We have a (literally) 24 hr primate emergency service. If an animal is injured in any way we assess the situation and follow up to ensure that the treatment incurs the least stress but with the greatest humane treatment possible.  For example, if a monkey has an injury that with our experience looks like it will heal on its own, we leave it.  Animals have an amazing ability to heal especially eating a wild diet and living within its own troop. 

Example of a Typical Rescue

We receive a call that a person has spotted a monkey with an injury - whether its been hit by a car, electrocuted, etc. We get the details of the exact location and the direction the monkeys seem to be heading as well as the name and contact details of the informant.

We quickly put together a team of two to three people and the rescue equipment: portable cage, sheet, towel, tough gloves, sisal twine, fruit and maize bait, and the darting kit comprising of a blow pipe (and sometimes dart gun), darts and tranquilizer.  They jump into the car and off the siren goes.  Ok, so it’s a Toyota Ranger, and there’s no siren, but…

The team gets to the site and begins the search for the troop in which the injured monkey was seen.  Once they are found, an assessment is done to the severity of the wound and if capture and treatment is required.  If the monkey requires capturing and treatment, the team selects the method – usually either darting or trapping.  If trapping is considered the best option, a suitable location to set up the trap is found. Into the back of the trap goes some fruits and maize.  More maize is scattered around the front of the cage.  All this time the monkeys are watching the food being distributed.

Sisal twine is tied to the trap door which holds the door securely up. The wait begins.  The first to get the food is the dominant male and other older more dominant individuals, followed by the younger and less dominant ones.  The injured monkey is usually the last to join the party as it is much more cautious  than the others.  The other monkeys go in and out of the cage to get the food and thus the injured one perceives the cage as safe.  Once he/she goes in to get the food (the others would likely be gone by now), the team members drop the twine quickly, shutting the trap door.

If the monkey needs to be darted the team prepares a dart with a mixture of sedatives. A staff member then waits until the monkey is somewhere relatively safe and darts it. Within a few moments the primate will be sedated and able to be put into a cage.

The monkey’s state is assessed.  Normally the vet is called immediately and asked to meet the team at the Trust’s vet clinic. Depending on the type of injury the primate will either be treated and released right away or kept for a few days for continued treatment and then released back into it's troop.

Rehabilitation at the Colobus Trust usually targets former pet primates with the view to returning them to the wild.

All primates are really cute and amusing when they are young, thus tempting some people to keep them as pets until they begin to mature, particularly sexually.  At this time, they become more aggressive as their natural behaviour to increase their dominance standing .  Concurrently, they get bigger and grow longer canines, so when they bite (accidentally or otherwise) they do more damage.  It is usually at this stage that most of these owners bring them to us.

Kenyan law does not permit keeping wild animals.  Monkeys are wild animals.  In a few cases, people found keeping or selling monkeys are arrested, charged in court or fined and their ‘pets’ confiscated.  After being taken to court as ‘evidence,’ the monkeys are brought to us. 

Immediately the monkeys are brought in we begin their rehabilitation.  This entails the re-learning of behaviours of wild monkeys, learning what foods to eat, learning how to interact with the other monkeys and essentially learning that humans are not friends.

In order for them to learn how to be monkeys and how to interact with wild ones we have built large mesh cages through which they can see and touch the wild ones.  This way they see how the different hierarchy levels operate, the various calls and their meanings, and if they make friends, they can give each other a groom.

To learn which foods to eat we give them a wide variety of wild leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds.

To learn that humans are not friends, we limit contact with them, do not make any friendly sounds at them and also they watch the reaction of other monkeys to us so that by the time they are ready to leave, they are not seeking human attention as they often do when they first come in.

This process can take anything from three weeks to three months and longer depending on the monkey, how long it was a pet, and whether it stayed in the house or was allowed to live in a semi-wild state.  The monkeys are continuously assessed and when ready, they are released into a forest habitat usually far from human habitation because even if they do not seek human attention anymore, they have no fear for us, and this makes them even more dangerous than the wild ones.

As monkeys are social animals, re-introductions are done in groups of ex-captives giving each individual a greater chance of surviving.  In a group, each individual comes with its own memories of how to live wild so that they will learn from each other.  A group gives them greater safety from predators and the sociability that they require.  In most species, individual ‘strangers’ will be attacked and not normally let into a wild troop therefore releasing one individual is not done.

Operation on a Vervet

Male Baboon Rehabilitation

Vervet with Thigh Wound

Releasing a Vervet