The first babies to be born this season were Brownie and Queenie's on the same day 14th September. Closely followed by Hawk's in Skunkey troop, 2 in Gismo troop and one in Camelot. We used to call baby season in vervets Nov to Feb but will soon have to change that as the season seems to be getting earlier each year possibly due to climate change.

A few months ago, we requested a visit from the dendrological society to help identify some of our indigenous trees which proved very helpful. We now have some tree signs sponsored by 'Tree tags' to enable volunteers to see which pods they can collect for the monkeys. There are lots of seed pods and figs around at the moment which are collected daily and given to the monkeys that don't have access to them in their enclosures. Giving them to the enclosure monkeys also encourages the growth of new trees & vegetation for them to eat.

This month, we welcome Sarah Hamilton, a veterinary nurse from Scotland who is here for 6 months. Sarah has been busy working in our new quarantine area, special diets and giving out some sickbay meds. More to come about Sarah next month. In addition to the help of our overseas volunteers, we also have the pleasure of Geozel from Tzaneen who will be helping us at weekends.

We sadly say goodbye to some of our longer stay volunteers this month - Fergus, Danny and Joel, - all of which have been a tremendous help. As you may have read in our last newsletter, Fergus and team have changed the life of some of the monkeys here by using their construction skills to put up a whole new qurantine area, new fencing for enclosures, change wooden platforms for more hygienic plastic piping, enriching cages and much more. Danny has written an article about the progress of middle section and Joel has been working with Hilde in our quarantine unit amongst many other important tasks.

Welcome:
Veronique Xantopoulos, Rachel Plotnek, Rhian Williams, Sarah Hamilton, Annette Klein, Vanessa Moffitt, John O'Brien, Gitte Friis Jansen, Julie Klenoe, Geozel Linden.

Emily Jones hailing from Devon, arrived to the foundation back in July. Having an extensive background in veterinary nursing, Emily was trained at the prestigious Bristol University.

Emily, also an actor, well-known for her stellar television appearance in Monkey Life, came to the Vervet Monkey Foundation to “help make a difference”.

On a day to day basis Emily has many tasks; helping with sickbay, working on medications, TB testing, taking care of Fergus and monitoring the monkeys, especially the sick ones.

Emily has nicknames such as Em, Dr Poop and Inspector poo (as she is trained in fecal analysis). She can often be seen walking around the foundation with a careless smile carrying her home made ‘poop stick’ nicknames Kev, which she ingeniously tied a spoon to the end of a stick. We would all like to give a big thanks to Emily for donating her valuable time and for her dedication to these beautiful creatures, even though she blatantly stated that if she could be ANY animal, she would be an orangutan.

Legolas from sickbay enclosure has returned to his old self thanks to Emily removing a few irritating stitches. He's back to making sure everyone knows he's the boss at feeding time! Below are a few paragraphs written by Emily Jones:

"It has been two months since I first arrived at the VMF and I can't honestly believe how fast the time has gone. Though I was certain I would never navigate my way around the maze that is the foundation, I am now fully settled in and know more Vervet names than i thought possible. Currently my daily duties include; general primate monitoring, administering medications, caring for quarantine monkeys, tb testing, and faecal analysis (with the famous poo stick). The days are never the same and certainly not without their challenges - how do you make 50 wild vervet monkeys take their panacur paste?! Indeed though I have worked with primates before i have been learning so much here; from the use of herbal and complimentary medications (which we don't generally use in small animal practice), to the art that is Panacur disguise. 

I have now TB tested my first seven monkeys alone, having trained with Martine during Koko and Royal testing, and am strangely comfortable with my poo stick and microscope! 

I feel really lucky to be working with so many amazing people, that not only make the foundation run so smoothly, but also teach me words such as voodoo poopa, the snail song (or business time), create one of a kind dance routines, drink my shots when i can't go on, and pull off the toga look so well! "

Although I have worked on Sickbay / Middle Section every day for the past month and a half I still have to find the protocol sheet and re-count how many plates to make up for snacks every single morning. This is due in part to my own inability to remember a simple number on a day-to-day basis but is mostly a testament to how many monkeys from intro cages have been released into the enclosures they were destined to go in. Since working in Sickbay I have been really happy to have been part of the release of several monkeys. 

Missie and Mo from Sickbay intro cages D and A made their entrances into Sickbay enclosure. Missie went out and settled in immediately. Her introduction was described by Hilde as "the easiest introduction ever" as it was completely uneventful. Mo let out some pent-up frustration by mounting most of the females in the troop within the first ten minutes and after a brief period of thinking he was going to be the alpha male (in which time he successfully chased a very confused Legolas up a tree) he learned his place and is settling in very well. 

Baromir has gone into James enclosure, making an amusing entrance by climbing and then immediately falling out of a tree that was too small to hold his weight but he has now taken to the enclosure and is getting on great. 
Scat, who could previously be seen looking forlorn on his own in Creche, has finally got back with some old friends he was previously with - Nigel & Nigella.They can be seen grooming each other just like old friends in the James intro cage. Scat is also making friends playing with Baromir through the fence.

Shasta was re-united with Nyla and Frenchie in their old Engeltje A cage with many hugs and immediate grooming from Nyla. The whole of the new engeltjie troop were excited from afar to see them back and there was much vocalisation and greeting noises from all around.

Kelsey has been put back into Robert Enclosure after his brief stay in sickbay and settled in as if he never left.

All in all, it has been a really rewarding time to have worked in Sickbay/Middle Section and i'll definitely think back to this experience when I'm stuck again in my nine to five job back home.

Danny also moved the old Disneyland airlock to the James enclosure which means we now have a proper entrance instead of just through the James intro cage which I'm sure Eveline is happy about. You still have to be a dwarf to fit through the enclosure door but that's just another minor problem for another day....

Thank you Danny for looking after middle section whilst Eveline was away getting her visa. Dan originally came out to help with construction for which he proved very useful but due to lack of volunteers, was able to help in so many other ways also. Luckily Eveline managed to get her visa in no time at all and is now back just in time!

(A variation of Jo Turner’s “Snail Song”)

“There was Bundu, once upon a time….
he was bold, he was stupid, he tried to climb.
Nothing, he thought, could get in his way,
until, of course, that faithful day….

He made a little trail…
in ‘SAAV A’ sand, they looked so frail…
His footprints stand,
alone with the hands…
But we knew everything was going to be okay…
We knew that day; he was going to be okay…”

After weeks in their new ‘SAAV A’ home, myself, Hellen, Ellie (return volunteers) and Dave have been attempting to integrate the babies into their new enclosure. Things, to say the least, have been eventful!

During their first introduction, Priya, Bundu and Berlioz were abandoned by their surrogate mother, Whitey. Although she returned the following day, she was not without a battle wound! A mystery to us as she was in her element within the enclosure and she used to be a full time member of the SAAV troop. Our only suspects for the bite are Jules or Survivor establishing their rank once again.

After much ‘over the top’ drama involving water bowls, electric fence jumping and an outrageous amount of poop (to Ellie and Hellen’s demise!)…they are slowly getting to know their new home and family. The bravery changes from day to day…Bundu being the most cool, calm and collected at first, has taken Priya’s role of the clingy one. Gripping to my head as if we were on a skydive free fall; I was disappointed to see him scurry away whenever Acorn or Holly tried to groom him. Berlioz, on the other hand, seems to be enjoying the new array of attention, and has even calmed down the screeching in our ears!

Although I have a feeling they will keep their distance from him for a while, I can’t help but feel sorry for Jules. The big guy was already having to deal with the likes of Holly, Acorn and Nando (the SAAV group of unruly juveniles!) but will now also be ‘mentoring’ our three oh so lovely babies.

Slowly, all three of the youngsters are beginning to play with the group, Priya especially. Nobody said this would be easy or quick (just like your own children!), but I am grateful to be part of such an amazing experience. Most of the bonding (and fighting) is done on our laps or heads for now…but we are hoping they will soon abandon the need for me and Hellen and make a leap to the big tree, settling once and for all!

Thank you to all those who helped raise the babies and also to all who integrated them! Hellen is staying on longer to help with the last few steps.

Some of you may remember that Apie in Goliath H was a bit bossy with her 2 female friends - Lalie & Colin. Lalie had to be moved to another cage due to too many injuries from Apie at feeding time. Colin became a very sad and scared monkey for a short while. We decided to move Colin out and put her back alone with Lalie as Apie still needs to practice her social skills in the monkey world! Colin's behaviour changed immediately when greeted by Lalie, the two of them playing and chasing each other around the cage was great to see.

Having been a pet, Apie may be described in Hilde's words 'as a princess' rather than a monkey. Apie is just another example of why people should never keep monkeys as pets - you can be sure that one day they will end up at a sanctuary like ours. If handed over as an orphan, Apie and many others would have found it much easier to be with her own kind. Apie is an absolutely gorgeous monkey who was obviously well-cared for but now it's time for her to become a monkey again.

All 3 monkeys were originally kept as pets by people but depending how much human contact they previously had and if they ever met any other monkeys when they were young can prove very difficult when integrating them with other monkeys - but it is possible as we have successfully integrated many here into natural enclosures - it just takes a lot longer and a lot more patience with some emotional de-ttachment along the way.

We will find Apie a friend but for now it's just her human counterparts that give her the love she needs and deserves...

If people could only see the damage they do by humanising these wild creatures then they may give it a second thought before keeping a vervet as a pet. Education and understanding of these primates is key...Many people keep vervets as pets out of kindness as they fear they will be killed or there is nowhere for them to go.

WE URGE PEOPLE - PLEASE DO NOT KEEP VERVETS AS PETS, WE PROVIDE ORPHANED VERVETS A SANCTUARY WHERE THEY CAN BE RELEASED INTO NATURAL ENCLOSURES & ENJOY A LIFE THEY DESERVE.

If you would like to help others understand vervets in their area and how to resolve human - vervet conflict, please contact info@vervet.za.org for how you can help.

We had a visit from the Great Primate Handshake this month - the handshake was initially set up by 2 volunteers who came up with the initiative whilst sat round a campfire at the VMF and has now grown to promote awareness of primate conservation.

The handshake came up with the idea to help us with an online shop where people can buy gift cards such as a water tap for a monkey or a tree for an enclosure amongst many other items. Hilde, Ryan and myself set up the items we would like photos of to go on the cards ready for the shop. There will be more to come on this in our next newsletters once the shop is up and running.

Meanwhile, you can read about the handshake visit to the VMF on:

http://www.primatehandshake.org/features/vervet-monkey-foundation-volunteer-opportunity/

Fergus and Danny can be seen hard at work!

Thank you to the following people who helped us this month:

• Carmin Lepitzki – organised 4 tubs of panacur de-worming granules donated by Newton Animal Hospital, Surrey, UK

• Eveline brought back some bunny bottles with her
  

• Tree tags donated 10 tree signs to identify our indigenous trees.

• R2515 towards our new on site shop has been rasied so far with the help from the following people - Hamsih Longbottom, Pautie Peeters, Rob Tuppen, Mary Yarger, Nat Vandenberghe, H. Francien.

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 de-wormer
• Centrifuge
• Donations of food for the monkeys - fruit, veg, nuts, seeds, lentils
  
  Please contact info@vervet.za.org if you can help or for a bigger list of items currently needed.
  

Please all take 2 minutes of your time to sign the following petition to help save Cape Town's Baboons. Some baboons such as one called Bart are already ear-marked to be killed so it's urgent something is done about it now. More cn be read on the following link where you can also sign a petition online:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-the-culling-of-cape-towns-baboons.html

Thank you for helping another primate

Eoghan Ó Coileáin, Denise Schwabe, Stuart Zuzic, Jo Turner (return), Hannah Stacey, Frank Kokshoorn, Ellie Watt (return), Fergus O'Higgins, Danny Bergin, Joel Pegler.