Monkey rescued after being found loose in London

A marmoset monkey has been rescued from scaffolding outside a Tower Hamlets tower block.

The female Geoffroy’s marmoset was spotted by residents leaping along scaffolding poles, who called Monkey World in Dorset for help.

Before specialist Dr Alison Cronin from Monkey World had arrived, locals managed to usher the little primate into the lobby and then into a reptile vivarium.

The marmoset, now named Freya, has been taken to Monkey World and introduced to some of the park’s 36 marmosets, the majority of whom were rescued from the pet trade. Freya’s symptoms suggest she has rickets from a poor diet at her previous home.

The organisation says most of the primates that come into their care from the pet trade suffer from a variety of problems caused by lack of correct nutrition, being kept in inappropriate surroundings and isolation.

“In particular, the marmoset and tamarin species pair bond for life and their offspring help in caring for their younger brothers and sisters. Keeping them in solitary confinement from their own kind is cruel, unnecessary, and creates mentally disturbed monkeys.

“Many of the marmosets that we rescue are under a year old and are too young to be removed from their parents. Breeders and animal dealers do this so that the infants they take away from their parents are totally dependent on their human owners and they can breed more to sell.”