For our Dropcam series we wanted to choose a location with wildlife, and even though it would make for the easiest viewing if we placed a Dropcam in a zoo or smaller enclosure, that’s not truly wildlife. So when we heard that there was a Vervet monkey rescue center in Tzaneen, South Africa, we immediately sent them a camera. You may have to wait a while to see a monkey or two pass by the lens, but it’s worth the wait and it’s all in support of an organization with a great mission.
Their story: It all began because Dave Du Toit and Arthur Hunt didn’t want to kill an orphaned monkey. It was just a couple of days old, it was injured, and they already come up with a name for it (Regus). Yet that’s what the two friends were being told to do in 1989 by the South African wildlife organization, and later, by the country’s legal system. Why? Because though they appeared on the endangered species list, vervet monkeys were classified as vermin. Things have changed a bit since then, in part thanks to the tireless advocacy Du Toit and Hunt, but the small monkeys are still seen by many South Africans as pests. In 1993, the two friends established the Vervet Monkey Foundation in Tzaneen, in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, a home to more than 500 orphaned, injured or abused vervet monkeys. The sanctuary depends on international volunteers to care for the primates on the 23-hectare facility.
WATCH THE TZANEEN DROPCAM LIVE
