It has been confirmed by the director of Benoni Animal Rescue Centre Lauren Kelly that the body of a mutilated vervet monkey that was found hanging on a fence along the N12 and old mine dump in Morehill on January 14 is not the vervet the South African Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre (SAWRC) has been searching for.
Annalise Jungmann, of The Animal Guardians, came across the carcass that morning and posted a photograph on the Benoni Lost and Found Animals Whatsapp group, stating the primate’s hands and feet had been hacked off.
In recent weeks, SAWRC has been involved in searching for and capturing three vervet monkeys roaming the Benoni area.
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While two have been successfully captured, the third is still being tracked, leading members of the animal rescue Whatsapp group to believe the carcass of the monkey along the N12 was the third vervet.
According to SAWRC volunteer Vanessa Davis, the carcass is about two weeks old.
She added cases of this type of animal cruelty are, unfortunately, common.
“Some parts of the animal were cut off. My guess is that it has something to do with muti or sangomas,” she said.
Davis also commented that it was unusual that the two vervets they managed to capture are female.
The first was caught in Marister early in December and the second in Fairleads on January 8.
“When a male vervet reaches a certain age it challenges the troop leader. This could go one of two ways – either the younger male gets kicked out of the troop or the older one is forced to leave,” she explained.
The captured vervets were taken to the Ithumela Primate Foundation, just outside Pretoria, which specialises in bush babies and vervets.
They are put in a rehabilitation programme and later released into a safe area, Davis concluded.
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