The Landes Prefecture warns of the risk taken by the intruders who entered the Pinède des Singes, no doubt to “save” the two survivors.
Two Java macaques, potentially infected with a herpes-like virus, fatal to humans, escaped euthanasia carried out by the veterinary services last Friday. Evolving in semi-freedom in the now closed park of Pinède des Singes, in the town of Labenne (Landes), they always present a risk for people who would have to cross their path.
A danger which leads the Prefecture of the Landes to publish a new press release, intended for people who would be tempted to approach or photograph them, but especially for anyone who would like to save them from a probable slaughter.
Risk intrusion
“Beyond the criminal consequences incurred by the perpetrators of these acts, the Prefect of the Landes underlines the inconsistency of such acts, and the danger to which they expose not only the perpetrators, but also the healers, and third parties in the event of animal exit from the park ”.
Intentional damage has indeed been observed on one of the fences of the park, probably practiced by intruders wishing to seize the two males, 18 and 19 years old. The SPA had condemned this Sunday the euthanasia of more than 160 of their congeners, and asked that “solutions be found for the two monkeys”, causing a craze for the rescue of the two survivors on social networks.
Untested monkeys
The association considers that “scientific opinions concerning the health status of these animals are far from unanimous and it appears essential and urgent that a committee be set up bringing together all health and animal protection professionals. to decide on the sustainable fate of these animals ”.
The two animals were given preferential treatment, and were not confined to cages. They then escaped the veterinary tests carried out last January, then the systematic slaughter of last Friday. But they could well be carriers of the virus, like the majority of their congeners.
A deadly virus for humans
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”.
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