WARNING – Contains Graphic Image: Baby monkey shot
The pellet entered the tiny creature's cheek and lodged in its brain.
A TINY vervet monkey had to be humanely euthanased to end its agony after it was shot with a pellet gun and critically injured, in the Leisure Bay Conservancy recently.
“The callous individual who discharged his pellet gun in a residential area was not only committing a crime in terms of the Firearms Control Act, Act 60 of 2000, but should have charges laid against him or her in terms of the Animals Protection Act 71 of 1962,” said Dr Michelle Carlow, the veterinarian who treated the monkey.
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The injure baby vervet was found by Leisure Bay resident Debbie Lennon who was alerted to its plight by the sound of crying coming from outside her property in Grunter Road. When she went to investigate she found the tiny creature alone and crying.
Debbie took the monkey to Dr Michelle Carlow (Beukman). When Michelle examined it she found a small puncture wound on its cheek.Michelle said the vervet was about six weeks old.
“It had a single, deep puncture wound on his left cheek and was showing severe neurological symptoms. It was humanely euthanased, and the pellet was retrieved during a post mortem examination. The pellet had entered the cheek and traveled through the brain, fracturing the back of the skull,” she said..
Debbie’s brother, Phillip Lennon, said he was particularly concerned about the incident as Leisure Bay was a conservancy.
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“We live alongside all the forest dwellers. Most of us moved here to experience the amazing closeness to nature. For an unfeeling moron to shoot at a monkey carrying her small baby that was probably clinging to her coat is mind boggling. It is callous and brutal,” he said.
He and Debbie have reported the matter to Michael Muller from SPCA. They appeal to Leisure Bay residents to contact the SPCA if they had any more information about the matter. They could also contact Phillip at 083 299 7199 who would be very happy to have the proof needed to “throw the proverbial book” at the perpetrator.
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