by Zena Tooze

I and all at CERCOPAN were extremely sad this month when Leo, CERCOPAN’s first ever rescued monkey and the inspiration for the founding of the organization, was taken ill quite suddenly and discovered to have a tumour. Leo’s enclosure was the first one seen when entering the CERCOPAN compound and there he could welcome visitors while staff explained the start of CERCOPAN and Leo’s huge role in the organization.

Leo arrived in 1991 after being confiscated from his captors as a tiny 4 week old infant, weighing only 400 grams – the staff of the Cross River State National Park (CRNP) were even unsure what species he was! Pale, thin, and dehydrated when he arrived, he was not eating solid food and taking very little milk. As I was working full time for the CRNP at the time, my rescued Alsatian, Lyka, became his adoptive mum. Lyka was rescued off the road after an accident, with partial paralysis - although she could walk and run with a not quite normal gait, she could never wag her tail. They became, I think, a tonic for each other's rehabilitation. He would ride around perched behind Lyka’s ears like a little jockey, clinging on tightly and slept with her constantly, sometimes attached to one nipple! He became a very precocious and mischievous little fellow over the next few months, constantly in and out of trouble - typical mona! He taught me so much in those first years... Little did he or I realize what would start as a result! Over the next year 5 more monkeys joined Leo and the rest, as they say, is history.
 

Despite his quite hair-raising youth, full of escapes, Leo grew up to be a very peaceful monkey and avoided fights, resulting in him never being an alpha male himself – this never seemed to worry him and he got along with all other monas he met, including alpha males. Although quite particular about who he liked in the human world, Leo had an extremely caring side and made a fantastic adoptive father to all the young monas who joined him over the years, despite never raising infants of his own.

Leo passed away peacefully and without pain as we took the decision to put him to sleep after discovering the tumour, which we could do nothing to cure. He had a good, long life while at CERCOPAN and will never be forgotten by those of us who knew and loved him - and he left quite a legacy behind him.....