More borehole problems

First thing this morning the monkeys had their medication – they are both on their way to a full recovery and we are hoping that no more will go down with the tummy bug circulating the sanctuary.

Just after lunch we received a call regarding two capuchins looking for sanctuary care.  A five year old male Weeper Capuchin, who is apparently aggressive and a brown female Capuchin.  Of course, we said we would take them and are excited about the possibility of having company for baby Chino (brown capuchin) who we are hand rearing.

More problems with the borehole – when will it end.  The labourers were working on it all day and we still do not have water.  Its just an ongoing problem.  We now need a new part, but all the shops are closed now.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better

Medicating monkeys

Maaitjie, Ruben, Fiona and Abbu absolutely refused to take their medication this morning – so, they all had to be hand caught and force fed.  It was not fun !!!  Our usually peaceful sanctuary was shattered by the sound of screaming monkeys for an hour or two, but it had to be done.

Monique and Manuka were finally let out into their extended outdoor area.  It was wonderful to see them jumping around and enjoying themselves.

Janet, Kerry's friend arrived with her camera and took some really good photos of all the monkeys.  She is going to put them all on a disc to give to me and hopefully l can share them soon

We had a visit from a perspective local volunteer, who fell in love with Chino, our baby Capuchin – who wouldn’t – he does happen to be the cutest baby monkey in the whole world.  She will be back next Saturday to start volunteering for the day.

Maaitjie and Abbu go the the vet

This morning, Maatjies eyes looked a little better, but we caught her up and took her along to the vet with Abbu, who was booked in for a vasectomy.  As it turned out, Abbu could not have his vasectomy because he had a temperature and diarrhea, so instead he was sent home with medication and we will take him in again when he has recovered.  There was better news for Maatjie – we were expecting her to have to stay at the hospital for her medication, but the vet said that she could come home because her eyes were on the mend.

We were concerned as Abbu is the fifth Marmoset going down with diarrhea.  The vet said not to worry about it too much and that it was probably a result of the rain and likely to be some bug or something moving through the enclosures infecting the monkeys.  She did suggest that we keep a close watch on all the monkeys and that the cage mates of the infected ones also received treatment.

Sarah prepared the medication this afternoon but not one of the monkeys would take the fowl tasting stuff.  A bit of a problem, since four monkeys are on it.  We tried everything but they were having none of it, so there is only one option left – we have hand catch them and force feed them.  Since it was getting late, we will begin this undertaking tomorrow. 

Maaitjie goes to the vet

This morning Sarah noticed that Maatjie’s eyes were swollen and so we took her along to the vet.  She said that it could be an allergy and gave her a few shots.  If it is no better tomorrow she will have to be admitted to the hospital for treatment.  Unfortunately, there was no real improvement by 5pm this evening so it looks likely that she will have to go back tomorrow when we take Abbu in for his vasectomy.

We are really concerned about Goofy, who seems depressed since his separation for Koosie and Sartjie.  Goofy, who is very elderly rejected Koosie a few days ago and he and Sartjie were moved to another enclosure.  We are all considering the options and who we can try and pair poor old Goofy with.

Today, the Abso’s (Georgie, Candada and Bobby) were released into the extension area of their enclosure and had a great time investigating.

Work continued on the Macaque enclosure, who are enjoying their new feeding system of scattering their food rather than presenting it in a feeding bowl.

Fiona and Abbu

It rained almost all morning, very frustrating because we were keen to introduce Fiona and Goofy.  The volunteers finally went to fetch Fiona just after 2pm – only to find her and Abbu hanging on the wire lip smacking each other.  It was obvious that they were bonding and we decided to leave them together.  They are currently in adjoining enclosures and will have to stay that way until Abbu has had a vasectomy.  We made an appointment for Abbu to have his vasectomy on Friday and we hope to allow them direct contact with each other later on in the day. 

Poor Goofy is still alone, but he appears to be fine.  Perhaps he is enjoying the peace and quite after living with lively Koosie and Sartjie for the last couple of months.  He is enjoying the attention of the volunteers and hopefully it will not be too long before he will have a friend

Marmoset News

This morning, Koosie was hiding in the grass, terrified of Goofy who had obviously been terrorizing him.  Koosie and Sartjie (Common Marmosets) were removed and put into Fiona’s old enclosure and it was not long before they were relaxed and investigating their new home.

We decided against putting Howard with Fiona because when we came to take him out, he Vosi and Vince were all cuddled up together and we could not bear to separate them.  We moved Fiona in beside Abbu for the time being.  Tomorrow, we will see if she will get on with Goofy.

Gabbi is recovering well, and we were very pleased to see that Sonko’s testicle had almost returned to its normal size.

The labourers were able to continue working on the Macaque enclosure again today.  We are hoping that the weather will allow us to give the boys more space in the very near future.

Lots of happenings at the sanctuary

Yesterday morning carers noticed that Fonzie (Marmoset) was lethargic.  He was given medication but continued to deteriorate.  He was eventually rushed to the vet, but died on the way.  His body has gone in for a full autopsy so that we can establish his cause of death.  Shortly after discussing a suitable companion for Fonzie's widow Fiona, Vosi and Howard had a fight - so tomorrow we will take him out of the enclosure (leaving Vosi and Vince together) and introduce Howard to Fiona.  This morning Gerry (Marmoset) was not looking well, so not wanting to him to suffer the same fate as Fonzie, he was rushed along to the vet, who confirmed that his temperature was normal and she could not see anything wrong with him, but put him on a course of antibiotics anyway.

The other news is that Sonko’s (Marmoset) one testicle has swollen up again.  What is going on with our sanctuary monkeys ???.  These things always happen over the weekend when vets are not easy to get hold of.  We will discuss his condition with the vet tomorrow when Lulu is taken in to get her vaccinations.

Tonight, the carers will move Pecan and Shacked (in their sleeping box because they are impossible to trap), to a new enclosure and hopefully we can work on getting Maverick and Abbu together.  All very complicated - lots going on at the sanctuary right now.

Baby Chino (Capuchin) arrives at the sanctuary

                                                   Seven week old Chino (Capuchin)

On the 4^th February, we received a call from a distraught owner of a seven week old Capuchin.  She said that she had purchased the baby four days ago and now realized that she had made a mistake.  It was agreed that we would take him.  Within hours, we were traveling to Polokwane to collect the baby.  Since it was a six hour round trip, we arrived back late at night with adorable little Chino.  He was understandably confused and bewildered on his first night with us.  Volunteers are taking it in turns to care for him during the night because he is still on two hourly feeds.  Later this year, we will be receiving more Capuchins and will introduce him when he is old enough.