Sad news here, with the loss of Butch, from a still unknown illness. We were all worried about the effect his loss would have on Matilda, his companion, but she doesn’t seem depressed at all, and as with many of our females sharing with a lone male, I think she considered him as a bit of a bully, rather than a good friend. Males demand first choice of every piece of food, toy or treat, and in a wild troop she would not spend all her time with just a dominate male, but would have her friends and companions among the other females and their offspring. We are already trying to integrate her into another small group. We have a disproportionate number of adult male rescues, as these seem to survive the trauma of capture and captivity, better than the more sensitive females.
I am still getting almost weekly emails from within the Indian population, who see us on the web, and contact us to supply them with a baby monkey as a pet. It is hard to be polite sometimes, and I can’t imagine how they can think we would do such a thing, after reading of the trauma suffered by our ex pet rescues. This latest requester, even knows it is against the law here, and that you do need a rarely issued license, but asks I give him one anyway!
Message : I want to pet langoor but without license how I can pet pls help me
Reply….The reason you need a license is to stop people trying to keep a wild monkey in captivity for their amusement, and cruelly causing the animal suffering. Monkeys belong with their families, in the wild, not chained or caged up in isolation, for your entertainment. Even our large pens are not big enough for them, so how do you think you could provide anywhere near their requirements? we would NEVER keep one in captivity that could go back to the wild, we would never keep one in isolation. Please watch some wild life programs on TV, and try and understand their lives, and what they need, and if you really like monkeys, volunteer to help your nearest rescue group with their work, rather than becoming a cruelty case yourself. Jo Hicks
Nagesh and his new lady, Rani
Most of the local population is pretty indifferent to animals suffering I am afraid, as can be seen at our traditional dumping ground for unwanted animals, the county market. Things are slowly improving there however, from the effect of the sterilisation program for street and pet cats and dogs, which has now been ongoing for 15 years in this area. A boost in this from the WVS at the Hicks ITC centre, when 103 local cats were sterilised in a community service project. This all means that I and volunteers, now very happily have some visits there when we come away without a single rescue! In contrast, on my very first 1 hour trip to this market, I collected 27 dumped puppies and kittens, and a dozen more bodies.
Pavan Collecting BranchesPavan, our new staff member, is now handling more of the monkeys, but with many he has to wait for Nagesh to be off site first. Nagesh is their man, and they won’t even agree to come out for a walk with anyone else, if they see he is around.
On the occasionally sunny day, the monkeys are happy to get back in the pool for exercise, Kochi seemed surprised I think, that his manhood had shrunk somewhat in the colder water!
A nice big tree came partially down in the winds, so we sent Pavan up to get some branches for the monkeys, which they all enjoyed. Most of the local trees are of species that the monkeys don’t eat, but this was always a popular one with the local wild langur troop, and had probably only survived as it was on our boundary, and so was not so easily accessible to them.
Without John, no more trips to the UK to source car boot sales and charity shops for “monkey” toys, a dire shortage in supply is now our problem. Of course the local shops and markets sell the same sort of toys, but with no BRITISH SAFETY STANDARD in place, they are made of the thinnest and very brittle plastics, and are very soon crunched up by our monkeys. If you are coming to Goa, or know someone who is, any sturdy plastic baby toys from rattles upwards, or even rubber dog balls and toys, would be gratefully received. We also have regular UK volunteers who may be able to bring them over for you. Thank You.
