The pathologist’s necropsy report on Gidget is shown below. I sobbed as I read it, understanding the anguish… the boredom… the melancholy she suffered from being cold, underfed, and undernourished.
Gidget was a macaque who had been imprisoned in a garage for ten years in a wire rabbit cage, and her excrement and urine had been allowed to accumulate to the point that it scalded all the skin off her hip region. Except for a huge spot on the left side of her thigh, her hair eventually came back.
Gidget was subjected to exhaust fumes for five years while being fed just this and that. She had no toys or enrichment other than a filthy old blanket for comfort. Because of a poor diet and exposure to who knows what pollutants, every major organ in her little body was damaged. Locked in a garage, she had no protection from the winter’s cold or the summer’s heat.
A lady grabbed Gidget from the garage and kept her in a cellar for two years before bringing her to the sanctuary.
Gidget had the finest three weeks of her life at the refuge. I can still hear her enthusiastic chirps over her new diet because of the foods she had never tried before.
Katy, Gidget’s new partner, reassured and groomed her. Monkeys can sense when something is awry, and Katy was never far from her side. Katy’s enchanted fingertips! I had no idea Gidget was dying… I assumed she was just basking in the light for the first time in far too many years. Poor sweetie.
I held her till she died, and I had the pleasure of giving her the finest three weeks of her life. For the first time, she was around monkeys, and they adored her. Katy Jo groomed Gidget over and again. Gidget was drowsy, but I know Katy’s small monkey fingers made her voyage to the heavens a pleasant one. I shall always miss her.
Little Gidget was destined for the pet trade!