Veterinarian Uche Anayorah and assistant Austin Igbebor take a blood sample using field anaesthetic machine developed by IZVG

April 2008
In 2007 CERCOPAN was extremely lucky enough to be chosen by Wildlife Vets International (WVI), as a primate project they would like to support. WVI is supported by the International Zoo Veterinary Group (IZVG). Through vet and partner John Lewis, IZVG have been assisting CERCOPAN from a distance with veterinary advice for many years. Now WVI  supported vet Nic Masters to help; Nic managed to squeeze a week long trip to Nigeria into his already packed schedule with IZVG to assess our veterinary needs, including training, equipment and resources. Nic was an absolute pleasure to have around and totally professional. He was very impressed with our team's monkey catching ability - a tricky task for both monkeys and humans, but essential skills for carrying out routine and quarantine health checks on our primates. It is important to do this efficiently and with as little stress to the monkeys as possible, so we were very pleased that Nic was impressed!

Having been told that emergencies are rare and what we deal with on a daily basis is primarily preventative medicine, he was met with an emergency just moments after his arrival. One of our young mona monkeys, who arrived with a head injury as an orphan, suddenly started seizuring. Nic helped to treat him and get him on medication which, for the moment, appears to be controlling his seizures.

WVI is hoping to identify further funds to enable Nic to travel out several times to carry out training and provide much needed veterinary equipment. Unfortunately Nic forgot to take any photos of himself in Nigeria - but we can assure you he really was there...next time! All of us at CERCOPAN are very grateful to both WVI and their donors.