The Denver Zoo and five other U.S. zoos have rescued 33 orphaned monkeys from the Congo, where they were headed to slaughter in the illegal bush meat market.
Four of the youngsters will live at the Denver Zoo – male and female Wolf’s guenons and male and female DeBrazza’s guenons.
The pairs, which arrived in Denver on April 13, are still in quarantine. They will be part of the zoo’s permanent exhibit along with educational signs about the bush meat market and deforestation of the primates’ habitat.
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, said Jim Maddy, director of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, in a statement.
The AZA is a national association that accredits zoos. The Denver Zoo is a member.
Tropical timber logging has opened up the forest and provided avenues for hunters to transport their kills to city markets, according to Maddy.
Some monkeys are also 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.
“At the Denver Zoo, these animals will have exceptional care, the opportunity to interact and breed,” Bowie said.
The masked and colorfully coated Wolf’s guenons will be on exhibit at the Denver Zoo as early as next week in the Emerald Forest area, Bowie said.
The DeBrazza’s guenons – long-bearded primates with a colorful crown – will debut in the zoo’s Congo Basin area once zookeepers modify exhibit netting to make the habitat “baby safe.”
Staff at the San Diego Zoo learned of the orphans a year ago when they received a call from someone in South Africa asking how they should price rescued monkeys for sale as exotic pets.
“We don’t put a price tag on animals because we don’t want to promote exotic animals as pets,” said Karen Killmar, associate curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo who took the call.
“But we thought that maybe there was opportunity to provide these animals with good homes with their own species in the United States,” she said.
Six zoos – Denver, San Diego, Tampa, Fla., San Antonio, Houston and Litchfield Park, Ariz. – split the $400,000 cost to import the monkeys, which included medical permits, quarantine, transportation, feed and care, Killmar said.
The animals arrived in the United States in March and completed quarantine, as required by the federal 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,” Killmar said.
