CERCOPAN

Category: Cercopan, Monkeys, Nigeria, Uncategorized | Date: Jan 03 2008 | By: admin

Linda was born in captivity at CERCOPAN to mother “Let it be” on 11th June 2007. She was named after Linda Howard, a long term supporter of CERCOPAN and campaigner for primate welfare who died on July 27th 2006. Putty nosed Guenon Linda had a rocky start in life, being blighted with an umbilical hernia from birth. We wrestled with the decision over whether to operate and decided against it, as hernias often resolve themselves and anaesthesia at such a young age can be highly risky. Fortunately over the next few months the hernia gradually reduced in size and now is hardly visible.

Linda after being separated from Let it Be

In the last few weeks however, Linda has become very thin, lethargic and is no longer her usual bouncy self. We separated her to run some tests and identify the problem, but all proved negative and we now believe that the sudden change may be due to her mother’s milk drying up. At the moment we are worming Linda and trying to feed her up so that she can go back to her family. She is eating well and is lively and curious in her travel box, but is obviously missing her mother and calls for her constantly.

Linda calling for her mother from her travel box

Linda will complete her course of treatment at the weekend and will be put back into the group, but we will need to supplement her diet daily with milk. It is difficult to ensure that Linda will receive her fair share in the communal enclosure as the other putties are more dominant and therefore have priority access to food. Once again we are all crossing our fingers for this putty baby, if she deteriorates this time we will be faced with the difficult decision of whether to separate her permanently in order to save her life. Check back to find out how Linda and Let it be react when they are reunited after over a week apart.