MONKEY rescue people have battled to trap a monkey, cruelly painted yellow, spotted in the Northdene and Escombe areas
Earlier this month, locally based Vervet Monkey rescue organisation, Monkey Helpline (MH), received information from concerned Queensburgh residents that a “yellow” monkey had been seen in the Northdene and Escombe area.
“Photos of the bright yellow monkey were also sent to us via Facebook,” said MH’s Steve Smit.
According to Smit, the “painting” of monkeys with various types of paint is not uncommon.
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The reason people do this dates back to the early days of the Voortrekkers when, to protect their crops from foraging monkeys or baboons, some individuals were trapped and painted with whitewash or covered in bread flour and then released to return to their troop.
The reasoning behind this was that the white animal would run to the safety of the troop after being released from the trap.
Troop members would see the white apparition approaching and flee in terror, eventually disappearing over the horizon.
Smit scoffs at the reasoning behind this attempt to protect crops.
“Those doing this to the monkeys and baboons must have seen right away that it did not have the desired affect. Rather than flee from the painted animal the other troop members show intolerance of its presence, even attacking and harming it. Ostracised and attacked by fellow troop members must have been a terrible situation for the painted animal to be stuck in as closeness between the members of various clans within a troop of monkeys or baboons in very important,” said Smit.
“Nowadays there are still those who think that catching and painting a monkey or baboon will have the desired effect of keeping the troop out of their garden or home. This will not happen and the only outcome is pain and suffering, even the untimely death, for the painted animal.
“Every now and then we receive these calls about painted Vervet Monkeys and then we have to devote much time and effort to trapping and treating the poor animal. Attempting to trap the abused monkey can be very frustrating because, having already been trapped by some or other means, then painted, the individual is very wary of entering our trap and what would normally be an easy rescue can take hours, even days.”
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Smit says that paining a monkey or baboon in the days of the Voortrekkers was not as traumatic for the animal as is the case nowadays.
They used water soluble whitewash or bread flour which dried and came loose from the hair fairly soon, even sooner if they were rained on.
“Modern paints are acrylic and enamel and are very difficult to remove with the affected animal having to be sedated each time we work on it, and the paint can also have a seriously harmful affect on the animal’s skin and eyes, and ingested paint can make the monkey very sick.”
“We must warn people that treating any animal in this cruel manner is an offence in terms of the Animal Protection Act and that anyone caught doing this will be prosecuted.
“Not only do these animals suffer huge emotional trauma, but they also suffer as they painfully pull out large patches of hair, even tearing their skin, whilst trying to remove the paint.”
Insofar as the “yellow” monkey is concerned, Monkey Helpline rescuers were fortunate to trap this animal, a mature adult male, within a few days of receiving news of him, and he is currently in their care with the yellow paint being systematically removed.
However, a week after trapping this monkey, Monkey Helpline received notice of a second painted adult Vervet from the same area.
“We have found this monkey in Oliver Lees Road, Northdene, but our efforts so far to trap him have been unsuccessful,” lamented Smit.
“His unpleasant experience has made him very wary of our trap and added to this is the fact that he has been badly bitten by other male Vervets in the troop, so making him even more suspicious about approaching the food we are trying to tempt him into the trap with whilst the other monkeys are close by.
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“These past few days we have had no further reports of him being sighted and we fear that he might have moved out of the area or possibly even succumbed to his injuries.”
Smit appealed to people to refrain from harming monkeys in any way.
“Please read the information we provide on our website, www.monkeyhelpline.co.za , or contact us on 082 659 4711 or 082 411 5444 if you need advice on how to humanely keep monkeys off your property. It also helps to understand that monkeys do not randomly attack people or their pets, do not carry rabies, are not breeding uncontrollably, and are not vermin and are protected by law.”
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