A bus driver got the shock of his life on Friday when he went to help a woman with a pram and found someone had abandoned a monkey on his bus.
A mum boarding the 302 bus in Kensal Rise was struggling to get her buggy down the walkway due to a laundry bag sticking out of the luggage bay shortly before 11.45am. When the driver stepped in to help and pushed the bag aside, he heard a “chirping” noise coming from inside, the RSPCA reported.
“A common marmoset, named Oyster, was discovered by a bus driver after a passenger heard chirping from a laundry bag.”
Inside was a female common marmoset, locked in a small white metal bird cage wrapped in a plastic chequered laundry bag. The stunned driver cancelled the service and returned to the depot in Willesden, where he kept the monkey in a dark, cool room while the RSPCA was called.
Claire Dew, RSPCA London chief inspector, said: “The monkey was inside a small, white, metal bird cage which had been wrapped inside a plastic, chequered laundry bag, with handles, so was well concealed. She’d been left with some apple but was, understandably, very stressed and dehydrated.”
The marmoset, nicknamed Oyster after the London travel card, was checked by a specialist exotics vet and given a clean bill of health. She was not microchipped.
Wildlife campaigners believe the abandonment may be linked to new legislation requiring all primates kept in England to be licensed. Exotic animals expert Evie Button said: “Primates are highly intelligent and social wild animals who need a lot of space, mental stimulation and appropriate companions – needs that can’t be met by human company alone. The introduction of primate licences in England is an important step forward for animal welfare, but there is a real concern that keepers who cannot or do not want to license their pet may now instead abandon them.” There are believed to be around 5,000 primates being kept as pets in England, but uptake of licences has been slow.
In a twist of fate, a sanctuary had been working with the RSPCA to find a female marmoset to introduce to a lone male. A transfer from the north of England had fallen through just hours before Oyster was rescued. Dew added: “It looked like destiny that Oyster was supposed to go there.”
Oyster is settling into her new home at a specialist primate sanctuary and, if not claimed, will soon be introduced to the male companion. The RSPCA is trawling CCTV and bus tap-in logs to find the person responsible. Dew warned: “I’d be surprised if it’s the last primate we see being dumped.”