Painted blue from head to tail, a vervet monkey wanders through Deer Park in Nelson Mandela Bay after being caught and coated by an unknown culprit
A wild monkey in Nelson Mandela Bay faces distress after being pinned down, smeared head to tail in blue paint, and released back into its troop's territory, where it now claws and licks at the toxic coating.
So said welfare group Monkey Matters Eastern Cape, which spotted the drenched vervet in Deer Park on Sunday and said the paint could poison it and leave it facing a "slow, agonising death".
The animal has not been caught, as it does not stay in one place long enough for rescuers to reach it, but it appeared to be doing fine, the group said.
Charne van der Mescht, the co-founder of Monkey Matters Eastern Cape, which has rescued primates in the province for more than 25 years, said the act stemmed from a belief that painting a monkey would scare off its troop.
