Marcel, a Geoffroy’s marmoset, has been rehomed by the Bovington-based rescue centre but was showing clear signs of nutritional bone disease – rickets – as well as missing half of his tail.
The primate care staff immediately gave Marcel vitamin D3, along with a correct diet for a marmoset to combat the effects a poor pet trade environment and diet has had on this South American primate.
Marcel now has a natural overgrown outdoor enclosure where it can sunbathe, catch insects and branch run and jump as what a marmoset needs.
Director of Monkey World Dr Alison Cronin said: “It is most likely that Marcel escaped from his cage as part of the British pet trade.
“His injured and amputated tail as well as his distorted spine and hips are indicative of a marmoset that has been kept in inappropriate circumstances and fed a bad diet for a significant period of time.
“Marcel got lucky, he did not freeze to death while loose on the streets of Wolverhampton and was cared for by Wings & Paws until a specialist home was found at Monkey World.
“It doesn’t matter where he was born or how he was kept previously, marmosets like Marcel need the correct diet, environment, and companionship of their own kind that they can groom, communicate, and form close social bonds with. All monkeys in the UK pet trade are deserving of these basic needs.”
Monkey World has rescued more than 130 primates from the UK pet trade alone and campaigns for UK laws to be changed to protect marmosets and other species of monkey.
The centre is currently home to more than 250 primates and has had a lot of practice in rehabilitating marmosets from the UK pet trade to full health.
Despite most marmosets being bred in captivity in the UK, marmosets are not tame or domesticated; they are intelligent, social wild animals and require specialist care that cannot be fulfilled in a domestic situation.
Monkey World has rescued many lone monkeys from bird cages, kept by well-meaning people who do not have the knowledge or space to care for the primates, nor understand the physical and psychological problems they are causing, according to the centre.
