Group abused baboons comes home in West-Flemish reception center: « Robert was alcohol addict » (Vleteren)

Gene, Lucy, Kaki, Lalita, Roco, Tyna, Alejandrita and Robert. They form the new ‘family’ of baboons in the sun’s wud Wildlife Sanctuary in Oostvleteren, not far from Ypres. Each monkey has a story, all not very cheerful. Gene was in a small cage in the Netherlands, awaiting tests that they wanted to do on him. Fortunately that never happened. Kaki and Lalita come from the circus. And Roco, the alpha mannet of the group, was found on a garbage dump in Spain. Probably dumped.

Read too. The story of Baviaan Robert, who had to drink peats as a small monkey in a Flemish café

They were saved and placed together two years ago at the AAP Foundation in the Netherlands. Robert, Gene and Lucy were transferred from the Sun Brood. « Our group of Bavians had become small after two monkeys died, » says the West-Flemish shelter. « They were five, then with only three. Moreover, Martha, the last one who died, was an important building block in our family. When she dropped, tensions arose. »

Five single baboons lived at Stichting Aap. The idea arose to form a family together. Because the baboon is first and foremost a social beast. Because socializing sometimes takes a long time – « We don’t like everyone immediately, right? » – The group stayed with our northern neighbors for over two years. Last week they moved to their new stay in Vleteren.

Robert is back at home where he ended up eleven years ago. In 2014 he was saved from a Belgian café. « Robert had to do tricks for the customers there, » says Karel Ackaert of the shelter. « Bringing a chair, wearing a glass, lying down, giving hand, … simple things that teach you a baboon pretty quickly. If he did well, he was allowed to drink a pint. »

One day the police and animal protection came by and Robert was taken. The young baboon was in very bad shape when he arrived in the tanning brood. « He was alcohol addict and depressed, » Karel recalls. « He was vibrating, was hudded. Typically depressive behaviors of an addict. »

He was also in a physical way. « Robert only got waste from the cafe. Chips, nuts, bread waste from the local bakery … while a baboon needs vegetables. He had problems with his sugar and his blood circulation. He therefore lost his tail, and his teeth were broken. It was a huge challenge to get him healthy again. »

He kicked off with the help of medication. “Today, Robert is not the toughest in the group, it is the most social. That is very strange if you look at what he has experienced. Strangely enough, you expect an animal that was so often among people, even if it has been so abused by people, that it is just going to be aimed at people. Certainly if it has never been different from people. It is actually just as well as attached to the other. Life.