Cape Town – The cash-strapped Monkey Town has been dealt another blow with the death of one of their beloved primates, a De Brazza’s monkey named Bruce.
The Somerset West centre has been closed for four months without an income because of the Covid-19 crisis, and manager Melissa Grobler said there seemed to be no end in sight to their troubles.
Staff had first noticed a lump on Bruce’s hip a couple of weeks ago and his balance seemed off.
“On Tuesday we lost Bruce, our adored De Brazza’s monkey. Bruce has been sick for a while and we have been in and out of the vets with him.
“We tried our utmost to get him healthy and spared no expense but he became much weaker and partially paralysed over the long weekend.
“A humane decision was made to send him over the rainbow bridge. We are all devastated. He was not ‘just a monkey’ - he was our Bruce and we truly loved our old wise man so much. Losing him is like losing a family member.”
Grobler added that staff were also praying for the recovery of one of their colleagues.
“One of our staff members has been in ICU for the past three weeks as well. He was misdiagnosed at a local clinic twice and eventually suffered a ruptured appendix. He is in a coma and on a ventilator and there has been very little progress over the past three weeks. We are all hoping and praying for (him) to recover completely.”
Grobler said the centre was struggling to get back on its feet.
“Even though we are currently open at a limited capacity, visitors are either hesitant to go out into the public or they themselves don’t have the funds to visit places like ours as so many people have been affected financially by Covid-19.
“Monkey Town is extremely quiet and funds are just not coming in. We are currently open Wednesdays to Sundays only.
“Only the primate centre and the Reptile Garden are open - our braai/picnic facilities as well as our water park are still closed due to government regulations, as well as our play park.”
The public can assist Monkey Town via donations:
FNB
Branch: Somerset West
Account no: 62020374302
Swift code FIRNZAJJ
Cape Times