Finding a tiny orphaned monkey clinging to its dead mother is terribly sad. Fortunately there are many kind humans who bring these babies to the Bambelela wildlife center.
At this busy rescue rehabilitation over 500 hundred monkeys have been given a second chance at living free. All this thanks to Silke a plucky woman who didn’t even like animals until a tiny pink face (orphaned monkey) wormed its way into her heart.
When the tiny orphaned monkeys arrive they need a mommy. At Bambelela volunteers, along with Silke, care for them 24/7. This means feeding, diapering and most important, loving.
Silke tells us that after a few weeks they wean themselves from their surrogate human mother and join the slightly older youngsters with the proxy adult female monkey in Kindergarten.
Kindergarten is like a monkey daycare. Here the tiny ones start spending a few hours, then all day and final full time.
It is always a happy-sad day when the pink faces opt for spending the night in Kindergarten. As you can imagine, Silke and the volunteers get quite attached to these little ones so there growing up brings mixed emotions.
Unlike many other wild animal species vervet monkeys can be raised by humans and then released. Not right away of course. After Kindergarten the orphaned monkeys along with adult rescued monkeys are introduced to new families.
Once a successful new family or troop is formed it will take about three years until they are ready for release. Why so long? They need to bond and learn to ‘work’ together as a team. Young need to be born and contact with humans must be minimized.
Aren’t they just the cutest?
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100% of your wildlife donation goes to help save the orphaned monkeys
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