[monkeywire] Endangered monkey now more endangered

Carrie McLaren temporary181 at stayfreemagazine.org
Wed Jun 6 17:32:15 EDT 2007


Rare Monkey Stolen From Zoo In Brazil

Zoo Officials Say Theft Of Amazon Monkey May Hurt Efforts To 
Repopulate Endangered Species

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/06/ap/tech/main2894404.shtml

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Jun. 6, 2007

(AP) The theft of a rare Amazon monkey from a Brazilian zoo could 
harm biologists' efforts to repopulate the endangered species, zoo 
officials said Wednesday.

Workers arriving at the zoo Tuesday morning noticed the male pied 
tamarin was missing, and found a wrench and a coat left behind in its 
cage.

"This is a significant loss," said Luiz Antonio da Silva Pires, 
director of the city zoo in Bauru, 220 miles northwest of Sao Paulo. 
"The monkey was likely one of the few still alive in captivity and we 
were hoping to use it to start a new population and keep the species 
alive."

Pires said the pied tamarins have increasingly lost their natural 
habitat because of urban growth and as farmers slash down jungle to 
graze cattle. How many are still alive is not known, although they 
have occasionally been sighted near the jungle city of Manaus, 1,700 
miles northwest of Sao Paulo.

The zoo has been trying for months to find a female pied tamarin to 
mate with the 2.2-pound monkey.

"It's hard to say who would do this," Pires said. "This monkey would 
not be sold very easily; it's not usually used as a pet." Police did 
not have any suspects.

According to Renctas, a Brazilian organization that fights animal 
smuggling, illegal trafficking of rare species generates about $2 
billion a year in the country. Many of the animals are sold to 
collectors in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Brazil's environmental protection agency alerted agents nationwide in 
an attempt to find the monkey, spokesman Gustavo Rick said.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This 
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


More information about the Monkeywire mailing list