This poor female Hamlyn’s monkey was found by eco-guards during a patrol.
She was snared by the left hand. The team safely released her by cutting the snare.

This happened in the Integrally Protected Conservation Area of OWR, in the south-western part of the Reserve.

Hamlyn’s monkey (Cercopithecus hamlyni) is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List. Most of its range is within Eastern DRC, although the Nyungwe National Park in Western Rwanda also holds a small population.

By DRC law, it is a totally protected species – its hunting is fully prohibited. Local names include << Mundukbu >> in Bila, << Mukbutu >> in Mbo, << Kima >> in Swahili or << Likaku >> in Lingala.

This monkey is semi-terrestrial, so it would have been walking along the ground along a path where the snare had been set.

These snares trap the feet of forest antelopes, large rodents, or primates in a loop of wire or nylon laid flat to the ground hidden under leaves, and held by a strong springy sapling; when the weight on an animal releases the trigger, the sapling springs upright, hoisting the animal upwards by the entrapped limb.

The patrols carried out by the eco-guards help the Reserve’s management and biomonitoring teams understand the latest dynamics in terms of poaching and other threats.

They help us gather critical data that inform conservation strategies and future patrolling efforts. Findings from these missions can also contribute to scientific research.

Learn more about the Hamlyn’s monkey: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/4219/166615690

Read more on the various proportions of primate populations with snare injuries here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajp.23579

Wrote : OWR ( RFO EPULU ICCN )