John’s Update : After 24hrs of travelling from the UK I could not wait to see my monkeys again. As usual I think I missed them far more than they missed me, especially as Tom had done such a fantastic job of looking after them.
The moment I arrived at the Tree House I went round all the pens to say hello but most of them only briefly looked up and considered their evening meal far more important. Nora came rushing over and gave me a big cuddle and was clearly ecstatic to see me and I had a hard job getting out of the pen. The same applied to Ruby, Dennis and Tilly who again were all delighted to see me back. Ruby has developed an infection that causes her hair to drop out but she refused to take her medicine no matter what Tom tried. If he had tried putting the tablet into her mouth Ruby would have turned really nasty and I am the only person who could get away with such an act as she lets me do almost anything to her. Hopefully her loss of hair will stop now she is getting the medicine as she is looking very moth eaten, although it has not otherwise affected her health.
Next morning I was out at first light and without their evening meal to occupy them they were far more keen to greet me and I got a good grooming from Tuffty and Baldrick both of which I had to fight off to escape as they did not want me to leave. The whole day was spent taking the monkeys out for walks and I have to say it was nothing short of fantastic as I had missed them all so much.
Tom had made the most of the monsoon by spending time making up a mass of new swings and toys for all the pens, the pens had never looked more enriched and clearly all the monkeys loved his efforts. Tom sadly has now left but we are all hopeful that he will come back as we already have had numerous e mails from him saying how much he misses them all. One thing is for sure is that we could never thank him enough.
By John Hicks
