Colobus Trust

Category: Habitat Restoration/Conservation, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, deforestation, volunteer | Date: Aug 18 2009 | By: colobus

 Capture

Peter, Sarah, Sam and Tom went to the location where the report of an injured Vervet monkey was reported. After looking around the grounds it seemed that a capture would be unsuccessful today. Either way, the gentleman who reported the incident offered them drinks for their troubles…… Then what do you know? The monkey arrives! The capture was a relatively easy one which involved luring the monkey into the cage with fruit! Once it was trapped, it was sedated and brought into the clinic.

Treatment

Claire, Peter and Jody assessed the monkey on arrival. On examination, there were wounds visible on both arms and a major wound on the back of the right hand. All wounds were cleaned thoroughly by the team and Jody sutured the hand wound with dissolvable stitches. Claire gave antibiotic, anti-inflammatory and Tetanus injections intramuscularly. Iodine was applied to all wounds and the monkey was placed back in the cage to come round fully under observation. Once the monkey was awake water and food were then offered.

After Care

Following the procedure, antibiotic injections were given for another day and the monkey’s progress was monitored.

Release

24 hours after the procedure, the monkey was taken back the location where it was captured. Here, he was released successfully and roamed his natural environment back where he belongs!

All in all, it was a positive outcome for the monkey and team!

www.colobustrust.org

Tags: primate rescue, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, Veterinary clinic, volunteer

2 responses so far

Category: Fundraising, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation | Date: Feb 16 2009 | By: colobus

As two of our volunteers just left to continue their journey (former Trust-bloggers Tracey Stenson and Tim Jukes), another baby vervet monkey just came in. This baby is even smaller than the first one; approximately 2 weeks old and still in constant need of a surrogate mother holding him tight. He was found left alone just outside the bush, shocked and depressed, somehow abandoned by his mother way too early. After having introduced him successfully to our first baby vervet (about 1,5 months old), he moved into the same cage, and the two of them became friends. They cuddled, groomed each other, and spent the night sleeping in each other’s arms. The smallest baby vervet still has some problems being fed, since he hasn’t learned yet how to suck but to bite and scratch quite hard, but he is now hand-reared every 3 hours together with the other baby vervet, something that has turned out to be a good solution.

The bigger baby Vervet, though, shows good indications of growing independent. Partly, he has started chewing solid food, e.g. watermelon and banana instead of infant milk formula, and if he doesn’t like something you do to him, he truly shows that his teeth are developing. His world is getting bigger and bigger too: yesterday his exploring curiosity took him to new heights, as he climbed halfway up a big Neem tree. Usually, the Vervet mother pinches the baby when it climbs too far away from her, but as we couldn’t reach our baby Vervet he just kept on climbing, until he realized he wanted to get down again, which apparently wasn’t as easy as climbing up… We got him down by holding a long branch (with a piece of banana on top if it) so close to him that he could grab it. He even proved his bravery by mocking with Nala - the cat of the house, twice his size - a situation that resulted in Nala being chased away, surrendering.

However, it is a lot to do for the two volunteers that are left. The two babies need constant looking after and to be carried around and held, and at the same time there are regular tasks, like giving eco-tours for the tourists, keep on de-snaring and other field projects. We strongly feel the need of more volunteers joining us as currently there is a lot to do at the Trust. Fortunately, a couple living here in Diani just gave the information that they are going to adopt the two baby Vervets and build a rehabilitation cage in their garden for them.

Anna Sandahl, Filip Celander, Colobologists

Tags: colobus, diani, monkeys, primate rescue, Primate Rescue/Rehabilitation, vervet, volunteering

3 responses so far