By Paula Bayarte
Lima, Mar 5 (EFE).- Punch, a baby squirrel monkey from the Peruvian Amazon, was separated from his mother at birth and transported to arid Lima to be sold as a pet, where he was fortunately rescued. Like his famous Japanese namesake, he now clings to a stuffed animal, seeking the warmth stolen from him by the illegal animal trade.
The squirrel monkey is a small primate species that averages about 32 centimeters (12.6 inches) in length and is found in the jungles of Central and South America.
Little Punch weighed just 90 grams (3.2 ounces) when he was rescued on Friday.
“He was dehydrated, in poor condition, and has been slowly recovering,” explained Julio Carrión, a wildlife veterinarian at the Huáscar Metropolitan Club in southern Lima, holding Punch in his hands.
The veterinarian recounts that traffickers capture monkeys throughout the Peruvian Amazon and typically kill the mothers to separate them from their offspring and sell the babies. However, nine out of 10 animals die on the journey to Lima, where they command their highest economic value.
The road trip from the jungle to the capital can take 15 to 30 hours, and the infants are hidden and transported in terrible conditions, which results in this high mortality rate.
Carrión explains that the infants of different monkey species stay “skin to skin” with their mothers for the first four months of life. Therefore, when they are rescued, it is very common to give them a stuffed animal to somehow substitute this contact.
“It’s a technique that is used very often because when they are babies, they cling to their mother’s chest, and that is their way of life up to a certain age. In the case of squirrel monkeys, that’s more or less four or five months, until natural weaning occurs, and the baby can start eating solids and becomes a little more independent,” the veterinarian indicated.
He added that the stuffed animals have a texture that reminds them of their relatives and that, like the viral monkey Punch from the Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan, the Peruvian Punch uses it as an attachment object since he doesn’t have his mother.
The small squirrel monkey never separates from his stuffed animal, which is also shaped like a primate. Although he looks thin, he now weighs over 100 grams (3.5 ounces) thanks to the care provided at the rehabilitation center of the Huáscar Metropolitan Club, part of Lima’s Parks Service, located in the Villa El Salvador district.
Specialists estimate that in three months, they can gradually introduce him to his 12 companions of the same species who are also at the center so he can begin to socialize. Still, they warn that this process must advance slowly because, as happened to the Japanese monkey, it is possible he might be rejected.
The refuge houses dozens of animals rescued from illegal trafficking in the Amazon. Accompanying the Peruvian Punch at the facility are over 30 monkeys, macaws, a toucan, a peccary (wild pig), about thirty turtles, several coatis, eagles, and even an Andean fox, among others.
Carrión explains that young, recovered animals are typically moved to other state centers in the Amazon before being released. However, adult animals or those with health issues cannot return to their habitat because they have lost the necessary hunting and survival skills. (EFE)
pbc/dmv
