News – nine rescues in nine days
NINE RESCUES IN NINE DAYS
The Born Free-supported Zambia Primate Project (ZPP) has completed its most successful rescue mission since its formation in 2002 – tracking down and rescuing nine monkeys from illegal captivity in nine days.
ZPP rescues and rehabilitates injured, orphaned and illegally-held vervet monkeys and yellow baboons with the ultimate aim to return them to the wild.
The nine monkeys were all rescued last week from the Copperbelt area of Zambia. They will all be health-checked and enjoy a period of recovery in which they will receive nutritious food and be integrated with their own kind after, for some, years in isolation on the end of a short chain.
The nine rescued primates are:
- Johnny, a young vervet monkey of five to seven months old, rescued from Mfumbwe District. He has been in captivity for three months.
- Abby, a seven-month-old vervet monkey rescued from Mushima village in Kasempa District. She had been under lock and key for four months.
- Linda, rescued from Solwezi District where she had been chained to a tree for more than eight years.
- James, a young vervet monkey aged approximately 16 months. Rescued from the Democratic Republic of Congo border, he had been tied by a rope to a tree for a year.
- Akim, about 11 months old. He was rescued from Kamatipa compound in Kitwe and had been held in illegal captivity for the last seven months, locked in a makeshift cage.
- Tembo, approximately eight months old. He was rescued from St Mary’s in Chief Katembula’s area and had been in captivity for six months.
- A juvenile vervet monkey rescued in Mindolol in Kitwe. He had been in illegal captivity as a pet for eight months.
- Josephine, rescued in Mufurila District from a crate that had been her home for the last four months.
- Kawama, rescued in Kawama compound in Kitwe, kept chained up inside a house for the last five months.
Dr Cheryl Mvula MBE, Born Free Special Adviser and ZPP Senior Technical Adviser, said: “This has been a particularly gruelling mission involving huge amounts of courage, stamina and dedication from the ZPP team following up leads into the late hours of the night. On returning to the rehab facility and health checking our nine rescued monkeys, all were very underweight and will need nutritious food to build them up ready for release.”
Tembo
Abby