FOLLOWING last week’s painted monkey incident in the stables area of Amanzimtoti, CROW (Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife) shared a Chatsworth case that the organisation swiftly reacted to, but were still unable to save the life of this tortured animal.
Read also: Watch – Another Amanzimtoti monkey falls prey to paining myth
CROW reacted to a call from a concerned member of the public from the Chatsworth area after a monkey in distress was reported. Once arriving on scene, the team were greeted by a distraught home owner, who found the monkey in his yard when he returned home from work.
“The young male was in a dire state after being completely doused with white paint while tied up,” said CROW’s marketing and communications officer, Chandre de Bruyn. “Once the paint had dried, it appears the rope was cut, and the monkey was left to wander through the Silverglen Nature Reserve before seeking refuge in a garden.”
Chandre explained that once at the CROW centre, the clinic team found that the monkey’s circulation to his back foot had been completely cut off, resulting in tissue damage.
“On top of this, his genitalia had been sealed shut by the paint resulting in an immense amount of pain and a nasty infection. Once the team began remove the paint, shaving tufts of hair away where necessary, the team discovered small but deep lacerations all over the traumatised victim,” she said.
“It is assumed that these could have been caused by the monkey himself while trying to remove the dried paint from himself. It could have also been caused by his own troop who would have been thrown off by the monkey’s appearance and pungent fumes from the paint. After intensive treatment, it was determined that the monkey was not going to survive and the only thing left to do in this case was to humanely end his suffering.”
Sadly, this is not the first case fielded by CROW, who have seen a spike in these types of cases over the past few years. Monkey Helpline’s Steve Smit confirmed that his organisation has seen increasing cases in recent years. While Steve and his team have been able to save the majority of monkeys who have fallen victim to this despicable display of cruelty, he explained that the psychological and emotional damage caused will live with these monkeys for the rest of their lives.
“It is frustrating that these cases continue to worsen, despite all the media coverage surrounding these heinous acts of animal cruelty,” said CROW’s director, Paul Hoyte.
“What’s more frustrating is that this does not serve as an effective method to deter monkeys, it is a blatant contravention of the animal protections act. This particular case is the worst we’ve seen and while this has been reported to the SPCA, without knowing where exactly he came from, there is little hope for the investigation unless someone comes forward with witness testimony.”
The CROW team appeals to all communities to stand together against cruelty and to report any suspicion of animal cruelty to the local SPCA, police station or Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.
Contact CROW on 031-462-1127 or at info@crowkzn.co.za.
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