WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: Several monkeys shot in La Lucia and uMhlanga

MONKEY Helpline’s Carol Booth has once again made a plea to locals for their support of a ban on airguns in South Africa. This follows the non-profit organisation having to deal with several incidents last week in which Vervet monkeys were shot with pellets.
Booth said, “The scourge of violence against animals continued unabated with one of the hot spots being the La Lucia/ uMhlanga area. Between Wednesday and Sunday alone, we responded to four incidents involving monkeys being shot.”
Monkey Helpline said two of the monkeys who were shot had died – both of them adult females. One of them they said was shot through the chest in La Lucia, with the lead pellet passing through its body. The other was already dying when they arrived on the scene in Shelbourne Avenue, from the effects of a lead pellet shot to its abdomen.

The third they said was a juvenile who had had her back bone shattered causing lower body paralysis. The last case they attended to was again in La Lucia. The adult male monkey had been shot in the back of the head.
“The callousness and suffering associated with these shootings makes us even more determined to succeed in our mission to have the unconditional private ownership of airguns banned in South Africa,” Booth said.
Steve Smit, co-founder of Monkey Helpline, told the Northglen News that they had reported one of the incidents to the police because they felt compelled to by the terms of the Fire Arms Control Act.