My name is Jan Hampton and with my husband James, we have been running a Vervet monkey project in South Africa for approximately six months every year, from September to March. One day in 1999 we heard of the persecution of Vervet monkeys, that Vervets were being shot, killed by traps or dogs and by road traffic accidents. From September to March is the Vervet monkey baby time and the Authorities were having to euthanase most of the neo-natal babies after their mothers were killed. This was because there were only a handful of Care Centres who had the knowledge, experience and time to rear these babies as it is a 24hr a day job. Well, we took on the job and started a Care Centre in June 2000, we called it The Hamptons Wildlife Care Centre. We are dedicated to the conservation of South African wildlife and in particular, Vervet monkeys.

For the last 9 years we have rescued and reared approximately 215 orphaned Vervets. This does not include the birds and other wildlife we often have to deal with. Each year we get more "tinies" and it is getting more important to save these little ones as many hundreds of Vervets are killed yearly. We receive orphaned Vervet monkey neo-natal babies from various sources, and we get the neo-natal's from a few hours to a few weeks old and keep them until they are weaned and independent, at approximately 7 months old. They then go out to our enclosure where they join other, older monkeys to form a troop. This troop is then kept for a further 2 years so they can bond and form their own hierarchy before they are taken to WATCH (the Rehabilitation Centre we are affiliated to) where they are kept for up to a further year before being released into the wild, away from human habitation.

 We are registered and permitted by Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife to carry out this work. The South African SPCA have also inspected our premises and we are recommended by them as the primary Centre in KwaZulu-Natal to take neo-natal Vervet babies. We are also members of the Primates Ecology and Genetics Group (PEGG).

In the season of 2008/9, we had 24 vervet monkeys (18 neo-natal, 5 juveniles and 1 adult) which is more than we have ever had in any previous year.

       This is our Care Centre - also our home.                           This is where the younger orphans live

On the left is the outside enclosure for older orphans and rescued adults from last season. On the right is the framework for the extension to the enclosure to give the monkeys three times the volume of last seasons enclosure. The wire mesh is presently being added but no photos are yet available. This work is made possible by donations which are acknowledged on the Donations page.

Our Care Centre is now located in Byrne Village, 15km north of Richmond in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, about 50km from Pietermaritzburg and 120km from Durban.