Surgery on endangered monkey successful in Vietnam

Aug 22, 2006, 7:49 GMT

Hanoi - Veterinarians in Vietnam have successfully performed surgery on an endangered red-shanked Douc langur whose foot was broken in a trap, wildlife researchers said Tuesday.

The surgery, lasting 2 hours, set the bones in the 5-year-old female's left foot on Monday, days after the injured monkey was brought to the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre, according to Elke Schwierz, head animal keeper at the centre.

'She looks quite well. Better than I expected,' Schwierz said Tuesday.

The langur, which was wearing a cast Tuesday, should recover some use of the foot, she said. 'For walking, yes. For climbing, we'll have to see.'

The langur is one of two seized by authorities in central Vietnam earlier this month.

An older female was confiscated from an amusement park display in Danang and the younger langur with the injured foot was turned over to authorities after workers on a hydropower plant found it injured in the jungle, according to Schwierz.

With its orange face, white 'whiskers,' maroon legs and silver-tinged back, the Red-shanked Douc is one of the most colourful of Vietnam's endangered langurs, a tree-dwelling species of monkeys with tails as long as their bodies and a penchant for branch-to-branch acrobatics.

The Red-shanked Douc is found only in Vietnam and is believed to number only in the hundreds or low thousands. It is listed as endangered in the World Conservation Union's 'Red Book.'

The Endangered Primate Rescue Centre, located 100 kilometres south of Hanoi in Cuc Phuong National Park, is home to some 40 Douc langurs, most of them rescued from poachers that are the greatest threat to the species survival.