Death of Daisy 11th March 2010

This week we have been totally devastated by the death of Daisy our first ever rescued monkey. It was Daisy that installed our passion for monkeys. She came to us as a very small baby in dreadful condition and we had to fight night and day to save her life. With her being so young she needed 24 hour a day attention and slept with us with a nappy on as she needed to cling to someone. After only a few weeks she was joined by our second rescue, Victor another bonnet macaque and also very young, and a friend for Daisy.

It has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride with Daisy, as her very bad start in life meant she was vulnerable to the slightest infection as she never had the benefit of the anti bodies that babies receive from their mother’s milk. She suffered from many illnesses but over all she was a happy character, although very determined and heaven help anyone who said “No” to her.

One funny incident was with one of our volunteers who was sitting in the front room with Daisy as she jumped up onto our book case and started chewing the books. John saw this and said “No!” to her, at which she immediately jumped off the book case and went over and bit the lady holding her lead. A few moments later she sneaked back and was doing it again, and John shouted no to her without thinking, and again she went and bit her innocent handler. Daisy’s bites were only sharp pinches, so she was not really hurt, and luckily saw the funny side of it.

Daisy’s great love was to wander around the garden looking for insects and eating all the flowers, she also enjoyed an occasional swim in the pool although she was not as keen on this as most of our monkeys.

Daisy’s luck finally ran out when she picked up an infection which would not have been a problem for a normal healthy monkey. This led to severe diarrhoea and she died of a sodium and potassium imbalance that the vets could not overcome. To say we are all devastated is an understatement. She had been with us just 5 years but in that time changed our lives, and taught and inspired us to try and help more of India’s mistreated monkeys. Loosing Daisy seems the hardest thing we have had to cope with at the monkey rescue.

There’s been little progress in the Elfin story and with Snatches troop. Since Elfins recovery we have been trying to locate her troop. The plan was to take her to the site, but leave her in a cage, to observe the troops reaction to her before any release, as we wouldn’t want to release her if she is going to be attacked again. All plans have been foiled to date as the troop seems to have moved to a new area and has not been spotted at all since her recovery. This could indicate that a new male has indeed taken over as leader and the territory has altered as a result. This would probably also mean that Elfins safety would be at risk.

Snatch continues to rule the roost as a tape recorder has as yet been impossible to purchase, even in India they are old technology and a mobile phone with a camera is easier to find even here.

Searching for abandoned kittens and puppies in the market this week, by chance I found a new method of locating them. I had already found and picked up a noisy and complaining ginger kitten in one building, and after searching around another area of the usual boxes , sacks and rubbish where they are often dumped, I found nothing. The kitten in the pet carrier then started to meow in frustration and on hearing this, a tiny little tabby came running out and straight to me, from the area I had just searched! Perhaps I also need to make a tape of a kitten calling, as it hadn’t been fooled by my “kitty, kitty” calls, which as you may imagine, cause much amusement among the locals.

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