Tufty was brought in to the IAR centre by motorbike, in Assagao by someone who claimed to have just found him, but who was clearly his owner. He was suffering from multiple severe injuries that were consistent with being dragged along the road. It seemed obvious that he had fallen off the back of his moving bike and had been dragged behind it without the owners realising. All the flesh had been torn off one of his back legs and the whole of the fibula bone exposed. He was confiscated immediately and rushed to the Tree House for intensive care.
At first it was thought that the back leg could not be saved but after a 2 hour operation by IAR’s brilliant surgeon Nikhil, in which he had to remove the fibula and suture the remaining flesh around the tibia, his leg was saved. Clearly this was not the first time this poor creature had suffered this way as Tuffty was found to be recovering from a previous accident in addition to his present injuries which included broken and skinned fingers.
Tufty has to be the bravest little monkey in the world. Not once did anyone have to fight with him to change his dressings or give him painful injections. Unbelievably he would actually hold his leg out and keep it still while the dressings were changed and would look the other way just like a child would! He had also lost the tips off of several of his fingers along with a number of teeth.
Unfortunately there were no others of his age suitable for him to play with during his long period of treatment and he spent all his time with staff or volunteers until he was fitter. Throughout this period he slept in the bed with John. Once he was fit enough he first made friends with Ruby, which helped Ruby with her psychological problems. He still loves to come out and get individual attention, although he is at the age where he would normally be unsafe to handle except by staff.
Despite his injuries he is very much the Alpha male and has grown into a big powerful and very strong monkey. He is an amazing swimmer and performs the most incredible acrobatics whilst diving into the swimming pool. He shares with Preston.
