One thing that is always so rewarding about volunteering and being here on a daily basis is seeing the end results. This month has had such a feel good factor for the monkeys. The first success was introducing Larry to Zack in Robert E. Although originally from Robert, Larry has been in sickbay for a long time. After much care, Larry being one of our special diet monkeys made a great recovery and is now at full health again - his hair has grown back, he's put on weight and no longer has diarrhoea.

According to various studies, if one male has paler testicles and one male has deeper blue testicles, the aggression is said to be less. Well in Zack & Larry's case this was true. Just by looking at the colour of the testicles we could see that Larry was probably going to be the boss. True enough when Krissy let Larry out of the cage, there was no aggression, only greeting vocalisation noises. They eat together without fighting and are getting along just fine.

Mel's stay came to an end this month and we would like to thank her for all her hard work in quarantine, monitoring, updating the database, top section and various other tasks. From all Mel's efforts - you can really see how she wanted to help the monkeys and did just that - we could rely on Mel no end to look after the monkeys in her care.

Hilde Olbrechts from Belgium has returned to the VMF to join our management team once again and has arrived just in time to take over quarantine, monitoring and helping us run a more organised centre. We are very happy to have her back as part of our team. Hilde has recently been helping with the baby move to SAAV which you can read in her article below.

We also welcome Emily Jones a veterinary nurse for 6 months who has been helping with sickbay, quarantine, monitoring, faecal samples and giving out meds. Before arriving here, Emily worked as a vet nurse at Monkey World in Dorset so she is an asset to have here and already has a knowledge on primates.

During busy times, we had the pleasure of Ricardo and his team working at Loskop Dam Nature reserve, measuring cortisol levels for stress in vervets. We welcome researchers and people who would like to do non-invasive studies at the centre as it's very important to learn as much about vervets as possible in order to protect them and their future habitats.

A new detailed VMF map was put together by Jem who even painted a big version to go on the side of our education centre.

Lastly, a baby baboon was brought in for a few hours on it's way to CARE Baboon Sanctuary. Gemma who had only been here a day or 2 had the privilege of caring for it until it was collected.

Welcome:
Emily Jones, Joel Pegler, Eoghan Ó Coileáin, Denise Schwabe, Stuart Zuzic, Hannah Stacey, Frank Kokshoorn.

Welcome back:
Hilde Olbrechts, Jo Turner, Danny Bergin, Ellie Watt.

“He who would just build a cage, silver and strong, gives birth not only to his creation, but to himself.”

William Shakespeare, Henry VIII.

The day of July 5 2009 had definitely ended when the Translux bus from Pretoria finally arrived in Tzaneen. Following two breakdowns and much catastrophe however, it managed to deliver its cargo. Relieved to have survived the hectic ride, two men, grim yet determined (one still bearing the facial injuries he had brought upon himself in Johannesburg), alighted. They shared a common dream, a dream to build a better world for the Vervet monkeys of the VMF. To do this they would build bigger, better, cleaner cages for those sick monkeys, they would build quarantine.

Barely recognizable from those early days, both quarantine and the construction team have grown. The team has grown from its original pairing of my good self and Gregg McGibney to include Eoghan O’Coileain, and veteran Volunteers Hellen Bee and Daniel Bergin. With their Arrival has come an increase in both the workload and productivity of construction. Few fingers remain sporting prints following the many hours spent twisting wire onto cages and we have since broadened our efforts to include grander schemes. Along with much enrichment of cages and replacement of wooden shelving in the monkeys’ residences across the foundation, we are now involved in the tearing down and rebuilding of various enclosures. Skrow troop are being treated to an even higher electric fence, while Sarkie enclosure now belongs only to memory. A pleasant side effect of all these activities is a mass of wood for the nightly bonfire. Few could have predicted just how addictive the sweet incense of burning wood can be.

While nobody ever misses a chance to use the angle grinder (or any of the other heavy-duty power tools available in the tool shed for that matter) this is a season during which very important work regularly needs to be done. The third fire to threaten the foundation since the formation of the team two months ago arrived recently, allowing for many dramatic action shots for all of construction. Under the direction of Dave, flying around Steve McQueen style on his motorbike, we managed to contribute some small part to the eventual safety of the foundation. The VMF is now almost completely surrounded by natural fire breaks. Volunteers from days past who remember the burning of much of the foundation in 2007 might draw much peace of mind from this.

So, much work done, more to do. Unfortunately we will soon be losing Hellen, Eoghan and Gregg to the outside world, studies and work intervening. They will be sorely missed by me, Dan and indeed the Foundation as a whole. We might take some solace in the fact that some, if not all of them will return to the monkeys in days to come.

Fergus O’Higgins.

We would like to thank Fergus and all the construction team for their help - they really have achieved great things at the VMF and have made the monkeys lives a happier, better place. If only they could stay longer...

There is a female monkey in Royal troop to remind us of their work called construction - yes 'construction'! We had a fundraising day where people gave names to some of our monkeys that didn't have names yet so we could microchip them for identification and this was one of the chosen names by the team.

So much has been achieved on top section this last month thanks to all our volunteers, it's difficult to know where to start...

Royal troop enclosure being one of the oldest enclosures was in need of a big clean up so we thank all the volunteers who got involved to give Royal Troop an overhaul. A new fence was also put on the bottom to prevent smaller monkeys from getting in and out of the enclosure.

Gismo troop has also been cleaned out and invader plant species such as paraffin bush chopped out by Jo, Hellen, Stuart and construction. Mary, the high ranked female (another special diet monkey) has happily returned to Gismo and is doing very well.

Shadow - to see him bounding around the trees of Goliath enclosure once again where he was originally from nearly 2 years ago is just amazing. He bounces around those trees like he knows them inside out. The first time he went out, he stayed out but unfortunately got into a fight after a few days. Once his injuries healed up, we released him again for a few hours daily and shut him back in at night for Main feed time. For those of you that don't know Shadow - he was an ex-pet who had his fangs removed. This means it's much more difficult for Shadow to defend himself in a troop situation. Nonetheless, Shadow has been out in the enclosure at night for over a week now with nothing other than a scratch and hasn't even wanted to come in to his intro cage again. He's a very confident monkey in the troop and is up at the top with Schmegal, Mr Gold & Babu.

Lalie has recently been moved out of Apie & Colin's cage at Goliath as sadly being an ex-pet Apie doesn't quite know how to behave socially and she finds 3 is a crowd, especially at feeding time or if she wants all the human attention! Apie & Colin are back to being friends once again and Lalie will soon get some other more suitable companions. Thank you Jackson for spending time with Lalie & the other monkeys who need it.

Chico & Jana - Jana has this funny call that's quite indescribable and unlike no other. First thing in the morning she calls to Schmegal in the troop as it seems to be love at first site (poor Chico). She is not destined to join Goliath troop so for now she will have to have second best and put up with our beloved Mr Chico. They are seen grooming and Chico is now allowing Jana to get a look in when it comes to food. Chico is back to full health and enjoying the sunbathing since being in sickbay.

The troop are quite content and seen often around Shortie's cage playing with the juniors. Shortie in Goliath I is friends with Hartley, Speedling and the juniors amongst most of the others in the troop. This week we opened Shortie's gate to the enclosure but Schmegal being Schmegal chased Shortie and so she jumped the fence out of fear, but luckily returned back to her intro cage. Hopefully we will have better luck next time!

Camilla's coat for the first time is looking golden and shiny and she seems a little more confident when she re-joined the troop this time after a period of sickness.

Thanks to return volunteer Jo Turner who has been looking after top section this month and making sure all runs smoothly, it's so great to be able to rely on people without worrying if things get done.

Tues 25th August 2009...

We already knew for a while that our babies would soon go out into SAAV A.  Only we never really had a fixed date … Until today… Yes, this would be their day !

This morning the last few bits and pieces to give those wonderful little creatures the best accommodation possible were put into their new home.  Around 10 o’clock it was time for their big move.  Whitey, still their surrogate mom, got locked away for a while, while the babies were moved.  First the 3 of them were kind of petrified.  Of course being moved into a new environment, without your mom, can be quite traumatizing (watch out for some stress diarrhoea the next few days) …

After having overseen the new situation a bit, they started moving around, exploring their new cage and toys, incl. the big evil tree in there, placed right in front of the door, making it very hard for a normal human being to pass…
Berlioz and Priya were the bravest, Bundu spent more or less most of the time in my fleece jacket, hiding but sticking out his head now and then as if to see if he was still where he thought he was … I do think that until then he thought he was just part of a bad dream and he would be back in Disneyland as soon as he opened his eyes.

Seeing the monkeys in SAAV, and probably hearing different sounds, made them all 3 a bit confused.  After some slamming and pulling hands through the fence, the first contact with Acorn and Holly (aka Timbervati) was made.. not very positive to begin with but I’m sure as soon as they get to know each other better they’ll soon be best friends.  Everybody in SAAV came to the fence and had a good look at the newcomers.  Hopefully they’ll soon go further than just looking at each other though.

After Berlioz and Bundu got their first contact with the electric fence, Whitey was moved in with them again.  She might have thought this morning to get a well deserved rest, she actually seemed quite relieved when that playful threesome was moved out of her cage … but the rest wasn’t for long … Sorry, Miss Whitey, you just can’t go to rest yet, you still need to teach those little ones how to behave right in the monkey world !

This evening I went to check on them to see and they were doing fine, after their stressful moving day… They were all 4 nicely huddled up on top of the platform.  Hopefully they’ll have a good night sleep to wake up in a good mood, ready for a second wonderful SAAV A day …

We’ll keep you guys updated on their future progress …

Yes this thought has crossed my mind a few times…..

We live in this modern world of computers, digital cameras, fast cars and you name it, but is the world getting any better by us humans overcrowding it? What about wildlife, nature, free-spirit? Those subjects are not in the vocabulary of our leaders, there is no money to make in those areas and the animals will have to pay for this, but why?

We pollute, we fight, we are always competing in the world, nothing good being  human in my opinion. Anyways, I live here in South Africa looking after vervet monkeys (tell that to people that have a good paying job in the city) and the feeling that comes across here is love, yes we love our monkeys. Small or big, ugly or cute we love them limitless. Why is it that some people still care for them? I feel sometimes I am a different species from humans and bless all of us that are here for a long time -we share the same feeling. All those monkeys have a past nobody knows exactly but here they are loved and cared for at a very high level. The feeling of preparing the monkeys food and giving it to them is indescribable, the look in their eyes. The males stand up and scratch their bellies in anticipation, every single monkey wants to be part of this. Grattitude shines through in their attitude, we are the caretakers – their saviours.

What it comes down to is that without us the vervet monkey cannot survive if left to trigger happy humans. So let’s give it our best shot, lets go for it, lets all unite. They deserve to be loved and for once let them be before us. Let’s stand behind them and not in front of them. Sorry I may have got carried away but I thought that for once this article should be in their honour.

We love you monkeys…

Thank you Eveline for all your dedication on middle section and sickbay. Eveline has recently left VMF for a short period to sort her visa out but will return.

People reading our updates know that quite a lot is progressing quite fast these days at the VMF.  Getting funds though has always been and will always be a problem.  That’s why we want to have our shop up and running within the next few weeks, sooner rather than later !  Opening the shop will allow us to sell promotional material – mainly focused on the vervet monkey - to our volunteers and the occasional tourists or schools passing by.  This will make it possible to build new enclosures, to plan our new arrivals area etc. 

After making a kind of a budget breakdown we came to the conclusion that we will need approx. 5.000,- Rand (+/- € 450,- $ 650,- £ 395,-) to get our shop furnished before we even can start selling.  To start making profit we will have to sell quite a lot unless we can get funding…

What we are currently looking for is:

-         shelves

-         counter

-         poster, postcards, leaflets, keyring & jewellery stands

-         mannequin

So, if you feel you want to help us financially to get our shop started as soon as possible, don’t wait to visit our website  http://www.vervet.za.org/donate.asp and choose the amount you want to donate.  If you send email info@vervet.za.org afterwards you’ll get a personal ‘thank you’ and your name will be mentioned in our next newsletter !   So, don’t wait and help us today !

Thanks a lot in advance.

VMF team

We already thanked Dan for raising the money to get our shop here now we just need the furnishings to get it going in order to raise more money for the monkeys ourselves.

• Natalie Caillault had a car boot sale and raised £100

• Hilde Olbrechts brought blankets and other various items for the monkeys

• Daniel Grove organised a projector for the education centre, thank you also to Rachel Plotnek for bringing it out with her

• Rowan Lodge - brought non-tip bowls, panacur granules, bunny bottles and other various items

• Danny Bergin & Eoin McDowell donated some bunny bottles
  
  
• Frank Kokshoorn - brought over a range of medical supplies for the monkeys donated by Michal Oppenheim of the animal clinic "Europaplein" in Amsterdam

• Ryan's Dad donated some latex gloves

Can you help?
We are currently in need of the following items:

• Projector screen for our new education centre
  
• 40 school chairs for our education centre
  
• Woods lamp
  
• Automatic trap cage
  
• Cork board for displays for education centre
  
• Chewable Vitamin C tablets
  
• Colloidal silver
  
• Latex gloves
  
• Droncit injectable
  
• Panacur horse granules 22%
  
  Please contact info@vervet.za.org if you can help or for a bigger list of items currently needed.
  

The Vervet Monkey Foundation newsletter goes out to over 1000 people including previous & potential volunteers, volunteer organisations, wildlife organisations and some members of the public. If you would like to advertise in this space, please contact info@vervet.za.org for a price. The fee will help us cover the costs of sending our monthly newsletter so that more money can go towards helping the monkeys.

Scott Westing, Jemma Westing, Janice Lee, Kellie Gilbert, Kety Mamuka, Sonia Baker, Gemma Hartdyke, Sally McInnes, Rachael Wilson, Kari Lindenberger, Michaela Roberts (return), Eamonn Cole, Aodhnait Culley, Camilla Sheaves, Libbi Tudor, Jamie Cross, Wendy Morgan, Alex Beresford, Ian O'Toole, Siobhan Madigan, Pautie Peeters, Mel Mullen, Doerthe Jansen, Caitlin Strong, Lorna Wilkie, Rebecca Coleman, Abby Pappenfus, Gregg McGibney, Kev McCormack, Lucy Garnett (return), Sabine Kieken, Hellen Bersacola (return), Heather Havlin, Rowan Lodge.