paula

Dipesh, on 10 Dec 2007

Yes, please do let us know asap as we can also mobilise local media which will certainly raise the alarm bells particularly now as it is high season and tourism is booming. I know that sounds a bit sad but it is probably the only way that we could angle the issue so that the media pays attention

Wanda, Atlanta, on 10 Dec 2007

A baby gone too- how awful –
please post any future information on what happened, thank you.

Christine C., on 10 Dec 2007

Terrible news…please keep us posted on the status of your investigation…maybe it was accidental???

colobus, on 17 Dec 2007

Thank you for all your comments and your interest! our investigation continues, but we still have to wait a few more days for the lab results of stomach contents. We have contacted hotels and they have denied tryign to poison monkeys. We will update the blog once we find out more.

Isabelle

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