Colobus Trust

Category: Education, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, Progress report, volunteer | Date: Sep 24 2009 | By: colobus

Erica, our orphaned monkey here at the Colobus Trust, has been spending the vast majority of her two months here in the company of humans. Now that she is getting bigger and more independent it is important that she spends less time with humans and more time with monkeys.

As part of the process or her being released into the wild, Erica has been spending more time in the rehabilitation cages with our older rescued Sykes monkey, SF1. They get on very well and so far have been happy to spend a few hours or more in each other’s presence. They play, jumping around on the ropes and branches that are there as part of their enrichment, as well as learning how to groom.

Above: Erica and SF1 eating in the cage

Our eco-volunteer Becky has been working on Erica’s tree-climbing skills and ensuring that the orphan has confidence in her abilities so that she climbs higher and more independently. Becky is also finding ways of introducing Erica to the food that she would eat in the wild, such as neem fruits.

We will build up the time that Erica spends in the cage and in the trees over the next month or so, in order that she relies less on human contact. The whole process of her release is likely to take up to a year, after which she will hopefully be fully wild.

Keep checking the blog for more updates on Erica and SF1!

The Colobus Team

Tags: animal rescue, Colobus Trust, learning, Monkey Rehabilitation, progress, sykes, volunteer

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Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, deforestation, volunteer | Date: May 26 2009 | By: colobus

We had a busy weekend at the Trust; our hotline was as hot as the sun that finally came out through the clouds. On Friday around dusk, we received a call about a Colobus that was hurt, crawling on the ground with its troop nervously encircling it in the nearby trees. After quickly loading the rescue-truck with a cage, net, first veterinary aid, gloves and other equipment usually necessary on an animal rescue, like volunteers, we hit the road.

But upon arrival we were given some bad news, actually the worst news one can get on an animal rescue:

-         I’m sorry, you’re too late, the monkey is already dead, said a man without shirt while guiding us to the spot.

And there it was, the beautiful juvenile black –and-white Colobus lying sideways on the ground, like it had just given up while running. The surrounding air smelled like burnt meat, once again we were dealing with an electrocution. Our vet Rona examined the carcass just in case there would be any pulse, but in short we covered it with a white sheet and headed back home, after deciding with the owner to insulate the power lines close-by.

Next day, Saturday, the sun was still out so we all went down to the beach to get a nice tan. Or so we thought… The hotline rang again, this time our own manager had spotted a limping Sykes monkey, probably hit by a car. We threw the necessities in the truck and rushed to the site. There was no apparent sign of the Sykes, but after looking around in the nearby bushes, we heard a loud ‘thump’ and saw a much disoriented juvenile female Sykes try to flee on the other side of a fenced-in private property. To catch it, we’d have to get in to the property, so we called and called for someone to open the gates, but nobody answered. What to do? In the rush, Rona and I decided to ignore the possibility of a guarding dog and simply climbed over the gate, equipped with net and gloves. It didn’t take long for Rona to catch the poor thing, but as she looked up to head back for the gate, a rottweiler, and a pretty upset one according to the amount of barking, met her eyes. Dilemma: Were we going to just stand there with the dog, adrenaline kicking and an injured monkey in our hands, or try to reach the gate? As the rest of the team tried to distract the dog and persuade a person who suddenly turned up to hold it, Rona and I slowly sneaked closer and closer to the gate, until we could climb it again. The focus switched over to the Sykes. We put her in the cage and hurried back to the vet clinic, where Rona did what was in her power to diagnose and treat her. It seems like she has fallen badly from a tree, hitting her head. She is blind (temporarily we hope) and doesn’t want to use her left front leg, but she has no fractures and has recovered well from the big shock she was in when we found her.

All in all a weekend with way too much time spent in the vet clinic, an experience we are trying to reduce every day, every week, all year round. The human-wildlife conflict is growing, with less land for more people and more monkeys. This time a juvenile Colobus had to pay for it, and I wonder who is paying next time.

Filip Celander, Colobologist

Tags: animal rescue, colobus, Electrocution, sykes

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Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, Uncategorized | Date: Apr 03 2009 | By: colobus

Never a dull moment at Colobus Trust as someone put it; yesterday evening as some of us sat down to eat our dinner we received an urgent call from a Diani resident about a hit and run accident, someone had run over a civet cat and it was left by the side of the road.

Our team rushed to the site while more and more worried residents informed us about the incident. We managed to dart it successfully and get it to the clinic. Dr. Allan was also there for the rescue, and after a thorough examination and initial treatment we decided further diagnosis using an x-ray machine was required.

With the help of Diani Palm Beach Hospital, we later determined she was suffering from internal injuries and a hairline fracture in her hind leg. After the x-ray, the civet was brought back to the Colobus Trust for further treatment, cage rest and recovery. Thank you Diani residents for your concern and support, let us all wish her a speedy recovery!

The Colobus Team

Tags: animal rescue, civet cat, Colobus Trust, Kenya, volunteer

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Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation | Date: Nov 28 2008 | By: colobus

By Fleur Downard, a volunteer at the Colobus Trust from 27 October – 14 November 2008

Part 3 – Hope for the future

Chuma is a wild animal, used to living either in his troop as the dominant alpha male or as a solitary male, in the forest foraging for leaves, flowers and unripe fruit for his daily meals.  His sad, dark eyes stare at you as you peer in at him in his cage.  I know and he knows he does not belong here.  I want him to survive and John (one of the Colobus trust staff members who will be looking after Chuma after I leave tomorrow) and I have adopted him.  However, I am aware that unless he regains his sense of balance and recovers to his previous health he will be unlikely to return to his previous life in the wild but will be dependent on the Colobus Trust for his food.  He has been seen by the local vets Dr Allan and Dr Oscar and also a visiting wildlife vet, Noni, who has arranged for an orthapediac vet to review his x-rays and they are all confident he can survive, although it is unlikely he could return to the wild.  The staff and volunteers at the Colobus Trust are doing everything possible to ensure his survival and I look forward to receiving weekly updates on his progress.

Even though it saddens me, I do understand that Chuma may not be happy living his life as a caged animal and unable to jump from branch to branch with careless abandon, so rather than looking at me with his sad caged eyes he may be better off in Colobus heaven where he can be wild and free.

Tags: , animal rescue, colobus, Monkey, road traffic accident

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Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation | Date: Nov 26 2008 | By: colobus

By Fleur Downard, a volunteer at the Colobus Trust from 27 October – 14 November 2008

Part 2 – Recovery and Rehabilitation

The Colobus monkey was very groggy when he woke up from his sedated sleep later in the afternoon.  He looked disorientated but was too weak to look for ways to escape from his cage in the vet clinic.  I felt sorry for him, he looked so sad and his eyes were pleading for a way out of this pain.  I decided to name him Chuma, the Swahili word for metal, to give him strength to overcome his injuries.  He is about 17 years old (which is old in monkey years), a male Angolan Colobus monkey, weighing about 9 kilograms, with black eyes and a cute, slightly lopsided smile due to his injuries.

Dr Allan advised that it would be best to have some x-rays taken of Chuma’s jaw and head so we can check the extent of his injuries.  Chuma was sedated again about a week and a half after the rescue and taken to the local hospital for an x-ray.  The radiologist took an x-ray of his head and his jaw, while Chuma was spreadeagled on the table, oblivious to the doctor, the vet and the Colobus staff fussing over him.  Dr Allan concluded that Chuma indeed had a fractured upper jaw with a possible fracture in the skull, hence we needed to ensure he does not chew so his jaw can heal.

Over the past two and a half weeks I have spent a lot of time with Chuma, talking to him to try to comfort him (in English which of course does not understand) and making a lip-smacking noise, which is how the Colobus monkeys communicate with each other.  He loves eating bouganvillea flowers which we have been hanging in his cage or cooking the flowers with water so it is easier for him to eat with his fractured jaw.  We have also started giving him mashed banana, papaya and watermelon to help give him more strength and nutrition.  Chuma lives in a small cage as he falls over easily and does not have a good sense of balance so we cannot transfer him to a larger cage where he might fall down and injure himself.  We try to make the cage as homely as possible, filling it with leaves and branches to mimic the forest environment he is used to living in.

Tags: , animal rescue, colobus, Monkey, road traffic accident

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Category: Human - Primate Conflict Resolution, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation | Date: Nov 22 2008 | By: colobus

By Fleur Downard, a volunteer at the Colobus Trust from 27 October – 14 November 2008

Part 1 – The Rescue

At about 9am on Tuesday 28^th October, Gwili Gibbon, the assistant manager at the Colobus Trust at Diani beach, Kenya, received a call from a distressed Luciana, one of the trustees of the Colobus Trust.  Luciana had found a male Colobus monkey that had been hit by a matatu (a minivan used for public transport in Kenya) on Diani Beach Road, near the Safari Beach Lodge.  While Luciana was waiting for Gwili to arrive to rescue the Colobus, she stood on the road to protect the injured monkey and also waved her arms and shouted at passing vehicles, urging them to drive at 50 kmph to help avoid this kind of accident occurring again.  The Colobus Trust has built 23 colobridges in Diani, so that the monkeys can safely cross the road by using these bridges.

When Gwili and Peter arrived on Diani Beach Road the Colobus was in shock and difficult to restrain, being an older male monkey weighing about 9 kilograms, so they sedated him and put him in a cage before taking him back to the Colobus Trust.  He had been hit on the right side of his head by the matatu and was bleeding heavily from his right ear.  Doctor Allan, the local veterinarian arrived within minutes of Gwili arriving at the Colobus Trust vet clinic with the Colobus.  He inspected the Colobus’s bleeding ear and felt around the right hand side jaw area.  He felt a broken bone in the upper jaw area and concluded that the Colobus probably had a fractured jaw with possible injuries to the skull.  He prescribed some painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs for the Colobus.

Tags: , animal rescue, colobus, Monkey, road traffic accident

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