We now have the monkey spotted at Margao bus station. A Member of staff Shivnath saw a man begging from the incoming buses with him at 9.30 am. The police were organised to attend and he was confiscated by early afternoon. As the beggar was not only penniless but also crippled, the police decided to let him off with just a warning, although we shall be checking up that he doesn’t get another one.
Percy, as we called him, has had both his ears pierced and was wearing earrings and a necklace on arrival. He is about 8 months old and quite self assured despite what he has been through to date. Others that we have taken from a similar start have been nervous wrecks. With his attitude to life, after just a few days he was able to join the troop of our other youngsters and adult females, his earrings and jewellery were removed with wire – cutters and he even accepted this quite willingly. Percy is now totally integrated into the group.
A very new arrival at the Tree House is Daphne; another baby Langur, but this time really tiny and only days rather than weeks old. She is so young that she still has no proper hand eye coordination, and is only able to take a few tottering steps unsupported. Needless to say she is being bottle fed and has so far demanded a feed every 2 hours day and night. The only saving grace is that being so young as yet she can’t tell the difference between a soft toy plus hot water bottle and ticking clock and a real live person which has meant that she will sleep happily in a cage, in between feeding. I don’t know how long she will be fooled. Pixie was many weeks older when he arrived and knew from day one whenever he was ‘abandoned’. Like Pixie, Daphne’s mother was killed crossing the road and she has some minor head injuries as a result of the accident. If she makes it through the mine field of babyhood, she will be a companion for Pixie in the future.
At present Pixie regards her with distaste and can’t see why she should have a bottle so often, in fact I have to give him some at each feed, even though he doesn’t really want it, he has been on just 6 milk feeds a day, but he drinks the extra just so he’s not missing out on anything. Baldrick continues to run rings round him in progress and although Pixie will stand up for himself now, and Baldrick is even a little scared of annoying him too much, Pixie is in comparison, clueless on the art of survival. For instance peas in pod, this is one of their favorite foods, which Baldrick opens and dispatches swiftly and without loss, Pixie inevitably opens the pod up and then stares in disbelief at the empty shell, as the peas have shot unseen all over the floor.