Monkey Ling Ling
August 2015 - Monkey Ling Ling needs help too
Between Chaweng and Lamai on top of Lamai Hill, coming from Chaweng, just 20 Meters before the ‘Sky Gym’, there is a beautiful viewpoint but sadly, that is where a poor monkey lived his life under seriously disgraceful conditions.
A while ago we called him Lingling, Ling means monkey in Thai.
Almost the whole cage that he lives in has to be renewed.
When it rains, the ground floor area of his cage gets totally covered in mud. The clean up of the cage is quite a challenge and the Thais around there show no interest to help.
Understandably Lingling is very unhappy in this cage and due to the stress of his poor living conditions he has become aggressive, on occasion he even bites.
But perhaps some of you remember that we managed this challenge before when we –thanks to your support- renewed the cage for the monkey Ling two years ago.
Having been approached, thankfully the owner of Lingling was very agreeable with our plans for a new cage and has happily agreed to the necessary construction plans.
You would never have known that there was a monkey living in a monkey cage behind all the cars, garbage and plants...
The rotten cage was situated behind the bush. The monkey sits in this dark hole and can't even see the road.
Just in front of his cage there is a huge pile of garbage. That's how far this poor animal can see day in day out.
The bamboo poles, probably originally meant as some sort of a floor, are lying all over the place.
The roof is very badly damaged and what's left of it will probably fly away as soon as the next big storm hits
Two years ago we built, with your help, a new cage for Ling at the Rockview Restaurant near Chaweng Noi.
We continue to keep an eye on Ling and have planned to do the same with Lingling.
Here is explanation of the construction of the CAGE here at our House in Chaweng:
Finally the outside structure is here. We have an a new helper who can weld. He set to work and started immediately with constructing the roof. We also have the base of the cage here at the House.
The rest of the cage had to replaced and repainted but luckily only in certain areas. Unfortunately just after beginning work on this project our helper had a motorcycle accident and so we had to wait until he had recovered well enough to continue his work.
Motorbike accidents can be common place here for the staff and as a result it can be difficult getting a constant workforce. The other aid workers have sadly , also been unable to continue on this project at the present time. That situation happens often and so it is nothing new to us and so we have to go with the flow.
Once the work re/started it progressed at a good pace As you can see the roof has a comfortable seat and Lingling can choose to be in the rain, when it rains or to get into a sheltered area if he wants to have peace.
The transport of the base for the cage was not a problem and luckily it went smoothly.
So, the bottom of the cage was already in place. Nico needed a refreshment ...
The roof was a little on the large side so we had to trim the tree first. But then it went really well.
The dogs of course, always find it quite exciting when there is something new to see.
The monster sized roof was finally loaded and the drive over the "mountains" could begin.
The helpers and the car did not have much space at all.
Next to the monkey cage there was a cage for the dogs. That had to be moved away in order for the work to begin.
The owner of the monkeys made a space with his axe.
The bamboo poles were all cut to size for the roof.
Due to the upheaveal, understandably Lingling was now stressed and tired. To make the day easier for him our Manager used a light anasthetic to keep him calm and sleepy. Because Lingling was opening his mouth and baring his teeth in a threatening manner we we able to get the anasthetic into his mouth causing no stress to Lingling at all.
It was then relatively simple and straightforward to gently push Lingling into a small box
With Lingling now asleep, we had to move quickly and so we immediately began to remove the cage from the the soil onto the cement so we could start our work.
We have to paint the whole cage very quickly
Now comes the bottom of the cage and it is welded into the cage itself.
The finished roof is also placed on top and then welded onto the cage structure.. Everybody has to help with this.
Now it is a matter of the "Interior Design".
We have to get it right for Lingling so he has some of his natural habitat within the cage for him.
We were lucky, right next to the cage there was a tree of the right size.
We bought some very strong rope and with the tree trunk we cut we were able to make him a swing.
As you can see, I personally tested the stability of the tree trunk swing.
The cage\shelter for the dogs, that we had removed earlier also had to be set up correctly again
When Lingling awoke from his sleep he waited patiently in a a dog transport carrier. He was hungry and so had his first banana.
We have made him his new "prison" and we hope it will be a little more comfortable for him and a slighly less stressful enviroment for him to live in.
Unfortunately, we could not do more for him.
We were all very pleased and happy that with a lot of hard work we managed to assemble Linglings new cage in a single day and that the color dried in time.
That was so important for Lingling had to return back in its cage
Lingling finally has a clear uninterrupted view of his surroundings. The new small trash dump, which is in front of his cage should certainly not disturb him or block his view.
If you want to pay LingLing a visit and check out his fancy new home, you can find him on top of Lamai Hill, coming from Chaweng, just 20 Meters before the ‘Sky Gym’
