A serious disease had been discovered in the rare primates. Putting them to sleep was “inevitable for animal welfare reasons,” according to the zoo.
Hellabrunn Zoo put six drills to sleep on Tuesday because of an incurable illness. The decision was unavoidable for animal welfare reasons and was made by the local vet team, the zoo said on Wednesday. It was done “with a heavy heart”.
“All of us, but especially the veterinarians and animal keepers, were hit hard by the outcome of yesterday’s tests,” said Rasem Baban, Member of the Board and director of the zoo at Hellabrunn. As is unfortunately often the case with wild animals, the primates concealed their serious physical illness.
A detailed health examination of all twelve drills revealed that six of the rare primates had severe organ changes, primarily in the liver and lungs, but also in some other organs. The changes are the result of a fox tapeworm infection. These were discovered on the basis of the “pathological examination of two seriously ill animals”. The rapid course of the disease and the severity of the disease surprised the veterinarians and animal care team. The animals would have died within a few weeks as a result.
According to the zoo, the rest of the population, four male and two female drills, is not affected, but is being observed. There is no danger for visitors.
It is not clear how the animals became infected with the fox tapeworm. Transmission of the fox tapeworm pathogen is not possible either from monkey to monkey, from human to monkey or from monkey to human. “We are currently working flat out to find out how the pathogen got to the drills,” said zoo director Baban. According to Hellabrunn, a network of experts from research laboratories, the university and other research institutions is involved in the investigation. So far there is no vaccine licensed in the EU against fox tapeworm.