Dozens of ill-treated monkeys rescued in South Africa

A South African animal welfare group has rescued dozens of starved and sick monkeys from a private zoo.

According to the International Primate Rescue (IPR), the ill-treated monkeys suffered malnutrition.

Speaking to Reuters, Sue Mousley, founder of the animal rights group said that the primates will be taken to a sanctuary where they can get proper nutrition and better care.

“There are about sixty primates, they are still terribly terribly underweight, some of them look a bit dehydrated. They are really … the condition of most of those primates is just simply not acceptable,” Mousley said.

The rescue followed a court order asking IPR to take the caged animals from the garden nursery where they were kept for entertainment.

“There was a lot of resistance from the owner. It’s not nice for the monkeys, it is stressful for the monkeys but we have sedated most of them,” Mousley added.

IPR was started in 1996 after the sanctuary received its first monkey. The sanctuary is home to over 100 primates.

Reuters