Last summer, some very kind rescuers found an injured adult female macaque. They picked her up and rushed her to the nearby Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, which is in the state of Karnataka, in south India.

At the Centre, Dr. Roopa examined her. She arrived in very serious condition. Weighing twelve and a half pounds, she was covered in dog bites, especially around her neck and her fight forelimb. The forelimb seemed to be shattered.

Responding to the emergency, Dr. Roopa and her assistants swung into action to stabilize her. They first stopped the bleeding and then performed successful surgery, under anesthesia, on all her wounds.

After the surgery, she was placed in a clean cage, in a quiet area for healing. She was left to recover and care was taken not to disturb her.

Fortunately, there were no disruptions in the healing process. She recovered without attempting to remove or pull off her bandage – which is often a danger with monkeys, who are intelligent and have their own thoughts about the lack of usefulness of bandages.

In the following 15 days, she recovered well and uneventfully. Three months later she had regrown all the missing fur that had been shaved for surgery, and she was ready to be released, to return to her family, in the area where she had been found. Government permissions were obtained to release her.

She was transported back to the area where her family lives near the Bannerghatta Circle. With the information provided by her original rescuers, she was taken back to the exact area where she had been found.

Thanks to the kind, swift action by her rescuers and the expertise of Dr. Roopa, she was able to return to her family and resume her life in the wild.

There are around twenty species of macaques, a kind of old-world monkey, living in Asia. Bonnet macaques are common in south India.

The Bannergatta Circle , in Karnataka is a very fascinating site in itself, long inhabited by human beings for many thousands of years, going back into neolithic and paleolithic times. There are many megalithic ruins there, including ancient labyrinths made by early humans.

© Copyright, Forest Voices of India, 2024

Photo: The photo is of a different Bonnet Macaque.

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