New arrivals Annie and Felix

We collected new arrivals Annie (Brown Capuchin) and Felix (Weeper Capuchin) on Friday morning.  The vet was there to sedate Felix as we were told that he was a big, aggressive primate.  Felix proved more difficult to sedate than we had expected as he realized what was going on and was not going to co-operate.  Annie, a gentle soul was hand caught without being sedated and sat calmly in her traveling box.  When we arrived back at the sanctuary, Felix was still out cold and we started to become concerned.  The day did not go exactly as planned as we were looking forward to releasing the two of them into their huge enclosure but Felix was still asleep.  We grew increasingly worried about him as he was just not waking up.  We took his temperature and turned him over every fifteen minutes with no response at all until 5pm.  We were very relieved when he came round and within the hour he was eating and drinking.  In the meantime, we moved Annie into a temporary cage so that she could be freed from her traveling box.

On Saturday morning we took them both out to their new enclosure and were delighted to see them enjoying the large space and tree.  Annie spent the entire day in the tree and would not even come down for treats.  Felix investigated the enclosure but was calm and taking food from our hands within the hour.  Felix did not show any sign of aggression towards any of the volunteers and we were really pleased that he was so relaxed.

Annie is absolutely adorable – very sweet and gentle.  Felix is more energetic but not aggressive.  On Sunday morning Annie came down to take her supplements and was investigating more but loves her big tree.

We took Chino (baby Brown Capuchin) up to meet his foster parents.  A volunteer sat on the outside of the enclosure with him so that he would feel safe.  He was a little clingly and nervous of Felix.  We will be taking him up every morning so that he can slowly get used to them.

Capuchin enclosure, Gerry & Tommy

We had planned to collect the Capuchins today, but the enclosure is not ready.  The new date for collection is 11^th March 2011.  The roof of our new Capuchin enclosure is going on today, so hopefully we will have plenty of time to complete it before next Friday.  Baby Chino (Capuchin) spent some time with volunteer Scott up one of the trees in the new enclosure and tested out some of the branches.

Other news is that Gerry (Marmoset) came home yesterday.  He had been in the animal hospital undergoing tests for almost a week.  He is being treated for an ulcer and will be taking medication for the rest of his life.

Poor little Tommy (Marmoset) also visited the vet and had to have two toes amputated after a fight with Joshua.  He is doing well though.

The capuchin enclosure

Sonko (Marmoset) went back to the vet who said that she thought the swollen testicle had gone down a little.  We were relieved that he did not need to be castrated, especially since he has already had a vasectomy.  We still need to keep an eye on things but the vet was happy with his progress and will not need to see him again unless his condition gets worse.

Poppy (dog) had some teeth out (ouch !!!) but will probably be a lot more comfortable once she has fully recovered.

The volunteers are working very hard to complete the new capuchin enclosure so that we can collect the two new arrivals (two adult capuchins).  They will be foster parents for Chino, the baby capuchin we are currently hand rearing.  We are building the enclosure in two sections with an introduction area for baby Chino so that he can slowly get acquainted with his new mom and dad and we can be sure that they will accept him before he joins them permanently.

Sonko

Poor old Sonko had to go back to the vet again today with the same embarrassing problem of a swollen testicle.  At first the vet was going to castrate him, but then decided against it and decided to put him back on a course of antibiotics.

Today, we tried to find a friend for single Maverick.  We put his small cage beside five or six other monkeys to see if they would get on, but no luck and Maverick was returned to his enclosure.  We were really hoping that we could find a friend for him

The poles for the Capuchin enclosure were delivered and our young, strong volunteers continued work for our new arrivals.

Still no water !!!!

The sanctuary faced yet another day without water.  The borehole repairs man arrived to sort the problem out but could not get it working.  The borehole keeps turning itself on and off.  Eventually it was decided to try and fill our tank and there was slight relief as we actually got water out of the taps.  We filled up as many containers as we could and some were lucky enough to take a shower but it was not long before we were out of water again.  In the meantime, we are dependant on the kindness of neighbours for all our water supply.  We are really hoping that it can be repaired tomorrow.

The good news is that the volunteers started on the new capuchin enclosure and made very good progress.  All the holes are dug and we hope to start dropping the poles tomorrow.

Despite the water crisis, volunteers got stuck in and have been very supportive.

One of those days

Today was just one of those days.  We woke up to the problem of still having no water.  One of the labourers, who had worked with borehole before was confident that he could fix it, but almost electrocuted himself and had to be taken home.  All the borehole specialists we tried to contact did not answer their phones.  In the meantime, Kerry was transporting containers of water to the sanctuary from a kindly neighbor.  Finally, we managed to contact a borehole repair man, but he could only come at 5pm and we all struggled on.  He finally arrived on time and quickly discovered the problem was the control box (which we bought new last August), but it was too late to purchase another one as the shops had closed.  So, we face another night with limited water.

The good news is that Maaitjie and Abbu (Marmosets) took their medication and are looking much better.  However, volunteers noticed that Fidget (Marmoset) was looking lethargic and decided to give him an antibiotic just to be on the safe side.  Then, just so that nobody got bored around here, Tommy and Joshua (Marmosets), starting fighting and had to be separated.  We are hoping that it is just a little tiff over food or something.  We will review the situation tomorrow and decide whether they need to be separated permanently.  Goofy is still depressed, so we may be able to pair him up with Tommy – time will tell.

Things were just not going to go right – l went off to buy new mattresses for the volunteer beds, but they did not fit.  Then we noticed that some of our tools had been stolen so l have not bought a padlock for the store room.

We received another called regarding the two Capuchins we will be receiving, so hopefully l will have time to design their enclosure tomorrow and order the materials.  We need to get the enclosure up as soon as possible.

Never boring around here – more news tomorrow 

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.

A friend for Fossy

Johnny (Marmoset) was moved into an intro cage beside Fossy (Marmoset) following the death of his companion Teddy (Marmoset).  We are hoping that the two of them will become friends and can live happily together.  So far, it looks good.  If all goes well, we will open the trap door between the enclosures within a couple of days so that they can have direct contact.

Stav (Macaque) was reunited with his friends, David, Solomon and Johanthan after having to live in an adjoining enclosure because they were all picking away at his wound.

We finally bought Pixie (dog) home after she was stitched up and have completed and separate area for her so that she can be safe from Casia who attacked her on Christmas day.  We had to make a hole through the wall to Sarah's bedroom so that she can have access to the outdoors.

Much to our releif, Lulu looks better after treatment and is acting like a puppy again.

Busy Day

The day started off with a broken geyser, broken washing machine, two leaking toilets and electrical problems.  Thanks to our efficient handy man, the geyser, one toilet and electrical problems were fixed fairly quickly.  The washing machine still has to be tested and then just as we thought we had everything under control, the geyser started overflowing with boiling water.  Never boring here !!!.

As the volunteers were trying to prepare the primate food, a swam of bees decided to help themselves to some juicy fruit.  They were everywhere – it was a real problem and slowed down the process of the preparation.  The only solution will be to contact a bee collector and have the bees removed, no doubt at great expense but it was the only thing that worked last year when they were helping themselves to the monkey food in the enclosures and we were worried that a monkey would get stung.

Stav (Macaque) will be able to join his friends tomorrow as his wound has healed up.  We had to separate him for a while because the other Macaques took his stitches out and were picking away at his wound. 

Pixie (dog) who was attacked by Casia (another dog) was came home on the 26^th December after spending the night at the animal hospital but has had to go to the vet every day (except today) to have her wounds flushed out.  She will be stitched up tomorrow.  We are busy building a separate area for her, adjoining Sarah’s room so that she will have somewhere safe to stay when we cannot be around to supervise her with Casia.

Lulu, our new puppy who was found in a garbage bag by the side of the highway is not well today and not eating very much.  She is still underweight and we are worried about her, so she will be going in to the vet with Pixie tomorrow.

Then, at pellet time Jax came down to tell me that Teddy (Marmoset) had suddenly collapsed.  I went rushing straight up, but he had died.  It was very upsetting for everyone.  We have no idea what caused his death, but will take him in for an autopsy tomorrow.

The problems of the day were not over yet.  Sarah came to tell me that Shapken (Mona monkey) had what looked like a blood blister on the side of his mouth.  It looks like an injury.  He was eating well and behaving normally, so we gave him some pain killer and will monitor him.

Quite an eventful day !!!!

Not the average Christmas day

Merry Christmas everyone.  All the volunteer were up at 4am and the duties were split up so that we could get the morning feed done early on Christmas day.  The first drama occurred when we found a poisonous snake in the blind lemurs enclosure.  With the Lemurs at risk, we quickly removed it.

Then, we noticed that the chickens ready to be prepared for Christmas lunch did not smell very good and were obviously not fit for consumption.  Very fortunately a shop nearby was open and we managed to buy some more.  Despite the set back and a very late lunch, we had a really good time and everyone enjoyed the feast laid on by Sarah, Reet and Jackie.

Everyone joined in to give the monkeys their afternoon, hand fed pellets and we had planned to sit down and have some chocolate cake when we had finished.  However, that was not to be - Sarah arrived at the house holding Pixie (dog), who had been attacked by Casia (dog).  Her injuries were really bad and we had to rush her to the out patients at Onderstepoort (animal hospital).  We stayed with her until almost 9pm while her wounds were treated by the vet.  She was admitted to the hospital for further care.  Pixie’s wounds will need to be flushed out everyday to avoid infection before she can be stitched up and come home on Tuesday.

We are now agonizing over how to move forward from here.  This is not the first time Casia has been aggressive towards Pixie.

Hmmmmmm !!!!

 Well, today was interesting and the unexpected happened – as it often does at our sanctuary.  I was just on my way into town when a call came in regarding 4 baby birds, whose nest had been disturbed during house renovations.  The lady with the baby birds arrived at the house and handed them over.  They were obviously just hatched, not a feather in sight on their pink, almost wet little bodies.  I fed them and then decided to take them into Onderstepoort (animal hospital) for further care as l felt that they would receive better care there.

While l was there, l heard about a Lulu, a six week old puppy who had been found in a garbage bag on the side on the road and very nearly died.  She had been on a drip for days.  I was invited through to see her……. And you know the rest of the story.  Yes Lulu has joined our family.  She is gorgeous, looks a little like a tiny Doberman, with a black head and dapple grey body.  She still is not well and is on medication.  Reet will be her sleeping partner tonight, but no doubt there will not be a shortage of volunteers to look after her.

All was quiet up at the enclosures with all of the monkeys behaving well.

We say goodbye to Twiggi

It was with great sadness that we said goodbye to fourteen year old Twiggi (Common Marmoset).  She died peacefully in her enclosure.  Over the past months, she had become almost blind and deaf and required additional care.  Twiggi had been at the sanctuary for a number of years.  She leaves behind her mate Mukka, and foster daughter Suri, who fortunately, are very close.  Foster son Nigel, who was only three years old, died a few days before after he ingested something sharp which punctured his gut.  It has been such a sad time for Mukka and Suri.  They are being monitored closely and seem to be doing ok.

Twiggi and Nigel will be buried together in our memorial forest, under a plum tree.

On a brighter note, Fossy (Common Marmoset) is doing much better on his gluten free diet.

Three year old Nigel dies

Three year old Nigel (Common Marmoset) was found dead in his sleeping box this morning.  It was a very sad moment for the volunteers who pulled his little body from the box.  Late this afternoon, we took his body in for an autopsy.  The results revealed that a foreign body (perhaps a piece of twig or something) had punctured his gut.  Nigel was a beautiful, always healthy little monkey who arrived at the sanctuary as a baby three years ago.  It is very sad to lose them when they are so young.

Volunteers were also watching very elderly Twiggi (Common Marmoset) closely today after noticing that she was bleeding heavily from her vagina.  It may have been just part of her female cycle so she was given a pain killer and monitored.  By lunch time, she had dried up, much to our relief.

Fossy (elderly Common Marmoset), was taken in to the vet today as he was also not looking well and then started vomiting.  The vet examined him and said that he should be put on a gluten free diet.  He was given medication and we are hopeful that he will recover.

Volunteer will be getting an early night after a very stressful day.