Words by Smiley Team
A UK-based charity who helped to rescue a wild macaque monkey in Malaysia has launched a fundraising drive to fly her home.
Siti, an endangered moor macaque, is native to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, where macaques are threatened due to human activity and habitat loss.
She was illegally imported 1000 miles to Sabah, Malaysia, where she was kept as a pet before being rescued by local authorities and temporarily rehomed in the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park.
But as moor macaques are not native to Malaysia, Siti is currently unable to socialise or play with others.
UK-based animal charity Wild Welfare discovered Siti’s plight on a trip to the region, and have started a fundraising campaign to fly her back to the Tasikoki wildlife sanctuary in Indonesia, where she will find her forever home.
Dave Morgan, Wild Welfare’s field director explained: “I knew as soon as I saw Siti that we should try and assist Lok Kawi in finding her a more suitable home.
“Macaques are inquisitive and social and should be living with others of their kind so they have opportunities to play, groom and positively interact with one another.
“Lok Kawi’s wildlife carers realised this and asked us to help Siti, and we were thrilled when we were able to find somewhere that can provide her an appropriate new home.”
The Tasikoki rescue centre in Indonesia is one of several wildlife rescue centres set up to care for the ever-increasing volume of confiscated illegally kept and traded wildlife.
Tasikoki’s rescue centre manager Billy Lolowang said: “Moor macaques are one of the most endangered species in Sulawesi. We are happy to hear that Siti will be coming back to Sulawesi and joining the social group of moor macaques that are currently under our care here.
“One day we hope that through the rehabilitation here, Siti and the other moor macaques will get their chance to be back in the wild.”
If you’d like to donate to the campaign to get Siti home visit the fundraising page, or follow Wild Welfare on Twitter.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
