In early-November 2019, I was volunteering with the Inkawu Vervet Project and a partnered sanctuary, WATCH, or the Wild Animal Trauma Center and Haven situated on the outskirts of Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. I was able to assist WATCH with the release of 21 rehabilitated vervet monkeys. It started with a soft release where the monkeys were captured from their enclosures, transported to a nature reserve, and released into a temporary structure that was erected in the middle of the reserve. At the end of a 2-week acclimation period I returned as one of two fortunate volunteers that could assist with the final release. I opened the mesh roofing and stepped back to let them emerge without fear. At this point I had been in the field with wild vervets for months and, to an extent, watching them had become commonplace. However, when these sheltered monkeys excitedly clamber into the trees for the first time, I found that my eyes stung with tears. I was stunned by a flood of emotions as they climbed higher into the canopy as if testing to see if there was a ceiling to this new enclosure.
Questions began to bubble up in my mind after this experience: what is their survival rate, do they know what to eat in the dry season, how well can they integrate into new social groups, and on and on. Someday perhaps I can follow a similar line of research for imperiled species.
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