By Eleanor Momberg
The Riverside Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in the Limpopo Province has appealed to the public not to kill baby vervet monkeys or to keep them as pets.
Centre spokesperson Monika Flis said it was unacceptable that so many orphaned monkeys were brought into the centre every year.
"Our centre receives more than 100 monkey babies every year," she said.
| 'Many of the animals needed to be adopted either by so-called foster parents' |
It was presently monkey baby season, she said, pointing out that many orphaned and often injured monkeys were brought to the centre.
Flis said farmers often shot the monkeys, regarded as vermin, while the females were giving birth, or while they were carrying their young.
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She said many of the animals needed to be adopted either by so-called foster parents or sponsored by corporations.
Flis said they were trying to raise money to build more electrified open air camps to accommodate more animals.
Once rehabilitated, the monkeys would be released into protected environments, she said.
The centre presently had more than 600 vervet monkeys in its rehabilitation programme.
While these monkeys were still listed by conservation authorities in six provinces as vermin, they are listed as endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
- This article was originally published on page 20 of Pretoria News on November 22, 2004
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