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Zoo helps rescue threatened monkeys
Lowry Park receives six of the 33 rescued monkeys, all targeted for the illicit meat trade.
Compiled from staff and wire reports
Published May 10, 2006
TAMPA - Lowry Park Zoo is among six U.S. zoos that have rescued 33 orphaned monkeys from the Congo where they were headed to slaughter in the illegal bush meat market.
Lowry Park Zoo and the others - Denver, San Diego, San Antonio, Houston and Litchfield Park, Ariz. - split the $400,000 cost to import the monkeys, which included medical permits, quarantine and transportation costs, feed and care, said Karen Killmar, associate curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo.
Lowry Park Zoo received six of the monkeys - two Wolf's guenons and four Schmidt's spot-nosed guenons - about three weeks ago. "And they're doing well," zoo spokeswoman Rachel Nelson said.
The animals, which will become a permanent part of Lowry Park's exhibit, arrived in the United States in March and completed quarantine as required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before being shipped to the zoos.
"They were in very good health and had undergone extensive exams and medical testing in South Africa before coming here," said Killmar.
With a climate similar to that of Africa's, Tampa was a logical adoptive home for the 2- to 5-year-old primates, Nelson said. Lowry Park Zoo had space and resources to give the monkeys a stable, healthy environment.
About a million tons of wild game - monkeys, gorillas, antelope - are sold in illegal game markets in equatorial Africa, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
The monkeys are sold as a delicacy in meat markets or illegally hunted by miners and loggers for food as they clear the forests, Jim Maddy, director of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said in a statement. The AZA is a national association that accredits zoos.
Tropical timber logging has opened up the forest and provided avenues for hunters to transport their kills to city markets, reported Maddy.
Some monkeys also are sold into the exotic pet market.
"This opportunity has allowed us to rescue the animals from a potentially horrific life and death," said Denver Zoo spokeswoman Ana Bowie.
Information from the Los Angeles Times and Denver Post was used in this report.
[Last modified May 10, 2006, 01:08:16]
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