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[Amber Hewins <ahewins AT mac.com>]

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml? 
type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=4182984&section=news

Monkey magic markers
Thu 22 January, 2004 07:56

BEIJING (Reuters) - Call it monkeying around in the Year of the Monkey.

A Chinese safari park has dyed the fur of its monkeys red, yellow and  
other colours to ring in the Lunar New Year of the Monkey, which  
started on Thursday.

"We had to anaesthetise them first," said a worker at the Forest Safari  
Park in the city of Shenyang.

"They seemed to be surprised at their new strange coats when they woke  
up. But after a while, they indulged themselves in pleasure," he was  
quoted by the Xinhua news agency as saying.

But not everyone was happy about the multi-coloured monkeys.

Xinhua quoted a beauty salon manager and chemical engineer as saying  
chemicals in the dye cream would be bad for the monkeys' skin. An  
animal protection official said tests should be done to see if dyeing  
the monkeys was harmful.

"If it is proved to be maltreating wild animals, then we will take  
necessary action to protect them," said the director of the city's  
animal protection department.

But a park director said only safe dye, containing no lead or other  
harmful material, had been used.

Monkeys were not the only animals to get a new look for the New Year.  
The park's wild horses were dyed with stripes to make them look like  
zebras, Xinhua said.