The Vegan
Well-Known Member
Bonjour.
I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me as to the housing of Herpes-B-virus-positive macaques in zoos.
I came across the subject in a book I picked up called Animal Underworld; Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species by Alan Green and The Center for Public Integrity. The book analyzes the fluidity of exotic animal transfers and links regarded institutions such as the White Oak Conservation Center and San Diego Wild Animal Park to roadside zoos and canned hunts. While I do not believe that all zoos use such shady actions as protocol, I am well aware of the "surplus animals" problem and acknowledge that far too many links exist between the two ends of the wild animal industry spectrum. I digress.
The book states:
"It has been known since the 1930s that macaques carry...Herpes B...which may cause a potentially fatal brain infection in humans. The macaques typically carry B virus throughout their lives and shed it intermittently in saliva or genital secretions, particularly when they are under stress. Humans run the risk of infection only when the monkeys are shedding. But there are rarely any signs...to indicate when or if that's happening. ...80 to 90 percent of adult macaques are believed to harbor the virus...those who work in close proximity to these primates are believed to be in constant peril and are instructed to take so-called Biosafety Level 2 precautions...The virus proves fatal in about 70 percent of cases, and most survivors have suffered permanent neurological damage...more than a dozen macaque species carry Herpes B...at any given moment, about 2 percent of infected macaques shed the saliva...this typically happens when a monkey is under stress or ill, or during the breeding season..."
It goes on to list some of the zoos, which, concerned about the possibility of threat of Herpes B, off-loaded their macaques with exotic animal dealers: Japanese Macaques came from the Columbus Zoo, Kansas City Zoo, Buffalo Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Burnet Park Zoo, Ross Park Zoo, Henry Doorly Zoo; Celebes Macaques came from the Los Angeles Zoo. However, the book is unclear about one thing: did the zoos mentioned drop the species entirely, or just relinquish the infected animals - to my knowledge, Buffalo Zoo still has Japanese Macaques. I'm not sure about the others.
So, are all zoos systematically culling, selling, or quarantining their infected macaques (as did the Pittsburgh Zoo, which kept 5 infected Japanese Macaques in a quarantine area in a basement, before shipping them off to a dealer)? Or, are there zoos which manage, or even display infected animals? And then, what design techniques can keep transmission from occurring - especially to visitors? What does the AZA, WAZA, EAZA, etc. have to say about this?
Thank you!
(I hope I didn't just break any copyright laws
)
I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me as to the housing of Herpes-B-virus-positive macaques in zoos.
I came across the subject in a book I picked up called Animal Underworld; Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species by Alan Green and The Center for Public Integrity. The book analyzes the fluidity of exotic animal transfers and links regarded institutions such as the White Oak Conservation Center and San Diego Wild Animal Park to roadside zoos and canned hunts. While I do not believe that all zoos use such shady actions as protocol, I am well aware of the "surplus animals" problem and acknowledge that far too many links exist between the two ends of the wild animal industry spectrum. I digress.
The book states:
"It has been known since the 1930s that macaques carry...Herpes B...which may cause a potentially fatal brain infection in humans. The macaques typically carry B virus throughout their lives and shed it intermittently in saliva or genital secretions, particularly when they are under stress. Humans run the risk of infection only when the monkeys are shedding. But there are rarely any signs...to indicate when or if that's happening. ...80 to 90 percent of adult macaques are believed to harbor the virus...those who work in close proximity to these primates are believed to be in constant peril and are instructed to take so-called Biosafety Level 2 precautions...The virus proves fatal in about 70 percent of cases, and most survivors have suffered permanent neurological damage...more than a dozen macaque species carry Herpes B...at any given moment, about 2 percent of infected macaques shed the saliva...this typically happens when a monkey is under stress or ill, or during the breeding season..."
It goes on to list some of the zoos, which, concerned about the possibility of threat of Herpes B, off-loaded their macaques with exotic animal dealers: Japanese Macaques came from the Columbus Zoo, Kansas City Zoo, Buffalo Zoo, Cincinnati Zoo, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Burnet Park Zoo, Ross Park Zoo, Henry Doorly Zoo; Celebes Macaques came from the Los Angeles Zoo. However, the book is unclear about one thing: did the zoos mentioned drop the species entirely, or just relinquish the infected animals - to my knowledge, Buffalo Zoo still has Japanese Macaques. I'm not sure about the others.
So, are all zoos systematically culling, selling, or quarantining their infected macaques (as did the Pittsburgh Zoo, which kept 5 infected Japanese Macaques in a quarantine area in a basement, before shipping them off to a dealer)? Or, are there zoos which manage, or even display infected animals? And then, what design techniques can keep transmission from occurring - especially to visitors? What does the AZA, WAZA, EAZA, etc. have to say about this?
Thank you!
(I hope I didn't just break any copyright laws
)
