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Josie Du Toit and the rest of the Vervet Monkey Foundation are excitedly pursuing a dream: a Vervet Forest. The vision is for this forest to be a sustainable and ecologically sound nature reserve where rehabilitated monkey troops will be released to live naturally. Moreover, it will be a place for education on sustainable living practices, a place where people can appreciate the value of living in peaceful co-existence with nature.
Josie describes the Vervet Monkey Foundation in Tzaneen, South Africa and why a Vet nurse from England became a Director. Each year during the baby season (Nov to Feb) they receive baby vervet monkeys, some of whom are only days old. These babies have usually been orphaned by local farmers who have shot their moms. Ironically it is frequently the farmers who bring the babies into the sanctuary. Over the years the foundation has developed an impressive system to care for these little ones as they are integrated into a troop with a foster mom.
Due to their success the Vervet Monkey Foundation has grown to become the home of over 570 monkeys. This rehabilitation centre sits on 23 hectares (.23 square kilometres) and will remain in operation even after they have acquired the 300 – 500 hectares for the Vervet Forest project.
We discuss the movie “The Vervet Forest” is a feature length film dedicated to raising awareness and funds for the Vervet Forest project.
Anyone can hold a screening of this film for a small fee which goes towards the project. For more information please contact Josie Du Toit at josie@vervet.za.org.