Welcome

Time just seems to be going by so quickly that it is difficult for me to stick to the "once-a-month" newsletter - so here is a rather extended account of our news since August ...

Many lovely people have visited in the past few months and it has been wonderful to have so many repeat volunteers who have returned to see how "their" babies were growing:

Maria, Stephen, Erryn and Jette returned. And our two Sarahs both came back from their travels to cuddle Elliot and Charlie for a few weeks before leaving South Africa. Since Sarah's departure, Elliot has found a new hero in his life - our own Moses Mkonto.

Our "Male Moms" Stephen and Shubrho continued their hand at "fatherhood". Stephen extended his stay, and is now a very successful full-time mom to little "Blue" - who simply adores him.

After three months, Maike finally had to leave little Oscar, and Dagmar, Jessica and Yvette returned home too.

Maria has now twice extended her return ticket, as her family of babies under her care has grown to triplets.

Baby Update

Little Peanut-Jason has recovered so well after his arm amputation. Our visiting vet Dr Sue rose to the rather unwanted challenge and performed a successful operation. Thank You. He is now totally independent, weaned, and has become part of the kindergarten group.

Elliot has bravely joined them, and, although he could have done with a bit more time with a mummy, he is a little toughie. A newcomer - Coco - who is slightly older than him takes care of him at night. Oscar was the lucky one, with Maike extending her stay for his sake. Another tiny baby has joined the crèche, Jette called him "Hercules" (in honour of her father!) and, hopefully, one day he will live up to his name. At the moment he is my bed companion.

Last week we received a call from our neighbouring province Mpumalanga. Farmers had wiped out an entire baboon troop of 27 animals and only one little baby boy survived. He is simply the most beautiful baboon baby I have seen in a very long time and my heart breaks to think what a magnificent mother he must have had. "Gabriel", as Maria named him, seems to cope well in spite of the trauma he must have gone through.

Stevie Wonder

Our friends Wilna and Alan always seem to receive unusual requests for their assistance. They were surprised to receive a call to collect a lion cub in the middle of a built up area, and were amused to discover seven armed policemen guarding a chow dog! Their next call out was for a crocodile that someone swore had 'fallen off a truck'. So, despite being en route to Alan's birthday celebration, they willingly set off to investigate an abandoned pet baboon on a farm in their district. They found a scrawny young male with wide eyes locked in a small bird aviary. Alan immediately befriended him and promptly took him home for the night - abandoning his party. The next day they brought "Leroy" over to see Stevie, our blind little baboon.

Stevie has been making good progress - a private clinic sponsored an MRI scan, and the prognosis gave us hope that over time his vision could improve. We believe that he can see some things as he responds to stimuli - and can easily spot a sweetie amongst his other food! Yet, we were apprehensive of how he would interact with a sighted baboon of his own size, fearing he would be bullied.

Within minutes the game of chase between the two had started, perhaps they recognised the need in one another to have an ally. They have become firm friends, and to watch the two playing and laughing as they climb the poles, ropes, swings and bamboo in their enclosure lifts your spirits. To think how far Stevie has come, from the withdrawn traumatised little creature with injuries, a bullet wound, and suspected loss of vision and hearing, is a credit to all the time our wonderful volunteers Sonia and Irene have put into his therapy.

Rehab. Round-up

Gordon, the big male that we rescued from being stoned at a squatter camp has been released back into the wild. The lilac- breasted roller I reported on in our May Newsletter has healed and been released. As these birds are territorial we still see him, and every so often he presents himself, waiting for his snack of cockroaches! Successes such as this - as insignificant as they may seem - make rehabilitation worthwhile.

Dome Baboons

Two years ago we received permission to release two troops of baboons into an area known as the Dome Conservancy. Our first release was a fantastic success, with the integration of some of our baboons into the wild troop nearby, and the adoption of our troop by Buster, a wild baboon, who brought local knowledge and confidence to the troop.

Our second troop did not fare so well. After an initial year of independence, disaster struck when a neighbouring farm labourer fed them poisoned grain. We were called out to find our troop vomiting and writhing in pain. Five females were dead or missing, and we watched helplessly over the next week as one of the orphaned infants starved to death. Our attempts to have the perpetrator or instigator of the poisoning brought to book fell on deaf ears.

The remnants of the troop struggled on, and then three months ago two more went missing. Incredibly, the local Nature Conservation authorities confirmed that they had given permission for a new neighbour to shoot "problem baboons". The neighbour verified that he had shot one of the adult males.

The baboons live in a 16,000ha conservancy that has applied to become a World Heritage Site. We appealed to have the baboons protected in this area, and were refused on the grounds that archaic laws of South Africa give the landowners the right to shoot 'vermin'. The baboon is classified as vermin. Without lawful protection we feared for their lives, and launched an intensive campaign to request the government to institute a moratorium on any further killings. Our pleas were denied. After many frustrating meetings we were given the order to remove the baboons.

At this point we must thank all our supporters who wrote to the authorities backing our call to give all animals equal protection under the law.

We now face a race against time to move the baboon troop before any further killings occur. To reach their foraging grounds the baboons must cross the unfriendly landowner's property. Our only option is to construct a new enclosure at C.A.R.E. to bring them back and keep them safe whilst we seek another release site. Our grateful thanks go to Maria, who took it upon herself to appeal to her immediate family and friends in the USA to donate funds to build a new enclosure. To date she has single handedly raised US$2,000 towards this, and we thank all those who responded to her plea.

It is so sad to think that after two years of freedom they must once again be confined. But the alternative of leaving them to the whim of a trigger-happy hunter is not an option we dare contemplate.

Baboon Tales, Traits and Troubles

Ironically, the decision to remove the baboons from the Dome Conservancy coincides with the launch of a wonderful book by Attie Gerber about them. Attie initially met the C.A.R.E. baboons when he covered the release story for the SABC conservation programme 50 / 50. He became captivated by the relationships between the animals and began researching the history of baboons in South Africa. With over 150 stunning photographs we hope this beautiful coffee table book will help to change the attitudes of the baboons' critics, and show the caring nature of this misunderstood primate.

If anyone would like to order a copy please contact us at info@primatecare.org.za, they cost R150 + postage.

Growing Up Baboon

The long awaited Animal Planet documentary "Growing Up Baboon" aired in September, and we have been overwhelmed by the response from people interested in C.A.R.E., the baboons, and wanting to volunteer to help. The stars of the show were Stew, Moritz, Suzie and Maryna - with their 'moms' Maria, Angela and Aliya playing supporting roles. The show was filmed over a year period, so, many volunteers are seen as 'extras' in the background. It is a special record for us of the people who visited at that time.

Through Internet searches of our website www.primatecare.org.za, many viewers found us to offer encouragement, request more info, and a number kindly made donations on-line. We are grateful to all for their support.

Funding Factory

One of the e-mails we received after Animal Planet was from Julia Wills. She said she wanted to help us raise funds and had found a means of assisting us. A US based company called the Funding Factory offers cash for used printer cartridges and unwanted obsolete cell phones. By logging onto their website you can request collection boxes that will be delivered free of charge to your address. Placement of these boxes in high user areas such as offices, media centres, and schools allows an easy way to be involved in recycling and raising funds. Once full, the boxes are collected, sorted, and the funds credited to C.A.R.E.'s account. We would like to encourage anyone who may be able to assist, to support Julia's initiative. You can log on to http://fundingfactory.com/default.asp choose CARE from the list of choices, then enter our organisation ID # 40492 as the beneficiary. You can then add your name and address for delivery. Contact Julia on ninnybambam@yahoo.com or cell (985) 707-8383

C.A.R.E. UK

One of our past volunteers Marilyn has a long association with C.A.R.E. being one of our first volunteer visitors. Marilyn and Glenn have just let us know that they are expecting their own little primate in May - and we wish them all happiness. Please remember NOT to cut a hole in the nappy (diaper) for the tail, and that it doesn't need to be fixed on backwards!

They have issued a challenge to all UK based past volunteers to match their monthly contribution of £15pm in memory of all the little baboons that stole their hearts … contact info@primatecare.org.za for the UK banking details.

Barnyard Bash

The Jo'burg Girls reported a wonderful turnout for their fundraiser Natural Woman at the Barnyard theatre, with much excitement being generated in the raffle by Bill Harrop's Original Balloon Safaris who offered balloon trips for four people. The cherry on the top was the generous gesture of a R10,000 donation from the Nedbank Foundation. My thanks to all involved in the success of the event, and to those who pledged monthly donations on the night.

As is customary, I close with a profile of one of the baboons that has a special place in my heart.

Scruffy's Story

Eule, one of the low-ranked members of the "Longtit" troop (our wild troop that live around C.A.R.E.) has always been an outstanding mother. Never in all the time I have known her, have I heard one of her babies complain. She is devoted to them while they are very young, but makes sure they have all the knowledge and skills to survive at an early age. There are never any temper tantrums from her babies, which happens very often with young baboons when their mothers try to wean them. Her offspring automatically inherit her ranking, and her daughters have blended into the troop and are difficulty to identify as hers later.

That is, until little Scruffy was born. She was one of Eule's more unfortunate daughters. As a small infant she appeared to be very thin and fragile and could not easily cope with Eule's strict upbringing. When the time came for her to become independent, she found it very hard, but did not complain. Like a little shadow she followed her immediate family, accepting that she was mostly ignored by them, and tried to survive.

Baboons have very expressive eyes. Scruffy's eyes told me that she was not well but trying to cope. It was almost impossible to give her something extra because she was too timid and not fast or bold enough to even pick it up. So she was going down physically, and there was nothing I could do to help her. Luckily fate intervened on her behalf.

We have two permanent residents at our Centre: Bobby, the very first baboon I ever rescued, who is now a very fat old lady, and right next to her Seuntjie (Little Son) who was brought to us as a baby, half beaten to death. He recovered well enough to enjoy life but was left with a permanent co-ordination problem. These two live side by side so that they can keep each other company , when the Longtit troop does not keep them busy. However, a wire fence between them prevents Bobby from picking on Seuntjie when she has one of her darker moods.

One morning I found little Scruffy inside Bobby's enclosure, lip-smacking and timidly trying to groom her. Being so small, she had found her way into Bobby's house while scratching around for food remnants. And, of course, her being so small, Bobby loved her. I soon found out where she had entered, closed the hole and decided to keep her there for the time being, so that I could observe her better, assess her health problem and feed her up a bit. Scruffy thrived on regular good food, which included such special treats as Baby milk formula. She put on weight, her eyes began to sparkle and she became a real mischievous little imp. Teasing old Bobby endlessly until she got her into her bad grandmother moods, she would then depart into Seuntjie's enclosure for which she had discovered an entrance just large enough for her, to continue her game with Seuntjie. Naturally she was much faster and ran circles around him. But Seuntjie, who has the sunniest disposition I have ever seen in a baboon, enjoyed these games tremendously.

So, Scruffy overcame her physical shortcomings and when I thought she was up to it, I let her go free to join her troop. She had never lost touch with them given that they spend so much time at our Centre. She took up her old position, very low ranked, but very much healthier and more confident. And above all, we had become friends. Every morning I found Scruffy waiting at my kitchen door waiting to be let in, get her milk, inspect the feed store and when I did not look, she would even open the fridge and steal an egg.

Time went by, Scruffy came into oestrus but nobody wanted to look at her. Maybe she was not such a baboon beauty, but then young females are not very sought after by the males. I never saw her consorting or even having a slightly interested boyfriend.

But there it was - three months later after her third oestrus she was pregnant. We watched her very carefully, everything seemed to be going alright, her pregnancy had progressed well into the fifth month when I noticed in her eyes again that something was not quite right. And so I decided to interfere again. It was very easy to let her walk into an enclosure and close the door. She seemed to be quite undisturbed by it - especially as she had a lot of visitors from the troop to keep her company.

On the 25th October, early in the morning she surprised us with her daughter, a very, very big baby, and Scruffy must have had a hard time. She had lost a lot of blood and the rest and good food she now enjoyed was really what she needed. I was very interested to note that almost all the females of the Longtit troop came to inspect the baby, sit with her and there was always one or two of the baboons that stayed to keep her company. We now have the hard part to assess when mother and child are ready to go and join their troop, which will have to be very soon.

Scruffy has changed a lot. Gone is her youthful, anxious appearance, she now looks so much like her mother, Eule, and she is a big girl. What a privilege for me to observe her whole life from little infant to motherhood!

It only remains for me to offer my thanks to everyone who has supported us this past year, and to wish you a joyful holiday season.

With love
Rita