A twelfth monkey died at a Hong Kong zoo, with tests underway to determine if it succumbed to the same bacterial infection that killed 11 other monkey

Twelfth monkey dies in HK zoo amid bacterial outbreak

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2024-10-24 06:00:06

A twelfth monkey died at a Hong Kong zoo, with tests underway to determine if it succumbed to the same bacterial infection that killed 11 other monkeys in the past 10 days.

Autopsies have found a large amount of sepsis-inducing bacteria that likely came from contaminated soil near the primates' enclosures, authorities said.

Workers who were digging up soil near the cages were believed to have brought in contaminated soil through their shoes, Hong Kong's Culture, Sports and Tourism Secretary told local broadcaster RTHK.

The risk of the infection spreading to humans is "fairly low", said Dirk Pfeiffer, a veterinary epidemiologist at the City University of Hong Kong.

He added that soil contamination is often underreported in Asia but "it is always worrying if multiple mortalities suddenly occur in captive animal populations where this has not happened before".

The 11 monkeys found dead earlier include the critically endangered cotton-top tamarins, as well as white-faced sakis, common squirrel monkeys, and a De Brazza’s monkey.