Monkey dies on e-way, ambulance driver saves baby

NAGPUR: Four months after the Hindu Hruday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Samruddhi Mahamarg was thrown open, monkeys are among the most vulnerable wild species to be knocked dead on the e-way. But this newborn baby was among the luckiest ones to survive though her mother succumbed to critical injuries.

On Saturday morning, ambulance driver Kiran Ashok Suryawanshi (42) and his friend Vickky Pathan (44) from Nashik, who were returning from Odisha, saw a baby monkey trying to wake up its mother critically injured in a road hit on the expressway.

"I was exhausted and sleepy. I stopped the vehicle near a toll booth and rested. Around 7am, when I woke up, I saw a speeding car coming from the opposite direction hitting a monkey crossing the road," said Suryawanshi. "We crossed over and found that the baby was trying to wake up its mother by clinging to her chest."

"I lifted the baby and placed its mother in a wrapper. We got numbers of the forest personnel from the toll booth and called them," said Suryawanshi. When the duo reached another toll booth, the foresters suggested shifting the monkey and the baby to People For Animals (PFA)-run 'Karunaashram' at Pipri (Meghe).

PFA member Kaustubh Gawande said, "The mother monkey succumbed while undergoing treatment. The baby did not suffer even a scratch but was in shock."

Talking about the teddy bear, Gawande said, "The baby plays with the teddy and drinks milk. It is a female and as it grows, it needs to be reunited with its natural habitat."


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