All the monkeys in a closed zoological park in Labenne (Landes) were slaughtered on Friday. they are infected with a virus that is very dangerous for humans.
Sad fate for these Java macaques, which delighted walkers of the Pinède des Singes, a park located in the town of Labenne, in the Landes for up to a year. By order of the Prefecture, the local veterinary services carried out their euthanasia. The gendarmerie blocked access to the site this Friday morning around 7 a.m. 156 animals would be affected. The monkeys were left in the park after it closed, following a bankruptcy in April 2016.
A necessary evil
But it was not these legal setbacks that motivated the Prefect to order their slaughter. “The monkeys are not euthanized for economic but health reasons, after tests carried out by the National Agency for Health Security (Anses)”, explained Lionel Couture, director general of services for the municipality of Labenne.
Samples taken last January from macaques had indeed revealed a very high rate of contamination by a virus benign for these primates, but very dangerous for humans. The ANSES expert group (1) assessed the probability of transmission between 8 and 9, on a scale of 0 to 9.
(1) National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety
Fatal virus in 80% of cases
The virus, a herpes virus B (MaHV1), “is common and benign in monkeys, but very rare and serious in humans”, we can read on the website of Public Health France. The disease would be “fatal in 80% of cases if left untreated”. And if it is treated, neurological sequelae, often disabling, persist in most cases.
Bites and scratches, but also contact with secretions from the animal, especially saliva, or even with cages, can be contaminating. The disease then results in humans, after 3 days to 5 weeks of incubation, by “fever, diffuse pain and a change in sensitivity of the extremities,” said the press release. Public Health France. “An ascending paralysis can follow and lead to a picture of meningoencephalitis in 89% of cases”.
Unsuitable living conditions
Faced with the risk of contamination and the danger for humans, and despite the indignation of animal rights associations and individuals, who even proposed to collect macaques in shelters or at their homes, the Landes Prefecture no. had no choice but to slaughter.
It is impossible to know how the macaques contracted the virus. But it appears that their conditions of detention left something to be desired. These animals, accustomed to tropical temperatures, spent the Landes winter without heating, in containers, while their metabolism does not allow them to evolve below 16 ° C. Conditions which precipitated the suspension of activity last year.
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