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Monkey Business
| Date: |
12 April 2009 07:00 |
| Producer: |
Hein Ungerer
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| Presenter: |
Derek Watts
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| Show: | Carte Blanche |
Monkey Town lies just off the N2 highway in Somerset West in the Western Cape. It's widely advertised and they also have a website on which they promote themselves as a primate sanctuary.
A few months ago, Michele Pickover from the animal protection group Animal Rights Africa, began getting complaints from the public.
Michele Pickover (Animal Rights Africa): "We sent two primate experts, Karen Trendler and Dr Bruce Peck, who are independent people to Monkey Town to get an assessment of what was going on there. They went there as visitors, and they drew up a report for us."
In essence, the report lists very serious welfare, legal, ethical and conservation concerns at Monkey Town. It goes as far as accusing the sanctuary of blatant negligence and in some cases cruelty.
Derek Watts (Carte Blanche presenter): "After reading the report we decided to take a closer look at this popular tourist destination and that's when we met one of the staff members who has been intimately involved with the animals here at Monkey Town for the last three years."
Stuart Beaman, a volunteer at the centre, has been working with primates for more than 10 years. He came to Monkey Town because he believed he could improve the quality of the animals' lives.
Stuart Beaman (Monkey Town volunteer): "To be honest with you I'm at my wits end, I don't know where to turn, I don't know where else to go, we've tried to change things, and after three years I can honestly say nothing has really changed. We're still at the same point that we were three years ago."
The report backs this up noting that three adolescent chimps at Monkey Town - Ruby, Tammy and Sunny - all show stereotypical stress behaviour. There is little interaction between them and they seem lethargic, displaying constant rocking motions.
Stuart: "In my time while I was there I wasn't allowed to give the chimps toys. On the rare occasion that I did give the chimps toys I got shouted at because the owner believes they make too much mess with it and they don't need it."
The chimps are also not allowed bedding and have to sleep on a concrete floor.
Stuart: "On rare occasions I did get away with sneaking some bedding in to the chimps. It would go over a month without fresh bedding being put in and obviously flies congregate inside, there's faeces from the chimps left for over a month so obviously you're going to get maggots. There are just no regular cleaning practices in place at all."
Derek: "These are the chimps sleeping quarters. They are desperate, they are dirty, haven't been cleaned for a while, it looks like. [There's] really no stimulation for these chimps apart from a few ropes hanging there. I don't find it a pleasant sight and yet there are chairs here for people to come and watch."
Monkey Town has also been on the radar of the Cape of Good Hope SPCA.
Kyra Joshua (Wildlife Unit, SPCA): "We are talking about adequate bedding, straw, that is needed and on the occasions that I have been there hasn't been adequate bedding for them. There's been reasoning that [when] they throw the bedding out they mess, but you know what, that's what they do. You still need to supply it."
Derek: "This is going to sound strange but it's probably a good thing that the living quarters aren't cleaned too regularly because the way they are chased out to do that cleaning will really disturb you."
[Cellphone Footage] Woman 1: "Get that weed eater again... chase them again. Do it again."
Chimps are dangerous animals and they are chased around their area with a weed eater to isolate them from staff who have to work in the enclosure.
[Cellphone Footage] Woman 1: "Go in. Come now. Tammy, go in."
[Cellphone Footage] Woman 2: "There goes one."
Stuart: "Despite my protest and despite my telling the owner that this is not good for the chimps, that it raises their stereotypical behaviour, that afterwards they violently rock, that they don't eat, she says, It doesn't matter, it needs to be done, they will get over it.'"
Derek: "What's your name?"
Roseline Grobler (Monkey Town owner): "Roseline, Roseline Grobler."
Derek: "Roseline, how are you doing?"
Roseline: "Very well."
With this knowledge - and more - it was time to meet with the owners of Monkey Town, Rosaline Grobbler and her daughter, Colette.
Right away I asked them about the weed eater.
Derek: "But I'm told you use the weed eater to chase them in and out of their quarters."
Rosaline: "No."
Colette Grobler (Owner's daughter): "No, like I said, in extreme circumstances..."
Derek: "Can you say that it's not true."
Colette: "It's not true."
Derek: "We have it on very good authority..."
Colette: "We've done, ok, no, no, no. We can say that we have done it before. We have used the weed eater..."
Derek: "Ok, you have done it before?"
Colette: "Yes, we have."
Derek: "Ok."
Rosaline: "To get that place clean we've done it, but now..."
Derek: "So the truth is you have done it before, you've used the weed eater and terrified the hell out of them."
Rosaline: "No, not really because they just started and they run in. We don't go chasing on the island with the weed eater, you can't get on it."
Derek: "But Rosaline these chimps, I mean Tammy started to tear her hair out."
Rosaline: "No, no that's nothing to do with that - that is nothing to do with that."
Michele: "To subject them to this kind of treatment day in and day out, it's an absolute crying shame. As human beings we should be holding our heads in shame."
Stuart: "Chimps are highly intelligent animals - it's like chasing a child around with a machine, you know, there is just no reason for it. There are other ways to work with chimps than to resort to this."
Rosaline believes what really stressed the chimps was the sound of nearby chainsaws. Workers have been cutting down trees in front of Monkey Town.
Derek: "And the experts say it's because there are no toys, no bedding, the area is too small and the weed eater... sounds more likely."
Rosaline: "No."
Derek: "I don't think this traffic is going to terrorise the chimps€¦"
Rosaline: "No, it wasn't the traffic, it was the saws. They cut all these trees down. My whole place was with trees in front. They sawed it all down and it was a hell of a ding, they took two, three weeks to do it."
Derek: "Well on top of the weed eater no wonder they are absolutely nervous wrecks."
Kyra: "The fact that there is stereotypic behaviour, there is rocking and swaying, there is hair pulling, the animals are speaking out to us they are saying, you know, the animals are saying to us, We need something more here'."
The Animal Rights Africa report also notes that the moat surrounding the chimp enclosure was dirty, green and slimy and had litter floating on it. The inlet to the moat was clogged with rubbish.
Rosaline: "We're going to pump it out now; we've got to do that unfortunately. But you can't do anything here because it's so big so we pump the water out once a year and we put new water in. But the water is green, it will go green..."
Derek: "It looks as if it's been there for a few years."
Rosaline: "No, no, no, no, no, when did we empty it?"
Colette: "Last year."
Rosaline: "Last year we emptied it."
Derek: "So once a year you empty it hey?"
Although the island the chimps live on looks lush and dense, this is deceptive. The animals are separated from the trees and garden by electric fencing. They only have a relatively small and barren area available to them.
Derek: "Another area of major concern here at Monkey Town is the alleged lack of ongoing veterinary care."
Stuart: "In the whole time I've been there the vet must have visited at the very most six times and that's when we persuaded him to come out."
One incident in particular sticks in Stuart's mind. A lemur sustained an eye injury in a fight.
Stuart: "The owner refused to take that lemur to the vet. Her answer was that it didn't need veterinary attention: Just leave it!' After I persisted, she threw an old bottle of eye drops at me and said, Just give it those.' Still she refused veterinary attention. In the end I got the monkey to the vet myself and got it veterinary attention."
Derek: "But there's so many incidents here where you've been reluctant to take the animal to the vet or get the vet here, why is that?"
Rosaline: "It's not been like that, why do you say that? Why don't you look at my vet account?"
Derek: "Because of the reports."
Roseline: "From the vet?"
Derek: "Well, can you show us the vet reports?"
Rosaline: "Ok."
Derek: "For the Lemur with the eye injury, will you find that one?"
Rosaline: "We must have a look."
Yet another problem cited is how close the cages are to one another. Animals in one cage can attack and injure animals in another.
Stuart: "There's over 20 monkeys at Monkey Town with injuries, with missing fingers, with deformed limbs, because of that problem. And they continue to become injured and when it happens they are not allowed to go to the vet - they are just left to recover by themselves."
Yvette Botha (Monkey Town employee): "The Mongoose Lemur went to the vet on the 4th of September 2008 so obviously if you want more paperwork we can draw more paperwork for you."
Derek: "Was it given any antibiotics?"
Yvette: "He was on antibiotics, he was on eye ointment. But Stuart, you can have a chat to Stuart as well."
And we did talk to Stuart. As these photographs with the dates show, the lemur was originally injured on the 3rd of July 2008. But, according to Yvette, it was only treated on the 4th of September, two months after it was first injured. The lemur might have retained sight in that eye had it been treated earlier.
Derek: "Kyra, from what we've heard, they're not exactly keen to get a vet in there when there's a problem?"
Kyra: "No, I mean that would cost money. Generally from a couple of inspections ago one of the primates was injured in the big area. The primate was injured because of fighting, and the response was, Well, that's what happens, it's natural.' But it's not natural."
Derek: "Probably the saddest incident uncovered during our investigation into Monkey Town occurred right here in this enclosure and it involved a baby baboon."
He was taken away from his mother by some of the adolescents in the group and trailed around their enclosure.
Stuart: "Those baboons are very bored, they get no stimulation all day, they are not allowed any enrichment, the owner believes that they don't need enrichment so when a new baby comes along it becomes like a toy for the rest of the baboons."
That fragile little toy's lifeless body was found the next morning. No-one could enter the baboon enclosure to save the baby as there was no way to separate him from the adults.
Stuart: "The last time a baby was killed at Monkey Town the SPCA gave a warning advising that the female should be sterilised to stop this happening again."
Colette: "Basically we have been warned by the SPCA that twice now the babies died in captivity because the younger males..."
Derek: "Which is gruesome, isn't it?"
Colette: "It's gruesome, ja, it's the baboon behaviour kind of thing, the young males go for the babies because it's kind of a dominance thing."
But the baboon enclosure has no area where the baboons can be separated.
Stuart: "It would certainly have helped if there was an area where the female with the baby could have been moved into to give them time alone away from the rest of the group."
Collette: "We need an extra camp like this -obviously- but it's a very expensive exercise as you know so the plan is to sterilise the females now. Firstly we wanted to get them a new home..."
Derek: "But Collette, why wasn't it done when the SPCA told you to do it, which was a long time ago?"
Collette: "It's right, we did make a plan, firstly we looked for another home for the Hamadrayas, but the sale fell through, they didn't go. So now we realised that and we want to build another camp, but we did the costing and it's quite a bit of money..."
Derek: "But you could have done the sterilisation, I mean you could have had it done right away?"
Rosaline: "Ja, but we didn't want to sterilise first, we wanted to put them over into a new area."
Collette: "And get them a new home first. That was our actual plan at first but now we realise that that's not going to happen and the sterilisation is already booked and it's happening next week."
Derek: "It's taken time, hey?"
Collette: "Yes, it has."
And another dead baby baboon.
Stuart: "If you come to a point when you cannot afford to look after the animals properly anymore with the proper level of care that they need then its time to admit it and its time to hold your hands up and get help."
Kyra: "Seeing animals like that, what are we teaching our children? We are not teaching children that this is what chimps naturally do. No, this is not what actually happens so how are we going to improve that for the animals?"
Derek: "But it's not great is it, they've got this small island, this looks all green, but they've only got this tiny space there, outside?
Rosaline: "But they've got a big house and we've just built the other area for them now."
Colette: "We realise in the long run this is not ideal for them. We've started an NPO, which is busy in the registering process, to get a bigger space for them. We're looking at a hectare, two hectares that we want to put them on. It's not going to be on Monkey Town's property, it's going to be on another place. In future, we know the long-term plan for them to be on this island is not proper."
Derek: "But it's all what you're going to do in the meantime - these animals are suffering."
Rosaline: "They're not suffering."
Colette: "What we're doing in the meantime is we've just completed this temporary area. This weekend is their birthday party ... for the chimps. What happens on this weekend [is] we put a lot of presents on the island and they come out and have a great time."
Michele: "Monkey Town is not a sanctuary - they are not rehabilitating animals. This, it seems to me, is a place that is just a business, they are making money off the suffering of animals and that has to stop and I think the public has to demand this."
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:While every attempt has been made to ensure this transcript or summary is accurate, Carte Blanche or its agents cannot be held liable for any claims arising out of inaccuracies caused by human error or electronic fault. This transcript was typed from a transcription recording unit and not from an original script, so due to the possibility of mishearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, errors cannot be ruled out.
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