SAD NEWS OF BOHANNON

Sadly we have to share with you news that our beloved baboon Bohannon has passed away. Bo arrived at the centre last September after having a terrible start to life. He was found being kicked around in the street by some kids and was severely traumatised.

Since then, with lots of comfort and eventually the introduction of foster mum, Kezi, we saw Bo come out of his shell. He was a lively baboon with heaps of energy and cheekiness and everyone here grew fond of him very quickly.

We wanted Bo to have a full baboon life so we began a lengthy integration process with our existing troop of yellow baboons. As the group has some big characters, we really took the time to get Bohannon familiar with all the members, using a step-by-step approach.
Kezi did a great job to comfort him and helped to introduce him into the rest of the group.

However, baboons can be very territorial and unpredictable and, despite the intergration with the big males being approached very cautiously, after about 10 days of his initial release into the troop Bo was found injured in the enclosure. All though it cannot be confirmed for sure, it is expected that one of the big males had attacked him.

We immediately removed Bo from the enclosure and he was given veterinary treatment. When he came round, the extent of his injuries were seen and although awake and alert it appeared he was paralyzed from the waist down.

We monitored him over the next two weeks to see if he would improve in any way, but came to the conclusion he would never again have full use of his legs. Weighing up his quality of life in such a state, and the likelihood of him ever being accepted into a troop and living any
normal life for a baboon it was decided that the best thing for him in this instance was to euthanize him on welfare grounds.

We do not take these decisions lightly. Baboons are complex, social creatures and to give them any sort of future they need to be with their own kind to flourish. It’s a big loss to everyone here at the Centre as we invested much time and emotions into raising him, he was quite a character and we certainly miss him.