Article from Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife SA

January 28, 2008

A Storm in a teacup!

Mabel Watts joined CROW as our Administrator in July 2007. Little did we know that not only is she extremely talented at her job, but that she is truly passionate about wildlife and could not believe her luck when she got the job. She arrives at work at 7.00am and has to be chased home every evening!! NOBODY walks passed her office with a box without her racing up to the clinic to see what has been brought in!

So when a tiny little vervet monkey was admitted and needed a fulltime 'Mum', it was Mabel who stepped up immediately. Mabel was raised on a farm and there were always animals that needed her help, so raising a baby monkey was right up her alley.

There are very strict guidlelines on caring for neo-natal vervets and this includes being available for them 24/7, not being able to go out shopping, and making sure that they get sufficient care, but still remain monkeys.

Storm, as he was named, was orphaned when his mother was killed in a road accident, and he had quite a knock on the head, so he was seen by our vet immediately and needed to be closely monitored for any signs of damage. Fortunately he did not suffer any lasting injuries and he started to develop a little personality from day one.

Because of the strict guidelines imposed by KZN Wildlife, Storm was put into the spotlight with some people insisting that he be moved to a satellite centre immediately, but we insisted that he stay until he was ready to meet other vervets.

Mabel did a wonderful job with him and he was certainly a very contented baby who never screamed or became reliant on her. When the time came to be moved, Mabel drove down to the satellite centre to personally hand him over. This was the true test of how she had done with him - no sooner had he been introduced to some other baby vervets than he totally forgot about her and set about playing with his new friends. This continued the next day and when Mabel left he did not look back!

Reports from Jan and James Hampton (who are looking after him now) are that he is one of the best adjusted monkeys they have taken in and that he is well on his way to becoming a vervet!!

And as for Mabel, letting go was the hardest thing, but she truly understands that we do the work that we do in the best interests of the animals. She is eagerly waiting to attend the next Neo-natal training course in order to be certified as a vervet carer although the job that she has done shows that she certainly knows what she is doing!