King Kong - The Macaque Rescue

King Kong – the one with the chain on the neck:

This week we are sharing with you an interesting macaque rescue story! While Suzzie is recovering progressively at ARVC, the Macaque Rescue Team have been spending their days attending to a young male macaque with a chain on its neck. When we first spotted this young one, we knew for sure that he was kept illegally as a pet. Driven from post-trauma of being held captive, King Kong has been living on the streets of an industrial estate. He is extremely wary of humans and the environment, hence rescuing him is no easy task.

There is an urgent need to remove the chains on his neck before it chokes him when he outgrows it. Initially, getting the vets to dart him was considered. However, after accessing the area and his behavior, we felt that it is risky as the whole process may cause him to panic and make a dash across the road , thus endangering his own life.

So , we turn to another alternative – making friends! We aim to allow him to acclimatise to our presence. Daily feeding and desensitization has been on-going. He has a very short attention span towards us as he tends to find the crows very amusing. He was seen attempting to catch a baby crow too! We take turns to make friends with him to see who he likes best. And he tends to fall for the guys!

This morning, we fixed a few feeding stations for him to develop a sense of positive reinforcement. And it works! He was sitting at a strategic spot for a good 30minutes. We are confident that he will gradually become comfortable with us before we can rescue him. Unlike other rescue stories, this one is unique as it does not involve any form of stress for the macaque and the rescuers. We are also working on getting some oral swab samples from him so that we can find out where his troop originates from. This is to ensure a successful reintroduction once King Kong’s chain has been removed. We thank the workers at Tagore Industrial Lane for working together with us and even calling the ACRES Wildlife Rescue Hotline when they spotted King Kong. The information passed to us assisted us greatly towards mapping out his ranging patterns with accuracy.

The Long Tailed Macaques are native to Singapore’s Wildlife. It is illegal and cruel to keep them as pets. Please contact the ACRES Wildlife Crime and Rescue Hotline – 97837782 if you know of anyone keeping wild animals as pets. YOU can be a helping hand to provide for the voiceless in need a second chance at life!

Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151988432816523&set..

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ACRES

ACRES (Animal Concerns Research & Education Society) is a pioneering Singapore-based charity and Institution of Public Character, founded by Singaporeans in 2001 with the aim of promoting animal welfare.

ACRES has six focus areas: Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, Wildlife Crime Investigation, Zoo Animal Welfare, Humane Education, Community Outreach and Promoting Cruelty-Free Living.

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