Hong Kong’s oldest zoo was searching for answers to a medical mystery after nine monkeys died in two days, including three of an endangered species.
Part of Hong Kong’s Zoological and Botanical Gardens was cordoned off and disinfected and experts were invited to conduct necropsies and toxicological tests, the territory’s chief minister, John Lee, said at his weekly news conference on Tuesday.
Eight monkeys were found dead on Sunday and another died on Monday after displaying unusual behavior. The dead animals were a Brazza’s cercopithecus, a squirrel monkey, four white-faced sakis and three cotton-top tamarins, a species considered critically endangered by the Union for Conservation of Nature.
“When we have any news, if there is news, an announcement must be made as soon as possible, so that everyone knows the facts”Lee said.
The government held an urgent meeting of departments on the deaths on Monday. In a statement it noted that another Brazza cercopithecus had shown unusual behavior and appetite and required further observation.
However, the other 80 animals in the enclosure showed normal conditions, he added.
The only way to ensure the well-being of animals and prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases is to stop confining them in unnatural environments, he said.
The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens, the oldest park in the former British colony, fully opened to the public in 1871. It is an unusual urban oasis in the center of the financial hub, which returned to Chinese control in 1997.