Vervet monkey expert offers Richards Bay residents advice on safe, peaceful coexistence

Monkey expert Silke von Eynern, who has run a rehabilitation sanctuary in Limpopo for vervet monkeys for 22 years, visited Richards Bay residents to share some tips on how to live peacefully with monkeys.

Von Eynern runs Bambelela Wildlife Care NPC and Vervet Monkey Rehabilitation Centre, and shared her valuable advice with 40 residents on Wednesday evening, curious as to how to live peacefully with the vervets entering their homes and yards.

“We’re creating awareness and education to find holistic solutions, because of all the shooting, killing and poisoning. This is bad,” said von Eynern.

“When there is a problem, there’s always a reason, and there is usually a holistic solution to combat it.”

At Bambelela, they look after wounded and orphaned vervets, sometimes taking 4 to 5 years to rehabilitate an orphaned monkey from rescue to release.

This process includes bottle-feeding and hand-rearing them with human baby formula.

The team even lives with the monkeys for at least three months in the wild to monitor them.

“We share 92% of our DNA with vervets, why would you want to hurt them?” she asked.

A pamphlet shared reads: “Vervets are an important part of the ecosystem and provide natural insect control by eating the eggs of larvae. They also assist in the germination, pollination and dispersal of various floras, and are an integral part of the natural food chain.”

Top tips

* Drive with caution
* Do not feed monkeys
* Keep your food protected
* Leave the monkeys alone
* Monkey-proof dustbins, install fly screens on windows, and put rubber snakes on window sills
* Report people hurting, killing or keeping monkeys as pets

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