ABU DHABI // A Baqala shop in Mussaffah industrial zone has lost one of its most regular customers: Megan the baboon.
Each morning and night for the past week, Megan would wait outside the shop for workers living near by to feed her.
But her free-wheeling lifestyle has taken a turn for the better after a security guard alerted Animal Action UAE, which began a search for the beast along with the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, or Ead.
“They didn’t find her but they did find tracks over cars,” said Melanie Stones, founder of Animal Action UAE.
“They also spoke to workers living in the area who had seen her regularly and found out that she had been given food by customers going to the local Baqala grocery shop for their iftar.”
But alas, Megan’s love of food was to be her downfall.
The search team gathered outside the Baqala yesterday and found her sitting on top of a lorry. From there, it was just a matter of waving a bunch of bananas and she was on her way to a new home at Al Ain Zoo.
The rescue bid began when Mohammed Alam, a Bangladeshi security guard, became concerned about the welfare of the baboon he had seen workers feed.
“He sent an email saying, ‘there’s a monkey on the loose, please help’,” Ms Stones said. “That email was shared around the Animal Action UAE group on Monday and we all thought, ‘what on Earth do we do with a monkey?’.
“We are not the competent authority to deal with exotic animals, we are a volunteer group that normally rescues stray cats and dogs.”
Ms Stones put in a call to the local authorities and the Ead came forward to help.
Keeping in constant contact with Mr Alam, who sent Google Map locations and pictures of Megan, Animal Action UAE and Ead were able to draw up a list of the monkey’s approximate movements, Ms Stones said.
“What he told us was that the monkey had appeared about five days previously and was basically scavenging in the bins and roaming the streets quite freely.”
Yesterday, Animal Action volunteer Sarah Bartlett joined the Ead team outside the Baqala.
“The team were a little nervous as catching any animal is hard enough,” Ms Stones said. “Catching an animal that is potentially wild and is scared of us is even harder and can be dangerous for both parties.
“Then catching an animal that has the ability to climb vertically – and fast – adds to the challenge.”
Ms Bartlett distracted the monkey while an experienced member of the Ead wildlife rescue team used a lasso to trap the baboon from behind.
“Sarah caught the monkey’s attention with a very old-fashioned trick of using a bunch of bananas,” Ms Stones said. “There was about 100 labourers waiting to get on the bus to take them to work so Megan had a real audience.”
An Ead staff member managed to trap the monkey without hurting her and she was quickly put in a secure transport crate.
Al Ain Zoo had been alerted and agreed to take Megan, much to Mr Alam’s delight.
“She wouldn’t have been safe where she was,” he said. “I am so glad that she is rescued and taken to a safer place.”
Dr Arshad Toosy, veterinary operations manager at Al Ain Zoo, said Megan would be kept in quarantine for a month while she underwent a thorough health check.
“Once the animal is declared healthy and free from any contagious disease, the animal will be incorporated into our collection,” Dr Toosy said.
Ms Stones said Megan was probably a former pet. “She is not a baboon that is on the endangered list as far as we know. She is a baboon that could have been brought in with the right paperwork.
“So quite possibly she has been brought in legally and has escaped. However, we don’t know any of her background and probably will never know.”
But Ms Stones said that if she had been kept as a pet it is quite likely that Megan has never had interaction with other baboons.
Everyone involved in the rescue effort is eager to see how she interacts with her new friends at the zoo.
“We will always be grateful to the Ead team whose support and professionalism in what was a challenging situation resulted in a happy outcome,” Ms Stones said.
jbell@thenational.ae
