THE PRIMATE TRUST

Cats and rescues

12th July 2016

The baby langur call outs continue in depressing frequency. This month, a little female, dogs had killed her mother, and her injuries proved to be too severe. Another, a male baby, whose full story we shall never now know. Reported as being found in a garden, he was used to humans, but starving and had an old injury from a wire snare, as well as severe and infected dog bites. He too was beyond our help.

One happy ending rescue thankfully, an unusual call to a baby langur, trapped in fishing net. The rescue turned out to be on a roof, where the baby could be seen hopelessly entangled in the nylon net. Two adult langurs stood by trying to encourage it to follow them, one undoubtedly its mother. After some struggle, access was gained to the roof, but the adult langurs were bravely attacking the rescuers so forcefully, that to cut it free was impossible. Eventually, by removing many roof tiles they were able to get to it from inside and cut it free. It quickly shot off with the adults. A long and difficult rescue and much thanks to Nagesh, and help, from International animal rescue Goa staff.

It’s not only our monkeys who are fed up of the relentless rains, the cats also hate being restricted indoors by them, and the slightest let up and they are off. Joining them out in the garden, at last, is Mercy. She has been with us for many months since being abandoned at Mapusa market, where she was so terrified, it took me most of the day to catch her.

Although I have always made a big fuss of her, and tried to reassure her she was now safe, she had rarely ventured out of the cat house in that time, convinced the world was a dangerous place. Our recent volunteers made making friends and reassuring her, a project, and it worked! After little more than a week, she was to be spotted outside, and now even makes a point of sitting wherever we are working, so we can make a fuss of her.

Katrina and Raj , the old couple, continue to share a cage , and although at times they will relax, and Katrina will even groom Raj, every day they also have at least one noisy and determined, but toothless fight, over some perceived  wrong doing or slight. Never having even seen another monkey before coming here in old age, they have no idea how to relate properly to each other, and I wonder if they will live long enough to work it out now! 

Surprise visitors to the tree house have been a large male wild peacock, causing much agro from the monkeys, and barking from the dogs. Seemingly oblivious to this, he strutted up and down the roof, breaking tiles as he went, and finally flew off across the garden and back to the forest. They are becoming increasingly rare, and are still killed by locals for their feathers, mainly for tourists.

The other visitor and no less of a surprise was a cat. Driven in by the rains no doubt, I went to give the kitchen cats there evening biscuits and wondered why they seemed rather agitated. Halfway through I realized one of them was not in fact one of mine.

He had joined in with them on the work surface, waiting for his bowl, but was a very large and tatty white feral tom cat, never seen before! He proved quite amiable if given food and is now waiting in a cage to be castrated,. He was covered in lice and had many old and new wounds from fighting that needed treatment. I don’t know if he will return to the forest after he is well, or will decide this is a far better life.