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[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

The Express

February 5, 2001

HEADLINE: MONKEY NEARLY KILLED BY HUNTER COMES HOME TO LIVE WITH SAVIOUR;
LOVE IN A WARM CLIMATE

BYLINE: BY MARTIN STOTE

BODY:
IT was love at first sight when their eyes met across the remote South
African wilderness. And ever since then teenager Michael Lewis and Suzie
the blue vervet monkey have been firm friends.

Michael saved Suzie from a hunter's gun and the tiny animal is enjoying a
new life safe from harm in Britain.

The Lewis family nursed the two-year-old monkey and then decided to look
after their unique pet on their smallholding 30 miles from Durban.

But when the family of four returned to Britain after two years abroad they
could not bear to be without the latest addition to the household.

Now, after a six-month battle with the Government and a bill of more than
GBP 4,000, Suzie has been reunited with the family in Castle Bromwich,
Birmingham.

Michael, 17, a law student, spied the rare monkey as she toppled off her
mother's back and suffered an epileptic fit when her troop was chased
through the family's grounds a year ago.

He scooped her up and nursed her back to full fitness. Although the timid
monkey made a good recovery from the attack, she was still too weak to be
released back into the wild and so the family continued caring for her.

Michael has taken a part-time job at McDonald's to help fund the costs for
Suzie's trip. He said: "We have hand-reared Suzie so there was no way we
could leave her behind. She could never live in the wild again anyway
because she is prone to epilepsy and has weak back legs.

"We knew we had to bring her back to Britain and now that she is here we
are over the moon."

Michael's father Mike, 43, who had moved to South Africa to work, added:
"We were horrified when we saw her being shot at in South Africa - she was
so tiny and vulnerable. The other monkeys were attacking her and we had to
help.

"Michael ran over and scooped her up while my wife shooed the other monkeys
away. When I got to Suzie she was in the middle of an epileptic fit. Her
heart had stopped so without thinking I started resuscitating her.

"She died four times before finally coming round. When she did she just
grabbed hold of Michael and wouldn't let go."

Although Suzie soon settled with the family, Mike was forced to return to
the UK to nurse his sick mother. After a lengthy legal wrangle with the
Ministry of Agriculture, he finally won the right to bring the monkey to
England.

Returning to Birmingham in May this year, the family endured seven months
without their precious pet as they waited to be given the go-ahead. Suzie
was kept in a cat and dog shipment area in Durban while Mike battled for
permission to bring her home.

The little monkey finally arrived in Britain on December 12 where she
received an emotional welcome from Mike, wife Tracey, Michael and Malishia,
six. Mike said: "We were really worried that in all that time she would
forget who we were but she was ecstatic to see us.

"The Ministry of Agriculture did not give us any help. They were really
dragging their heels over it, arguing with us over what size the bars on
the cage needed to be.

"They said we would have to have a window she could look out of and we had
to buy protective gloves, masks and goggles to handle her.

"We had to wait while they decided what facilities would be suitable to put
her in and they kept us hanging around while they sought advice from
specialists.

"When she arrived the trip had obviously taken its toll. Suzie's eyes were
haggard and she had lost half a pound in weight. But when she saw us she
seemed to get a second wind - she rushed up to the bars of the cage and
started crying with joy.

"We had spent an awful lot of money and time trying to bring her over here
but when we saw how happy she was we knew it was all worth it." The family
make daily visits to Bayton Lodge Boarding Kennels in Hinkley, Leics, where
Suzie is undergoing six months of quarantine until next June.

Blue vervet monkeys grow to around three feet in height and feast on nuts,
fruit, small birds, insects and lizards.

Suzie is one of only 10 vervets in this country and the species is growing
increasingly rare with only around 250,000 left in the world.