AN animal rights campaigner in Hampstead has adopted a monkey which was cruelly locked in a tiny cage in the village for a decade

Tan Parsons

AN animal rights campaigner in Hampstead has adopted a monkey which was cruelly locked in a tiny cage in the village for a decade.

Angela Humphery, from Willoughby Road, contacted the Monkey Sanctuary after reading about the plight of Joey in the Ham&High last month.

The Black-capped Capuchin monkey is now recovering at the sanctuary in Looe, Cornwall, after being found with brittle bones, a paralysed face and severe mental problems when he was rescued from a flat in Willoughby Road in August last year.

"I felt so awful knowing I must have walked past the house where he was trapped so many times for 10 years," said Ms Humphery.

"I know most of the people in the street and I never heard a whisper about it. Although it's not my fault he was kept like that I still feel guilty - if I'd known I'd have done something."

Mrs Humphery has adopted Joey, which means she pays an annual amount of cash towards his upkeep at the Monkey Sanctuary. The charity will send her updates to let her know what progress he is making and she is also welcome to visit him at his new home.

"I really want to go and see him, and I will as soon as I can find some time to make the trip to Cornwall," she said.

Over the next few months she is busy co-ordinating fundraising dinners for causes including Born Free, Compassion in World Farming and a campaign to end cruel practices with moon bears in China.

A lifelong campaigner for animal rights, she held her first fundraising event when she was just 10 years old. She arranged a charity jumble sale and raised £4 for PDSA. She also owns a rescued greyhound, Percy, who is named after her grandfather, the man who founded the petrol garage on Haverstock Hill.

"I think it's tragic that charities like the Monkey Sanctuary have to exist," she said. "Nobody should keep animals that were caught in the wild as pets. Apparently this monkey was caught in the wild and bought in a market, which is absolutely criminal."

Keith Scott, a friend of Joey's owner who abandoned the animal, was responsible for feeding the animal, who was only freed after he contacted the Monkey Sanctuary.

"I can't believe Mr Scott kept feeding the monkey for two years and that he left it so long before calling the sanctuary," said Ms Humphery.

"Joey should have been sent there years ago. It's absolutely disgusting - that is an extra two years where he could have had a better life that he has lost."

tan.parsons@hamhigh.co.uk