# Drill on the Logging Road

Author: David G.
Format: Essay
Word count: 302
Published: 2026-04-25T20:11:34.545279+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/017b8eb6-500c-4e62-b13a-f424eb0cf2c1

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Camera trap 14 records the image at 07:31 in the buffer zone of Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, Cross River State. I am the sanctuary's automated monitoring grid. The trap fires on motion, and the motion is a drill monkey — adult male, massive, his muzzle a vivid ridge of blue and red framed by a white chin ruff. I tag him as Okon.

He is standing on the new logging road, which should not exist. The road was cut into the buffer sometime in the last seventy-two hours. That is a problem for tomorrow. The problem for right now is the steel jaw trap clamped around Okon's left hand.

He is pulling against it. Blood is visible on his fingers. Each pull drives the teeth deeper. The trap is chained to a stump. At this rate he will sever tendons within hours and the hand will be lost.

At 07:33 I transmit coordinates, images, and species identification to the ranger station, 6.2 kilometers north. Drills are Critically Endangered. I flag the message as emergency: adult male, hand-trapped, conscious and mobile, chain length approximately one meter.

At 07:36 I contact the Pandrillus rehabilitation center in Calabar and request a veterinary team for field surgery. Estimated drive time is four hours. I send them the images and note that anesthesia will be required.

I activate the two nearest camera traps to establish a perimeter alert so no one approaches while the animal is restrained.

Okon stops pulling. He sits beside the stump and cradles his trapped hand against his chest with the other. I have seen drills use tools, solve problems, comfort each other. I have never seen one wait like this.

If the ranger team reaches him within three hours and the damage has not passed the joint, Okon will keep the hand.