Animal welfare workers were contacted by a Kagiso resident traumatized by the incident, in which a vervet monkey was beaten, pelted with stones, shot at and burned to death.
Animal welfare groups in South Africa have condemned the “barbaric” killing of a vervet monkey by a mob of township residents who said it was a talking witch.
The monkey was beaten, pelted with stones, shot at and then doused with gas and burned to death in Kagiso near Johannesburg, by residents chanting “Kill that witch!”, reports South Africa’s Star newspaper.
The vervet monkey had reportedly wandered into the township after becoming separated from its troop.
Residents said the monkey had been going around Kagiso “talking to people,” and believed it was linked to witchcraft and would bring them bad luck.
They pelted the monkey with stones, and the monkey fled into a tree but was pulled down, put in a bucket and doused with gas.
