BENGALURU: Residents of Rajarajeshwari Nagar helped rescue an injured baby macaque, which had swallowed a bulb holder, causing its cheek pouch to open and leading to heavy bleeding. The 40-day-old baby macaque was trapped and treated at a wildlife hospital in the city.
Vaishali Yadav, a resident of RR Nagar, noticed a bulb holder jutting out of the baby macaque’s left cheek pouch, that is used for holding food. She reached out to People for Animals (PfA) wildlife hospital in Uttarahalli, which is also involved in animal rescue.
To trap the macaque, the rescue team from PfA set up a cage with food inside it. However, it was a task, as the animal was with a troop of monkeys. After a 13-day effort, the monkey finally got trapped in the cage on Tuesday. The rescue team took the animal to hospital. An examination and X-ray showed a 1.5-inch bulb holder stuck inside the mouth. A 30-minute surgery was conducted and the holder was removed.
“The holder was tightly lodged in the cheek pouch. It had cut through the skin and was hanging out. Things like bulbs, cups, spoons or plastic need to be disposed of properly or animals become the sufferers. As they can’t figure out what it is, they try to consume it,” said Dr Nawaz Shariff, chief veterinarian of PfA. Dr Shariff also pointed out that had the macaque been left unattended for a few more days, chances of its survival would have been bleak, as the infection would have spread inside the mouth and in the bloodstream.
There was a chance of gangrene too. As the residents were alert and continuously followed up, we could save it at the right time. Post surgery, the macaque was given a tetanus shot with antibiotics, and its clinical parameters were checked, which showed normalcy. The baby monkey was united with its mother on the same day.
“We had to release the monkey as it was a baby, and was feeding on mother’s milk. Keeping it in hospital for a few more days would break immunity, and without mother’s milk, it could even get diarrhoea. We took a call and went back to the same place and saw the same troop there, where we released it safely,” added Dr Shariff. Meanwhile, the rescue team is following up on the condition of the monkey. Veterinarians stated that the monkey would fully recover in a span of four days.