Durban – A mother monkey seen in Kloof after being doused with white paint, has been found and is in the care of animal specialists.
Monkey Helpline’s Carol Booth last week pleaded for people to look out for the monkey so it could be helped.
It was found in the same area at the weekend.
Booth said that the monkey seemed very disoriented when she was found and had been shot at by teenagers in the area with pellet guns.
“She is very stressed. We could see that she was trying to communicate with us after she had been found.
“She curled up as soon we approached her. She must have been thinking that we would subject her to the same fate she had experienced,” Booth said.
She added that the paint had dried on her hair and that as a result it was hard to remove.
Booth said that it would not be possible to shave her hair to get rid of the paint as she needed a coat for the winter and her young needed it to hold on to her.
“Normally if paint falls on a person’s skin paint remover can be used to take it off, but in this case it could very toxic for her.
“She is also very full of milk, her nipples had no paint on them, meaning her baby could have suckled it off but there is no immediate threat to her young,” she said.
The monkey was sighted last week roaming the area and Kloof residents raised their concerns with the Monkey Helpline.
According to an old farmers’ tale, farmers would catch monkeys and cover them in white powder or flour in the hope that their troop would follow them out of the area, thus ridding their farms of monkeys. Booth said that this would not work.
The monkey would remain with its carers for a number of days before being released back to join her troop and her baby, said Booth.
Steve Smit, also from the Monkey Helpline said that the mother was not with her baby when she was taken in.
However monkeys are protective of their young and he said the baby would be adopted by the troop while they worked to reunite her with her baby.
They are currently looking for those responsible for shooting pellets at the monkey, who can expect to face charges
The Witness
