WASHINGTON, Oct 16 (Bernama-UPI) -- Nine dead monkeys so far over the course of a few days at a Hong Kong zoo pushed an investigation to figure out why, United Press International (UPI) reported.
The Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens was partially closed on Monday while tests were done to find answers to the mysterious deaths of even some endangered species, according to reports.
On Sunday, eight monkeys were found dead, the Hong Kong Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which manages the zoo, announced on Monday the facility lost its ninth.
The LCSD said Monday it had coordinated with the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and that necropsy and laboratory tests had been "arranged immediately to help find out their cause of death."
Three of the dead monkeys were of a critically endangered species, officials say.
So far the lost animals include the three critically endangered cotton-top tamarin which typically are found only in northwestern Colombia, four white-faced sakis, a common squirrel monkey and a De Brazza monkey, one of which is under observation, according to reports.
The head of Hong Kong's government indicated that autopsy and toxicology tests are in the works.
"We have to first contain the problem, to stop it from spreading," John Lee Ka-chiu, the chief executive of Hong Kong said Tuesday at a weekly news conference.
"We hope that the investigations, especially for the toxicology tests, will be completed as soon as possible... so that we can tackle the problem in a targeted manner," he said.
The zoo, the oldest in Hong Kong since its 1871 open and covering roughly 14 acres in an affluent area of the small Asian territory, houses some 158 birds, 93 mammals and about 21 reptile creatures.
An assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong said with these particular captive animals, "this is an unusual cluster of deaths," Siddharth Sridhar, a clinical assistant professor in the department of microbiology, told The New York Times.
-- BERNAMA-UPI
