Putting a baby monkey to sleep because its mother dies is very sad. Yet it had to happen on Thursday, in the Dierenrijk in Nuenen. “Couldn’t they have tried that first?” readers of Omroep Brabant wonder. Well, unfortunately, say the keepers at Dierenrijk. Because if it were up to the father monkey, the young one would die due to a lack of warmth and care.
“We found mother Kanette curled up in her enclosure on Thursday,” caregiver Egbert Jan Plas begins to say. Kanette turned out to be suffering from intestinal inflammation. The vet and caregivers were quick, but not fast enough. That afternoon the gibbon monkey died.
But mom Kanette still had a little one. Without a name, because the caretakers only know the gender after a few years. The one-year-old little one was clung to his mother all day long. Only after about four years do they become somewhat separated from their mother
“They are called great apes, but they are still not people.”
That’s where the sore point lies. Father Eric does not really have an active role in raising children. He watches over his family and sits with them in the tree, but he is unable to care for young ones. That care task really lay with Kanette. “We should not humanize such an animal,” says Egbert Jan. “For people it is self-evident that you as parents take care of this, but with monkeys it is different. They are called great apes, but they are still not people.”
The bitter conclusion is that if the baby gibbon were not put to sleep by caregivers, it would die from a lack of care and warmth. A difficult choice for the caregivers, but one that cannot be avoided. “Sad, but unfortunately this is sometimes part of life,” says the zookeeper.
“Normally gibbons sing that together with their partner, but now Eric’s verse went unanswered.”
Male gibbon Eric was able to see his partner’s body for a moment. “We then walked out of the enclosure for a while, so that he could see that she was dead,” Egbert Jan explains.
Since then, the monkey has actually behaved no differently than normal. And his poop is good too. “We don’t know much about the grieving process of animals yet. But what is poignant is that he started his duet on his own this morning. Normally gibbons sing that together with their partner, but now Eric’s verse remained unanswered.”
However, the zoo will soon be looking for a new female for Eric.