When Betsy, a two-week old Angolan colobus monkey, was found abandoned one
Monday afternoon in January her chances of survival were slim.
And her British rescuer could hardly have imagined that she would not only
become a surrogate mother to the orphaned infant, but also earn them both a
place in the record books.
For, against all the odds, Andrea Donaldson, a 33-year-old conservationist
from Mansfield, has kept Betsy alive, despite being away from the wild, for
81 days, a feat never before achieved with the Angolan colobus monkey - an
endangered species in Kenya.
The secret of her success is heart-warmingly simple. For the last three
months, Miss Donaldson and her British partner, Keith Thompson, have put
their lives on hold, caring 24 hours a day for Betsy: feeding her; taking
her on shopping trips and to restaurants; even sharing their bed with her.
At first she was kept strapped inside a sarong wrapped across Miss Donaldson's
chest, to replicate the warmth she would have received from her natural
mother - who is thought most likely to have been killed in a road accident,
or prevented in some other way from caring for her offspring.
In the past, when baby monkeys have been found abandoned, they have been
looked after by a team of human carers in shifts, but Betsy formed such an
immediate bond with Andrea that she screams if separated from her for more
than 10 minutes.
"After she had been with us for about 10 days something happened in the
house and she ran back to me for comfort," Miss Donaldson recalled. "It
became apparent she was seeing me as mum. Now, anything, she's not happy
with, it's straight back to mum. It's very rewarding but very wearing. You
cannot push her off."
Betsy will not go to sleep at night unless Miss Donaldson is in the bed with
her. At 5.30 in the morning - six o'clock if the couple are lucky - Betsy
announces it is morning by jumping on to their heads.
The couple had been due to return to England for a holiday last month, but
cancelled their plans because they could not leave Betsy. "It has been
an incredible experience and I have loved 99 per cent of it - though,
occasionally, you just wish you could go and have a shower in peace,"
said Miss Donaldson.
Since last September, Andrea and Keith have been running The Colobus Trust, a
small conservation charity which monitors the 400-strong colobus population
in Diani, on the Kenyan coast. The Trust has previously rescued abandoned
monkeys, but none had survived more than 21 days and the record anywhere in
the world is 53 days. An Angolan colobus has never been successfully hand
reared to adulthood.
When Betsy was first found by staff at a nearby hotel, having been abandoned
by the rest of the monkey troop, Andrea admits it was "complete panic",
adding: "They generally have a matter of days to live."
They contacted organisations all around the world, asking for feeding advice.
Previously, baby formula and condensed milk had been thought suitable, but
Andrea has discovered a 50 per cent goat's milk and 50 per cent solids diet,
made up of wild leaves and flowers, works best.
The extra magic ingredient is a pea-sized amount of dropping from female
colobus monkeys (collected by volunteers), dissolved in the milk, which
provide the bacteria she would have received from her mother's milk in the
wild.
But even with this level of care, Betsy's future remains perilous and the
transition to a diet of solids is fraught with difficulties. "She is
going to break my heart one way or another," Miss Donaldson concedes. "She
either won't make it or she"ll return to the wild."
When Betsy is aged of six months, they hope to integrate her into a troop and
find a mother who will nurture her. It cannot be done when she is too young,
however, or she might be killed by a jealous adult male.
In the meantime, Miss Donaldson is trying to replicate a mother's authority -
if Betsy bites too hard she is put on the floor to indicate disapproval of
inappropriate behaviour - and Betsy has begun tree climbing lessons. She was
dismayed, at first, to find that trees swayed rather than staying still.
For all the love and attention provided to Betsy, her surrogate mother knows
that the best outcome for her would be if she can adapt to life in the
forest with other colobus monkeys - much missed though she would be,
"We don't know what's going to happen, " said Miss Donaldson, "but
we'd like to return her to the wild, it's the right place for her."
To help The Colobus Trust with their work go to www.justgiving.com/colobus-trust
