CERCOPAN

Category: Cercopan, Environmental education saving endangered primates, Monkeys, Nigeria, Orphaned baby monkeys, Saving endangered monkeys | Date: Oct 16 2009 | By: cercopan

On Wednesday (14^th October) despite doing everything we possibly could, we were unable to save a young male mona monkey brought to us at CERCOPAN.  This tiny mona arrived to us in a cardboard box, collapsed in a heap and shaking all over.  The man who brought him in said his brother had purchased the monkey that morning and it had been fine, but during the day it had become like this. As we continued to examine the mona, we found that he had a black eye, a wound on his upper lip, was dehydrated and highly disorientated.

A mona of similar size to the young male brought in
We questioned the man further, at which point he changed his story and said he had been like this when his brother made the purchase.  Realising we were going to get no closer to understanding the circumstances we carried the mona to our vet lab where our Vet Assistant, Austin, began trying to work out why the infant was shaking so severely, similarly to an epileptic fit.  We were mentally going through all the possible conditions that may have caused these symptoms.  The moment we took its temperature though we understood.  His temperature was 42˚C (nearly 108˚F). We quickly tried to cool him down,  gently wetting his fur and fanning him.  He was still ‘fitting’, a common side effect to such a high temperature, and we held his hands so he had something to hold on to and so that he felt comforted.  He was making small squeals, not like any normal vocalisation a healthy mona would make, and we could tell he was in a lot of pain.

We managed to get his temperature down to the normal level of 38 ˚C and he started to reduce his shaking while becoming more aware of his surroundings.  Relieved that he was becoming more stable we started to look in to the next stage of treatment.  We made up a sugar/salt solution to begin to combat the dehydration and fed it to him with a syringe.  Sadly, not long after, the mona started taking another turn for the worse, this time in the opposite direction with his temperature dropping.

We quickly gave him a hot water bottle and wrapped him up in blankets.  He was beginning to shake again and his whimpering told us he was still in pain. Pandrillus vet Ainare did everything she could to save him but despite all of our best efforts he passed away.  We were all desperately sad but also at least relieved the poor infant was suffering no longer.  A post-mortem revealed massive trauma to the head, likely due to being hit with something or kicked.  All of the staff of CERCOPAN had tears in their eyes and were disgusted that anyone could do this to an animal.

Later that evening the brother, who had originally purchased the mona turned up at CERCOPAN to ‘collect’ his monkey.  We explained to him the circumstances of his death and that, even if the monkey had survived, it would not have been given back to him under any conditions, as is protocol at CERCOPAN.  We gave him  tour of CERCOPAN and spent a long time explaining to him why monkeys should not be kept as pets, and the legal implications of doing so under Nigerian law.  A sad day for all here, but it made us all more determined than ever to educate people about wildlife and to provide safe haven for all of the monkeys out there that so desperately need our help.

Tags: African Wildlife, Cercopan, environmental education, mona monkey, Nigerian primates, Nigerin Wildlife, Orphan monkey, rehabilitation, Wildlife rescue

One response so far

Category: CERCOPAN supporters saving rainforests and orphaned mon, Cercopan, Conservation, Monkeys, Orphaned baby monkeys, Saving endangered monkeys | Date: Aug 04 2009 | By: cercopan

So many of you have contacted me asking how the appeal is going and how much we have left to raise. Although there is still a way to go, I am happy to tell you that thanks to the generosity of Wildlife direct readers…. we now have $1395 of the $3333 we must find in order to pay our rent by September 1st! We are almost half way there and it really is down to all of you…your help could not have come at a better time.

Once again, I must say a huge thank you to everyone who has given their support so far and to Jennifer S, Karen M, Kristine K, Brigitta S, Carol Z, Mary H all of whom have recently given to our appeal. Every donation brings us closer to our target and we are really starting to feel like we may get there in time!

For those of you following Ikom and Okon’s progress, I also have fantastic news! Both babies returned to their groups today in full health. As you can see below..they are already fitting back in very nicely with their families

Okon being groomed moments after entering the group

Austin and Joshua opening the encosure to return Ikom to his family

Ikom clearly relaxed back with his friends

Tags: African Wildlife, baby monkeys, Cercopan, Monkey appeal, Nigerian wildlife, Orphan monkeys, rehabilitation, Wildlife rescue

3 responses so far