In Colombia, the trafficking of animals is unfortunately very common and happens daily. Monkeys are the main victims here, while only being 60 centimetres tall; they are easy prey for these traffickers.

Unfortunately when these monkeys are taken from the traffickers they cannot be returned to the wild completely. The reason for this is that they have by this stage been educated and are now used to being pets.

The Medellin Zoo prepares monkeys

The Medellin Zoo in Colombia takes these monkeys in and then prepares them for the wild. Before they are released back into the wild, they have to go through many different stages. They firstly have to go through child care; here their behaviour is observed and any health problems detected.

The second stage is the introduction into the community; called the Group stage. Here the workers observe the monkey’s interactions with other monkeys. Monkeys are a very socially organized species and this group phase allows them to adopt the social codes and rules of their community.

Once this has been completed, the monkeys should be ready to go back into the wild!

Source: Le Nouvel Observateur

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