In 1989 the plight of the vervet monkey species in South Africa first came to light when an orphaned baby monkey, only hours old was discovered. Enquiries to recognised authorities concerning the fate of such animals revealed that there were no facilities to provide for its care and welfare, instead they were told to kill the monkey because, such animals were regarded as vermin. As environmentalists and humanitarians, they saw that the solution to this problem did not lie in euthanasing these orphaned primates but rather, the need for an organisation to provide a sanctuary for them and to holistically investigate what was in fact happening to this indigenous primate of South Africa. It soon became apparent that very little was in fact known about this species. Most of the data available at that time was negative, contradictory, incomplete and inaccurate. This void was due to its classification as vermin, and this lack of knowledge had portrayed this indigenous primate in a very poor and negative light. At that time there was also very little information pertaining to the rehabilitation of this primate species. As a high priority they began to research the possibility of rehabilitating these orphans and to develop a much needed rehabilitation programme and sanctuary where injured and miss-placed vervet monkeys would be humanely treated.