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.

Should we build an Ark ??

Nothing much to report.  It has been raining off and on for days.  The poor monkeys have been huddled together under their heater lamps. 

Roofy, our naughty cat has taken to sleeping on my computer key board and now l battle to get the "u" to work.

The rain has delayed the outdoor area of the Macaque enclosure, so the boys are looking quite bored - we were hoping to have it finished by now.

The good news is that according to the weather report, it will clear up on Friday - hope so.

What a day

Off to a bad start yesterday morning, with no electrical supply for the monkey’s heating. 

The electrician arrived to try and sort out the problem, much to Honey’s (Squirrel monkey) relief as she was missing her heater, the electrician connected the monkeys heating temporarily saying that some of the cables would need to be dug up to find the real problem.

Then the rain came down, in buckets.  It was so heavy that Jax (volunteer) bought Fossy (Common Marmoset) to my flat instead to Nina’s room where he usually sleeps to prevent him from getting wet.  I was going out, so l left my flat unlocked and headed off.

I returned at 10pm to discover that l could not get into my flat.  I thought that someone must have locked my flat but could not find the key and the key to the main house was in my flat, so l had to phone the sanctuary phone and wake up volunteers.  We soon discovered that the door had somehow locked from the inside (its not a yale, so we don’t know how that could have happened).  In the pouring rain, and dark Mike and l battled the door before giving up and l went to sleep in the main house.  Just to add to the fun, Mike told me that the electricity power supply had gone off shortly after l left, and it still was not on.  Poor Honey was facing another night without her heating.

This morning, it was still raining, and we still had no electricity, and no access to my flat where Papi's medication and the babies bottles are kept.  Clever Sarah eventually forced my flat door open so fortunately Papi had his medication on time (which is important because its an insulin injection).  Thank goodness for the gas stove so that we could warm up the babies bottle feeds (Common Marmosets, Lilly, Flash and Zet). The rest of the morning feed was completed in the dark and rain which was not too much fun, but it had to be done.  It was cold, and some of the monkeys were shivering without their heating.  There was great rejoicing when the power came back on at about 10am and Honey and the other monkeys could thaw out under there heater lamps.