Drenched, injured monkey’s highway rescue in Malaysia goes viral
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The dusky leaf monkey was rescued by a Malaysian veterinarian after being stranded on a highway in Kulai.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM MARLIAZULKAPLI/TIKTOK
A black, furry, rain-soaked monkey has captured hearts across Malaysia after a video of its rescue on a busy highway in Johor went viral on TikTok.
The dusky leaf monkey – also known as dusky or spectacled langur – was found stranded in heavy rain by Malaysian veterinarian Marlia Zulkapli, who stopped on the road to rescue the animal and bring it back to her clinic.
In a TikTok on May 16, Dr Marlia posted a video of the rescued monkey quietly sitting on the footwell of the passenger seat and then on her lap, and said in a video caption that the animal had been “hit at the Kulai highway”.
She joked that she had “suddenly become a handler”, adding that rescuing animals on the roads was “not in (her) job description” as a vet.
In an interview with Malaysian news outlet Harian Metro, Dr Marlia said she initially noticed what appeared to be “a black object” on the highway and realised it was a living animal only when it moved.
After seeing lorries and cars swerve around it, she decided a rescue was necessary despite the risks involved, as the “situation was urgent”.
When she approached the animal, she found the monkey sitting motionless on the road. There was blood on the tarmac, as well as on its face, ears and legs, she said, adding that one of its legs was drooping.
The monkey “working” as a companion for other pets in the clinic.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM MARLIAZULKAPLI/TIKTOK
Dr Marlia brought the animal back to her clinic in Pekan Nanas, another town in Johor, to treat its extensive injuries.
It was in “a critical condition with a hind limb fracture and nasal bleeding, and was completely unable to move”, Dr Marlia told The Straits Times on May 25.
The monkey, which appeared calm throughout the car ride, quickly won over netizens, who cooed in the comments over its cuteness and docile demeanour. The TikTok of its rescue has since garnered more than 1.2 million views and thousands of likes.
Dr Marlia said she believes the calmness of the monkey and its cooperation during treatment helped it recover faster.
Subsequent videos posted on her TikTok account showed the monkey – affectionately nicknamed Kula after the Kulai highway where it was found – settling comfortably into life at the clinic.
In the clips, the monkey is seen happily munching on fruits and even “working” as a companion in the clinic, providing emotional support to other animals and letting a cat playfully tug on its tail.
“Kula tolerating a cat playing with her tail is actually a beautiful sign that she’s feeling safe and beginning to trust her surroundings,” the vet said.
Dr Marlia has also transformed the monkey’s enclosure into a forest-like habitat, decorating it with leaves and a soft toy.
Dr Marlia created a forest-like habitat for the monkey using leaves.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM MARLIAZULKAPLI/TIKTOK
She later shared that Kula’s health condition has improved after treatment, although its leg injury remains serious and would require a longer recovery period of around two months.
Dr Marlia added that once Kula is fully healed, the monkey will be transferred to another facility more suited for its long-term needs.
The dusky leaf monkey, known for its distinct circular rings of fur around its dark eyes, is officially listed as endangered.
Found mainly in Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand, the species’ population has more than halved since 1985 as a result of hunting, habitat loss, fragmentation, habitat conversion into agriculture and the pet trade, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, published in 2020.
Malaysia has sought to protect the species by building artificial canopy bridges to help the monkeys navigate their environment, often criss-crossed by busy roads.