CERCOPAN

Sageno, Akampka and Tom (right) wonder at the intrusion of the camera!

January 25, 2008

Update on our orphan influx from Volunteer Vet Nurse Heather

The last few months have been very busy ones at CERCOPAN HQ. New monkeys are arriving almost weekly, and we now have no less than seven new orphans since October. Compared to the months between February and May last year when only one little baby Mona monkey arrived, it seems non-stop, and taxing our already overcrowded facilities.

'Tom' was the first to arrive in October, a baby Putty Nosed Guenon. He has settled in very well and has been placed with two other baby Puttys, 'Sageno' and 'Akampka' who arrived as tiny babies in peak hunting season - during the rains of July and August. Out of the three he is the pushiest for the milk and will barge his way passed the two bigger Puttys to get to the bottle first. He is very demanding and will have a tantrum if he sees you with a bottle and you are not fast enough getting it to him. Putty tantrums consist of screaming in a high-pitched manner and jumping up and down on the spot, not unlike human tantrums. His distinguishing features are his fringe. This fringe varies in colour from golden to red depending on the individual. His is red and his nickname is therefore 'Tom-ato'!

'Isaac' (far left) is a Mona monkey and was kept at an army barracks. Our education assistant, Martina, is a neighbour of his former owner and after informing us she went with our Rhoko manager to persuade the soldier to donate him to us. He did this without a problem and the monkey is now named after him. He has been put in with two females, 'Kemi' and 'Kike'. 'Kemi' is 4 years old and 'Kike' is 2 years old. They had been rescued from a market by a couple in Lagos and kept at their home. The problem with this type of rescuing is that when people pay for monkeys it just encourages the sellers to get more monkeys to sell. The couple donated them to us, as well as generously donating money for their upkeep, realizing that they would have a better future here.

Mona monkey 'Sandra' was next. I have nicknamed her 'Sonic' after the hedgehog, as her fur stuck up like little prickles and because she moved at the speed of lightening and was hard to keep up with. Her age was estimated at 3 months old when she arrived (from the development of her teeth) but her physical size was about the same as a month old baby. This is often the case when monkeys have been kept as pets and given inadequate diets. Over the first few months with us, and with a balanced and monkey specific diet, we find they catch up on their growth. And her fur is also starting to look less like a hedgehog’s and more like a baby Mona’s.

So as you can imagine our quarantine is becoming full. It takes 3 months to complete all the medical tests and to also ensure they show no signs of ill health. We have only one cage left and if the last few months are anything to go by this will be filled shortly. Indeed, we have just heard of another small Mona monkey that we are hoping to collect soon once the owner returns. It is sad to think that monkeys are still being traded and considered as pets. Although our message is being heard more and more which is witnessed by the fact that the public is informing us more of the location of pet monkeys, there is still a long way to go with our educational message to prevent these monkeys being caught and bought in the first place. As such our education outreach programme for this year is about to start with our education staff visiting more than 50 schools in Calabar and the villages around our bush site.
 

Have a look at our Blog on Wildlife Direct to see 'Murphy' and 'Abonema's' heartbreaking stories