Listen: Remembering ‘Monkey Man’ Steve Smit
Updated Aug. 13, 2026, 1:52 p.m. | By Lauren Hendricks Steve Smit, founder of the Monkey Helpline, has died following a battle with cancer. His loved ones…
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Updated Aug. 13, 2026, 1:52 p.m. | By Lauren Hendricks
Steve Smit, founder of the Monkey Helpline, has died following a battle with cancer. His loved ones say the animal rights activist will be remembered for decades spent rescuing injured animals.
The man known as the “Monkey Man” has passed away.
Founder of Monkey Helpline and animal rights activist Steve Smit dedicated decades to rescuing injured and abused animals, fighting for animal rights and changing attitudes towards wildlife.
He died this week following a battle with cancer, at the age of 70.
Smit leaves behind a legacy of compassion that stretched far beyond the animals he spent his life protecting.
His partner, Carol Booth, says his greatest lesson was simple: no one did less than he who did nothing.
"He is a legacy, but what he has taught us is that the same as they say, 'it takes a village to raise a child.' It takes a community to protect our nature too and that is something that he definitely showed me.
"There are more people, a community out there who are fighting for our animals in their own ways, be it just standing and watching that nobody runs over it, be it picking up the phone and phoning.
"There are way, way more people, and if more people will band together, we can actually change the world. We still can."
Booth says Smit believed that people should never turn a blind eye to suffering, whether it involved an animal or another person.
She says his work was never simply a career or a hobby, but a deeply ingrained vegan ethos that guided every choice he made.
"His compassion was evident in both the big and small moments of his life. He would respond to calls about animals in distress, rescue injured wildlife and fight to give animals a better life."
Speaking to Newswatch, Booth says she can't remember Smit ever earning a salary in 20 years.
But Booth says he also noticed people who were struggling and would find ways to help them.
"In one rescue, a family who had very little money still gave Steve R50 to help an injured monkey. Rather than simply accepting their generosity, Steve returned the next day with groceries for the family."
She says his legacy now belongs not only to those who knew him, but to the wider community.
Booth says one of Steve's final wishes was to plant his own forest, with the sycamore fig tree being his favourite. She says Steve asked that a tree be planted for him after his death,
" He said, 'When I go, just plant that tree for me.' He said, 'I don't mind where you plant it. Plant it on the planet in a good place where it will grow, and it will take root, and it will be able to grow to whatever shape or size it wants to be.' So I said to him, 'I will take your ashes, and I will do that for you.'"
His loved ones are now encouraging people to honour his memory by planting a sycamore fig tree in a garden, park or conservation area.
Booth says people can share photos of their living tribute using the hashtag #PlantForSteve.
For Boo…