Wednesday 2 March 2016

A Tribute to Bratty and Midi

I meant to post this story sometime ago and didn't get around to do it until now...

This is a love and hate relationship between a young male macaque, a young female dog and our neighbourhood. I like to dedicate this post to a young long-tailed macaque in this Year of the Monkey.

Early October 2015 - Bratty, a juvenile male long-tailed macaque Macaca fascicularis and Midi, a young female mongrel emerged out of nowhere and were always seen together nearby the community rubbish bin. What caught the attention of this neighbourhood and passer-bys were the actions between these two mammals which were considered as uncommon. We have always observed monkeys being chased by dogs most of the time. However, in the case of Bratty and Midi, they somehow developed an incredible friendship between each other. 







I named this macaque as Bratty for his cheeky, mischievous and playful behaviour. He was probably about 5-6 months old in October 2015. His other "play time" involved disturbing my dog, harassing cats, stealing food, ransacking things in nearby houses, making a mess on the altars, terrorising the children (yippee!!), as well as peeing and pooing at our front gates. He has zero fear of young dogs. In fact, most dogs feared Bratty. The larger dogs could not catch Bratty and would give up after a few chase. Because of his mischievous behaviour, the neighbourhood began to grow sick and tired of Bratty. Anyone who scolded Bratty would have "monkey face" shown back at them. Bratty would twitch his eyes repeatedly and moved his lips as if he was talking back. At the same time, Bratty would put his both hands on his penis and wank! Yes...Bratty the Wanker.. (too bad that I didn't not have the chance to capture this on picture or video).. 

Here are some photos of Bratty harassing the neighbour's cat.




                              

Cat panting like mad after the ordeal
Bratty doesn't back off easily when confronted.





Caught red-handed chewing and playing with neighbour's laundry:


Bratty with a sanitary pad:

Midi the young female dog has never trusted anyone or even other stray dogs.  I couldn't persuade her to come close. 

End of October 2015 - They were inseparable.
Bratty loves being piggy-backed

Bratty and Midi sleeping together
Midi being groomed by Bratty in the late hot morning

End of November 2015 - "till death do us part" 
I returned from my two weeks vacation only to find out from my neighbours that Midi was dead. It was suspected that she had died of poisoning as someone found her with froth outside her mouth.

And Bratty was left all by himself. His behaviour got worse since then until he was considered a pest! I have seen Bratty trying to make friends with other stray dogs by riding on their backs but in vain.  

Early February 2016 - I returned from my Chinese New Year break to notice Bratty had found a new friend. A young black dog with a collar appeared from no where. They were seen playing together most of the time. I didn't have the opportunity to photograph them together. And again, this black doggie was unapproachable and afraid of people. It seems that Bratty can easily befriend young dogs that have fear towards people.

2 March 2016 - Today. My neighbour brought me the news of Bratty having to become a victim of a road kill two days ago. He was run over by a car while playing with his new friend. According to my neighbour, a witness has seen the young black dog crying over Bratty's motionless body. Only then I realised that I only saw Bratty's new friend without Bratty recently. 

It's a mix feeling for me. Even though we have once considered you a pest but you will be remembered by the neighbourhood here, Bratty. Rest in peace Bratty and Midi. I hope that both of you are now playing with each other again in heaven for animals.
Bratty with a teddy bear on the clothes line. He was getting mange infection.

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