Sri Nuan’s Progress

After twelve days of illness, we are pleased to announce that Sri Nuan, one of our female pig-tailed macaques, is recovering her strength and progressing better than we had hoped for!

Those who know her story will be very pleased to know that she is now able to feed herself, walk around the yard and is beginning to show signs of a return to her normal behaviour. At this rate, we hope she may be able to return to her old enclosure by the end of the week and reunite with her baby.

The successful treatment of tetanus of a macaque was said to be impossible by wildlife vets around the country, but Sri Nuan is back!

The party will follow soon after!

Sri Nuan is a 7 year old Pig-Tailed Macaque, living at the Wildlife Rescue Centre for the past four years, and is one of the original inhabitants of the centre. On Friday 22nd July, she was attacked by other monkeys in her enclosure and was removed to have her injuries assessed. She was also noted to be very weak and probably in shock, given the ease with which this normally aggressive macaque could be handled. After a few hours of observation, Sri Nuan was still just as dazed and weak as when she had been found, so we suspected her condition may be a little more serious, and she was placed in the clinic with her baby for the night.

The following morning, Sri Nuan was found in exactly the same place & position she had been left the previous night. Though quite unresponsive to people, she maintained a vice like grip on the wire of her enclosure, scared to let go in case she fell over. The following twenty four hours saw a progression of her condition to the point where she would fall on her side, be unable to right herself and her limbs were becoming increasingly more tense and stiff. Within two days of her initial injury, she was unable to grasp food and raise it to her mouth.

Given the limited information available on naturally occurring diseases of macaques, it was assumed she may have tetanus – though some of the key features of this disease were absent, there was no real other explanation for the progression to a partially tetanic, rigid condition. Sri Nuan was administered tetanus antitoxin and toxoid vaccines as a precautionary measure and over the following 10 days, treated with intravenous fluid therapy and antibiotics, handfeeding, physiotherapy and lots of TLC.

After the first few days of treatment, her condition appeared to be becoming dire, her temperature spiking up to 40.9 degrees centigrade and her muscular stiffness setting in. Suddenly she seemed to turn a corner, though, and after a few days of showing small signs of improvement, she began to walk, feed herself, and was weaned off intravenous fluids.

Today, twelve days after her initial signs of illness, Sri Nuan is strong, walking well and beginning to refuse any assistance with feeding and drinking. Though she is still not completely well, it is wonderful to see her old nature returning – the nature of a wild animal!