About four years ago, American photographer Casey Cooper met Mikah, a spider monkey who’d been rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. She was living at a sanctuary run by ONCA Wildlife Rescue, an organization that rescues and rehabilitates wild animals in Bolivia.
It was an encounter he’d never forget.
“I was really nervous because she’s a pretty large spider monkey,” Cooper told The Dodo. “She gave me this weird look. Then she walked over to me and jumped up and gave me this neck hug and just held on for a while. It was pretty incredible.”
“I fell in love with her immediately,” he added.
Mikah was previously kept as a pet, so she was comfortable around humans. But now, she needed to relearn how to be wild. The ultimate goal was for her to join a troop of wild monkeys and return to the Amazon rainforest.
Cooper, who was volunteering for ONCA Wildlife Rescue, decided to do everything he could to help Mikah.
“We spent six to eight hours a day together,” Cooper said. “I was overseeing her interactions with the wild troop to make sure that the females wouldn’t attack her, because they can be really defensive with new alpha-sized females being a part of the troop.”
Anytime Mikah felt a little nervous, she went to Cooper for reassurance.
“I would take her away from the troop and bring her somewhere safe,” Cooper said. “I was her safe space while she was being reintroduced to the wild troop.”
Eventually, Mikah was ready to rejoin the wild. The troop had accepted her, and she’s been thriving in the rainforest ever since.
Cooper was delighted that Mikah was living in the wild again, but he also missed her. He wasn’t sure he’d ever see her again.
But a couple years later, he did.
On a recent visit to the sanctuary, Cooper ventured into the rainforest, close to the area where he knew Mikah lived with her troop.
Before he knew it, he found Mikah. Or rather, she found him.
“She immediately made eye contact with me,” Cooper said. “She was up in a tree, and she came down and walked up to me and gave me a hug.”
Mikah also wanted to show Cooper something.
“She made it clear to me that she was pregnant,” Cooper said. “It was kind of like, ‘Look at this, look at where I’m at now.’ I definitely teared up because I hadn’t seen her in so long and you grow such a tight connection with these animals.”
A friend filmed the reunion, and Cooper posted the video to his Instagram page.
While Cooper loved seeing Mikah, he knew it was important for her to keep acting like a wild monkey. So he didn’t stay with her for long.
“I wanted to acknowledge her, but immediately after that video, I pushed her off of me and walked away,” Cooper said. “It was a beautiful encounter, but when you’re working with wildlife, it’s really [important] to maintain a level of distance.”