With a single crack of gunfire, a brief but loud bang signaled the end of a mother’s life.
Despite his mother’s death at the hand of a poacher this past weekend, a baby Rhesus Macaque continued clinging to his mom’s body, unaware she was gone days into his life.
Heart-wrenching photos of the aftermath were shared by Hatsanai Sremalai, a ranger for the Department of National Parks, whose team arrested poacher Jamrong Pinij, 38, in the Tham Chai Ram Wildlife Sanctuary in Sukhothai province Saturday.
Jamnong was charged with illegal hunting with an unlicensed gun he used to shoot the monkey. Besides the baby monkey and its dead mom, officials also found one dead and three living monitor lizards, two dead Asian tri-colored squirrels, and a wild boar in his possession.
“This is what the huntsman did. He deprived the mother from a baby monkey. The baby is still clinging on to its mom, not even realizing she was dead. What a pity.”
Hatsanai even wrote a poem dedicated to this tragic incident.
“Mom is gone forever / She will never return / What punishment could be enough?” he wrote.
The little monkey will be cared for at a government wildlife breeding center, far from the jungle where he should be riding around on his mother’s back.
Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand said it would extend financial and practical help to authorities.
Sorry, gotta go eat chocolate and stare out the window alone now.
[ALL PHOTOS HERE]
Photos: Hatsanai Sremalai
