It is with a heavy heart that we sadly announce the passing of our beloved Barbary macaque Nanushka. Our beautiful girl, known as Nushy was surrounded by her animal carers and the incredible team at The Carisbrooke Vets as we said our last goodbyes and laid her to rest. 💔

Nanushka was sadly once a victim of the illegal pet trade, found at a pet shop with no legal paperwork and seized by our partners, Stichting AAP. It was claimed she was brought at a market and dumped in the pet shop, but her true story and previous traumas will never truly be known. The AAP successfully integrated Nanushka into a troop of rescued Barbary’s, all from similar backgrounds, before being transferred to our sanctuary in 2014. However, due to her previous ordeal, she had developed unnatural compulsive behaviours including foot-biting and obsessive grooming, which are common behaviours of rescued Macaques who have been victim to isolation. Through our rehabilitation plan we managed to keep these behaviours under control, but Nanushka suffered a minor injury to her foot earlier in the year which had caused her to over-groom the wound, making it progressively worse and unable to heal.

Despite our keepers best efforts at distracting and training Nanushka, we reached out to behavioural experts and vets at the AAP who collaborated with us to help attain a recovery plan. Sadly though as all options were explored and exhausted, we had to make the heartbreaking decision to say goodbye to our lovely Nushy and as you can imagine we are all devastated. 💔

It has been a really sad few days for our sanctuary and it’s animal carers. None of them could have done anymore to make Nanushka feel safe and loved and we would like to share a few words from each of them…

💕Lisa: “My darling Nanushka, it’s not going to be the same without you, I’m going to miss your sassy but secretly loving nature. We’ve lost a big part of our family, but our memories of you will live on. Our hearts are broken but we take comfort knowing you are now at peace.”

💕Lily: “Nanushka had such a beautiful soul and loved her carers unconditionally but sadly her previous traumas had taken it’s toll on her mental health. Our hearts are broken knowing there was no more we could possibly do to help our Nushy. We will all miss her terribly and she will never be forgotten, sleep well my darling.”

💕Terri – “Nushka was the sweetest girl, she absolutely loved being cuddled up with her house mates, and enjoyed a little ear tickle from her keepers. She arrived with some deeply embedded emotional scars and the reality is we can heal most wounds but the emotional issues never really go away. It’s heartbreaking there are still primates being kept as pets – people have no idea what lasting damage these primates endure. Sleep tight beautiful.”

💕Nicole: “Nushy, even though I hadn’t worked with you for long, the bond we developed was amazing and the trust and vulnerability you showed towards me was a privilege. Rest in peace Nushy, we love you.”

💕Jordon: “No one could deny that Nanushka was a supermodel amongst Barbary Macaques, with her stunning eyes, long face and pouting expression she was always very unique. After a tough start as a victim of the illegal pet trade, I’m glad our Haven was able to give Nush a safe and loving home for over 8 years. It’s horrible to see the animals in our care suffer due to past psychological trauma and as hard as these decisions are, we are all relieved that the suffering has now come to an end. We will miss you beautiful Nanushka.”

💕Sarah: “Despite her early traumas with humans, Nush was able to learn to trust and bond with her keepers and I will miss her with all my heart.  She would come and seek comfort from her keepers during times of stress. She would lean up against the enclosure and stretch her arms to gently groom you. Rest in peace my beautiful little lady. You will always be in our hearts.“

Here at Monkey Haven, our main aim is to rescue and rehabilitate primates, most commonly from the illegal pet trade. We make it our priority to ensure all of our animals live a happy and enriched life, but unfortunately in some cases the previous mental trauma they have suffered can have a lasting impact.

By sharing Nanushka’s story, we hope it will help us in our mission to educate people about the negative impact of keeping primates as pets, such as the damaging implications this can have on their mental health and well being. 

We also hope Nanushka’s story helps highlight the importance of the Governments “Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill” which aims to introduce a ban on keeping primates as pets. 

Rest in peace Nushy. We will all miss you and it was an honour and a privilege to care for you ❤️