A call from a member of the public led us to a very sick wild young langur. She had been knocked down on the national highway and taken home the day before by a concerned lady, who had hoped she’d be ready to be released by morning.
When we collected her, her injuries proved to be quite extensive, and as well as those from the vehicle which hit her, she proved to have large, deep bite wounds in her neck and back. This would point to an attack by another langur, probably a new leader had taken over her troop, and it is usual for the new male to kill or chase off all youngsters in order to bring the females back into mating condition. The attack had probably led her to run into the busy road in her attempt to escape.
She was in such a traumatic state and her injuries potentially so serious that John took her into his bedroom and had the cage on his bed. After 24 hours she started to accept John and came out of the cage and lay next to him on the bed. After 4 days in John’s bedroom being nursed and despite a large sign on the door saying no entry, a volunteer left open the bedroom door and she escaped. Everyone was devastated as being still a wild monkey , everyone thought there was no chance of ever getting her back and she would be surely killed by the local Langur troop.
She was finally located later in the day when we saw and heard the local troop attacking something in a nearby tree.
The troop ran off and to everyone’s total amazement, including John’s, when he went to the bottom of the Tree and called her and she came running to him. This was a totally astounding incident, after just 4 days. John had a unique ability to understand and handle monkeys.
When healed, she was introduced to Pixie, another Langur, Pixie showed little interest in her as he had been hand reared from a baby and didn’t realize he was a langur monkey and considered himself more human. After many weeks of lengthy introductions they finally made friends and they now happily share a pen.
