Volunteer for Primates in Africa - DARWIN PRIMATE GROUP D.P.G.: LIVING WITH BABOONS

LIVING WITH BABOONS - FOR RESIDENTS.

DARWIN PRIMATE GROUP

As the only primate rescue centre in the Western Cape, this project is concerned with the rescue of vervet monkeys who have been orphaned and injured in the Western Cape. We are based in The Crags along the Garden Route. Our objectives are to raise awareness about the ongoing conflict between humans and other primates in South Africa, develop, publicise and advocate constructive methods to protect primate species and to work towards a safe and protective environment where these primates can be released.Species such as the vervet monkey, chacma baboon, caracal, bushpig and jackal have been historically treated as "vermin" under extremely cruel legislation in South Africa. Their status has changed from "vermin" to "problem animals" to "damage causing animals" with slight changes in legislation making no difference to the way these animals are persecuted.

Laws that present a facade of protection are not enforced in practice.

Populations are not monitored and their true status remains unknown. The vervet monkey and chacma baboon, although listed on CITES appendix 2, continue to be severely persecuted.

With human development continuously encroaching on the territories of wild animals, the vervet monkey is being forced more and more to co-exist with humans. These areas are often low on predators but baboons and monkeys are killed on power lines, run over on roads, mortally injured by pellet guns, and shot. They are also trapped for biomedical research, the pet industry and for traditional medicine (muthi).

Vervet monkeys are usually being brought to Karin in a very damaged state. If you are interested in how the rehabilitation is progressing or how you can prevent conflict with either vervets or baboons, or if you are simply curious about the plight of South African primates, keep an eye on this page.

You can also follow-up the plan to erect a bigger vervet sanctuary.

We are dependent on the generosity of concerned individuals to continue our work, so if you want to help us, you are more than welcome to find our bank details on this page, or contact Karin Saks, founder of DPG, for more info:mailto:karinsaks@gmail.com.

To all of you who have done so, we would like to express our deepest appreciation for enabling this project to continue and ensure a safe and healthy future for non-human primates in the Western Cape.

Chacma baboons (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) and vervets (Chlorocebus pygerythrus)...

...are two of five species of indigenous primates in South Africa. Although an important part of our natural heritage, they are severely persecuted. Being hunted as pests by farmers, their habitats are shrinking due to the constant expansion of human settlements and the danger of busy traffic on roads, which cross the land on which they lived a long time before us.

Babies of killed mothers are often taken as pets, which is not a sustainable solution as they generally start to bite when they grow up - this is part of a monkey's language but is far magnified by the trauma of being controlled in a captive situation. Wild vervet monkeys do NOT bite humans, yet the vervet monkey has been tainted with a reputation as a biter because when kept and confined as a pet, and when humanised this way, they start to bite to protest that fact that their lives are being controlled.A bite usually means a simple "no".

It is impossible for a human to meet the social needs of a monkey; pets invariably end up with mental trauma and behavioural problems. And the people who have taken them in as pets unfortunately discover that their "love" for their pet has ensured the monkey a miserable life.

Loving these animals involves giving them what is best for them above serving our own needs. The vervet monkey is a highly social animal needing a full social life amongst their own kind and a protective environment in as a wild an area, free from human interference, as possible.

Here we are offering solutions to help primates and people as well:

1) Short term ones: Rehabilitation center, which at the moment cares for orphaned and injured monkeys. Future plans are to return them back to their place in nature…and…

2) Long term ones: to break down the many misunderstandings that have been passed down through the centuries about these primates so that people can gain an understanding that they are not our enemies, and that if we know them, we don't need to be afraid of them. And to understand that with some tolerance and patience, it is quite possible to learn to live in harmony. By communication with the authorities, we hope to work towards changing protective legislation which is insufficient at the moment.

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Chacma baboons (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) and vervets (Chlorocebus pygerythrus)...

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