CERCOPAN

Category: Cercopan, Monkeys, Nigeria, Uncategorized | Date: Aug 07 2008 | By: cercopan

by Emma Higgs

Who wouldn’t want to hand rear orphan monkeys?! After working with wildlife for over 10 years, I again reached a time in my life when I was free to try something new. From seals to monkeys and from Ireland to Nigeria, that was the size of the change I was looking for. Cercopan seemed like a wonderful organisation. The monkeys are mainly the result of the tragic, ongoing bushmeat trade but with Cercopan’s multifaceted approach to dealing with the issue as well as with the casualties it seemed to me that great strides were being made by this NGO.

Emma, Melody and Joy

‘Joy’ was one such casualty, an orphan baby Mona monkey. She arrived at Cercopan with her ‘owner’, a young girl. It was with much persuasion that she was eventually handed over to our care. As seems to be the norm, the girl was expecting Cercopan to pay for the monkey, but as it is illegal to keep monkeys as pets in Nigeria anyway, it is policy here not to pay for them. Trying to talk the person around is the first method the staff here use, if this doesn’t work then the monkey has to be officially confiscated by the Forestry Commission.

Joy

The keepers here at Cercopan get to name the orphaned baby monkeys when they come in with no name, but with little idea of her personality ‘Joy’ is an uncannily fitting name.

Weighing only 300g, yet being roughly 3 months old, Joy was very underweight for her age. She was taken inside and settled in with a surrogate (teddy) monkey, offered milk, baby formula, and eagerly grabbed the bottle and started sucking away. She needed no encouragement to start putting on weight.  

Joy arrived shortly after our other baby Mona; Melody. The contrast is stark. Poor Melody is still very insecure and clingy whereas Joy, after a feed, snooze then cuddle, was more than happy to start exploring the couch, climbing the cushions and leaping around in an altogether joyful manor!

Melody Joy and “Mum”

Teeth and hair are ways of assessing a monkeys age when they are babies. Despite the 8 week head start, Joy is the same weight as Melody. She has however, a larger than life disposition! Much as we are saddened by the arrival of orphaned baby monkeys, we were delighted for Melody’s sake that she would now have a monkey playmate and teacher. It is the norm, so I’m told, that when you introduce one orphan to another, by the end of the day they will be inseparable. The end of three days later there seems to be some bonding going on.

Bonding

Joy just seems to be so full of the joys of life that she can’t help bounding around at playtime, leaping on Melody’s head, grabbing her by the hair and altogether trying to rough and tumble with petrified, still psychologically damaged, delicate little Melody. Life really hasn’t gone as planned for Joy but it looks like she is not going to let that get in the way of making the best of what’s to come…