Four black-tufted marmosets and a capuchin monkey cub were killed in the city of São José do Rio Preto, in São Paulo, between Wednesday and Thursday (4). According to the prefecture, the animals had signs of intoxication.
The attacks on the monkeys took place in two parts of the city, one in Mata dos Macacos and the other in Parque Ecológico Sul.
Professionals from the Rio Preto Municipal Zoo also rescued three other capuchin monkeys that came from Mata dos Macacos and the animals’ health status is stable. One of them had a fractured femur and underwent surgery on Thursday.
According to a note from the city hall of São José do Rio Preto, the operated animal must undergo clinical examinations to assess the need for a new surgical intervention.
Of those affected, four capuchin monkeys were in Mata dos Macacos. A puppy was found dead at the scene. The other three were taken to the zoo—two on Wednesday and one on Thursday.
The black-tufted marmosets, from Parque Ecológico Sul, were rescued on Wednesday (3) and two on Thursday. None of them resisted.
The attacks come amid an increase in monkeypox cases in the state of São Paulo and across Brazil.
Despite the name referring to animals, due to the initial discovery of the virus of the orthopoxvirus genus of the family Poxviridae, found in monkeys in a Danish laboratory in 1958, the animal reservoir remains unknown.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the focus is likely to be among rodents.
According to the Ministry of Health, the country has 1,860 confirmed cases of monkeypox, of which 1,404 are in São Paulo.
The other cases are spread across the states: Rio de Janeiro (200), Minas Gerais (75), Federal District (37), Paraná (36), Goiás (38), Bahia (12), Ceará (4), Rio Grande do North (4), Espírito Santo (5), Pernambuco (7), Tocantins (1), Acre (1), Amazonas (3), Pará (1), Paraíba (1), Piauí (1), Rio Grande do Sul (18), Mato Grosso do Sul (5), and Santa Catarina (7).
*With information from Lucas Rocha, from CNN
Source: CNN Brasil
