The Wildlife SOS monkeys can now boast of three new enclosures thanks to Fondation Brigitte Bardot.
With a generous donation from Fondation Brigitte Bardot Wildlife SOS has constructed a new enclosure consisting of three sections for some of the resident monkeys at the Wildlife SOS Gurgaon centre, who can never be released back into the wild. The enclosures are now housing three groups of already socialised monkeys, numbering 14, 11 and 12 monkeys respectively. All three groups are part of the hand reared orphaned baby monkeys who reached our centre after losing their mothers sometimes to electrocution as the parent monkey often has to swing from electric wires; or more commonly because of attacks from feral dogs and humans. These babies are very bonded with their human keepers and to each other and since they have grown up clinging to each other they have formed little family units of their own by now. The space allotted to the monkeys is according to the Central Zoo Authority guidelines, India’s advisory body for management of captive wildlife. The enclosure has a small pond, climbing ropes; little platforms, climbing ladders, and small boxes to be snug in, and daily enrichment to encourage searching for their own food and keeping them active. Their favourite foods are dates, groundnuts, all fruits, and the molasses in their porridge! Wildlife SOS rescues and rehabilitates a lot of injured, sick, old adult monkeys and orphaned baby monkeys in Delhi and the NCR region. We have under our permanent care 89 monkeys at our Gurgaon centre. These are mainly old, handicapped monkeys or hand reared babies or cruelty cases rescued from the “street performersâ€( the use of monkeys for street performances is against the law in India). As these animals are either incapable of fending for themselves or domesticated to such an extent that releasing them poses a threat to both humans as well as to the hapless animal itself, Wildlife SOS has taken on the responsibility of lifetime care for primates.
