Monkey kept in inappropriate conditions - rescue
A monkey discovered in a Wolverhampton conservatory was found to have rickets, a distorted spine and hips and half his tail missing.
Marcel was rescued after a woman discovered the mystery monkey in her house.
The Geoffroy's marmoset, thought to be an escaped pet, has now been rehomed to Monkey World ape rescue centre in Wareham, Dorset, where staff realised the extent of his health issues.
A spokesperson for Monkey World said they indicated he had been kept in inappropriate circumstances and fed a bad diet for some time.
Director of Monkey World, Dr Alison Cronin, said that it was most likely that Marcel escaped from his cage as part of the British pet trade.
"Marcel got lucky, he did not freeze to death while loose on the streets of Wolverhampton and was cared for by Wings & Paws [animal rescue] until a specialist home was found at Monkey World," she said.
"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.”
Marcel was immediately given vitamin D3 upon arrival at Monkey World, as the primate care staff noticed he had rickets.
He was also given a correct diet for a marmoset to combat the effects a poor pet trade environment and diet has had on the South American primate.
Monkey World has rescued over 130 primates from the UK pet trade alone, many of which were kept as solitary pets in bird cages.
It campaigns for UK laws to be changed to protect marmosets and other monkeys.
A spokesperson for Monkey World said: "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.
"These social monkeys suffer in solitary confinement in the pet trade and the best rehabilitation Monkey World can offer them is a family of their own kind again."
The ape rescue successfully campaigned and advised the government on legislating the primate pet trade in the UK, which was passed into law in March 2024 and will ban primates being kept as pets without a licence from April 2026.
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