The University of KwaZulu-Natal says part one of its investigation into the incident in which a monkey was beaten by a group of students with sticks at the Westville campus grounds recently, has revealed that the animal was not killed.
It states, too, that the perpetrators claim they were unaware that beating the monkey constituted cruelty to animals.
But students at the university who witnessed the incident are adamant that the monkey was in fact dead when the beatings stopped, saying that the perpetrators “are obviously denying that they killed it”. Campus talk among students also contradicts the university’s findings.
University spokesman Nomonde Mbadi said two of three witnesses assumed that the monkey was dead after the beating, but that a campus security guard stated it was beaten but not killed.
However, Steve Smit, co-ordinator of the Monkey Helpline, who reported the incident to the SPCA, said he did not believe the monkey was alive.
“We do not believe it. But even if this was the truth, it is actually more cruel because the students battered it and then allowed it to run away with its injuries.
“There was no effort to render veterinary assistance. The university is merely just changing the type of cruelty, but it does not get them off the hook.”
Some students and witnesses who spoke to The Mercury also deny that the monkey was left alive. “From my account, that is not true. Even the talk around campus is that it is not true,” said one.
Another said the animal was “definitely not moving” when they finished beating it.
Mbadi said that the monkey had entered the students’ rooms in the residence and that the students were unhappy that monkeys regularly raided their rooms.
“The incident occurred in an attempt to chase the monkey out. Furthermore, the students have expressed remorse and were unaware that beating the monkey constituted cruelty to animals.”
The university will now begin part two of the investigation in which students and witnesses “will be given the opportunity to present their cases”.
Screeching
As published in The Mercury last week, witness accounts explained that the students closed a corridor window to prevent the monkey from escaping and then followed it into the kitchen, where they beat it.
They then took it, wrapped in a blanket, to a field in the campus where they lay it on the grass. The monkey then tried to crawl away, but looked as though it had a broken spine. It was also screeching loudly. The group of about five men then continued beating it “until it was dead”.
Mbadi said
: “A statement on the outcome of the case will be released. The university management requests that this process is respected by the media and the animal rights activists.
Meanwhile, the Monkey Helpline has initiated protest action which will take place at the university’s Westville campus today at 8.30am. Members of the public are encouraged to attend. The protest will take place at the main gate to the campus. -The Mercury