Despite being ill-equipped to take care of its basic needs, a female baboon took
a liking to a kitten which accidentally wondered into its area in the Kibbutz
Nir Eliyahu zoo last week.
The baboon made a snap decision to adopt the
kitten and didn’t leave it alone for a moment, zoo staff said.
“The
kitten was starved and exhausted, and did not eat from the moment it
entered the
cage.
Its attempts to reach food failed as it was picked up by the female
baboon every time it wondered off,” the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to
Animals in Israel said.
Tamar Federman of the Ben Shemen Monkey Park
arrived at the kibbutz last Thursday and was joined by Eyal Gatanyo, of
the
society, and the Agriculture Ministry’s Dr. Dganit Ben-Dov. Together the
team of
experts began an operation to rescue the kitten.
Exploiting a rare moment
when the kitten and the baboon were standing at opposite ends of the
cage, a
gate separating the two areas was lowered.
The dehydrated kitten was
given liquids and nutrients and received medical treatment. It is now
waiting
for a warm family to adopt it.