Adoption profile: Frank
Adopting an animal is a fantastic way to support the work at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre, Malawi’s only wildlife sanctuary. Frank was taken from the wild and held up to passing people and cars for sale when concerned passersby reported it to the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust. With the help of scouts from the Department of National […]
Adopting an animal is a fantastic way to support the work at Lilongwe Wildlife Centre, Malawi’s only wildlife sanctuary.
Frank was taken from the wild and held up to passing people and cars for sale when concerned passersby reported it to the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust. With the help of scouts from the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), Frank was confiscated from the roadside and brought to the Wildlife Centre for emergency treatment.
He was only a month old when he arrived at the Centre in November 2015 during orphan season. This occurs from November-February each year when babies are most commonly born and therefore traded. He was in extremely bad shape, malnourished and very badly dehydrated. He could barely stand, and when he did for seconds, he would collapse to the ground, choosing to lie flat and still whenever he could. At first, it seemed his chances of survival were slim, but with vigilant attention and care for his medical needs, and constant nurturing by his human surrogates, Frank survived and began to thrive.
A month after Frank’s arrival, one year-old Gaia, another blue monkey, was rescued from similar circumstances. Gaia was also confiscated from the roadside by DNPW, but arrived in a much better state of health than Frank. Because both individuals were of the same species, they were able to be integrated with each other and learn to play, feed and socialise together. Frank became a healthy and playful young Blue Monkey and along with Gaia has been integrated into the Wildlife Centre’s resident troop of Blue Monkeys, in a large enclosure. Here they have learnt to form a stable troop with our other rescued Blue Monkeys. Though their troop is still too small for wild release, they still have the chance at being truly free sometime in the future.
Frank is one of our most outgoing and inquisitive residents of the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre. He can always be found playing with his fellow blue monkeys in a large natural enclosure. Frank’s environment contains all the natural stimuli he and his troop needs, and he spends his days leaping from branch to branch and playing all the games that monkeys play (we haven’t figured out the rules yet!).
They are an incredibly stable, peaceful unit. Frank is still enjoying monkeying around with his family but over the last few months he has also grown to be quite independent. One of his favourite things to do is watch the dragonflies whizzing around. Between his busy daily ritual of jumping through trees, munching on corn cobs and counting flying insects we managed to capture this video of Frank hanging about. And also a couple of short grooming clips with his favourite pal Zoro.
To give Frank a £25 sponsorship for one year, please click below to donate:
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https://www.lilongwewildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/Frank-looking-around-on-his-ledge.mp4https://www.lilongwewildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/Zoro-and-Frank_blue-monkeys_wildlife_LWC.mp4https://www.lilongwewildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/Zoro-and-Frank-grooming_blue-monkeys_wildlife_LWC.mp4