ISSUE NO. 1645
12 - 18 January 2017
COSTA BLANCA SOUTH
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
TANTALUS MONKEY: Seized in an antitrafficking investigation.
Health alert! Primates with potentially lethal diseases on loose By Matt Ford The Guardia Civil in Alicante Province has issued an urgent health alert after discovering that a Tantalus monkey seized in an anti-animal trafficking investigation has tested positive for HIV and a human cancerinducing virus. Investigators are now searching for 42 other monkeys, mostly marmosets, which came into contact with the infected animal. The whereabouts of the primates are currently unknown, meaning their owners are potentially putting the lives of themselves and others at risk, according to the Guardia’s nature protection arm, SEPRONA. The Tantalus was one of 25 small monkeys confiscated by SEPRONA during an operation which took place several months ago, and resulted in the arrest of four suspected animal traffickers from Alicante; two from Murcia and one from Sevilla. The gang offered the illegally-traded monkeys to pet stores,
which secretly sold them on to private individuals for €1,800€2,000 each. Documents recovered during raids on the suspects’ homes showed that 67 individuals from four species had been sold but only 25 have been accounted for, and it is likely that owners are unaware of the risk of infection. Five of the monke ys seized were already dead, and the Guardia Civil have issued an urgent appeal for
owners to come forward and hand their pets over to the authorities. Meanwhile, the not-for-profit EQUINAC association has blasted a local court which they claim failed to heed the group’s warnings about the organised monkey trafficking. Possession and breeding of primates and other exotic animals without a licence is illegal in Spain, with hundreds having been seized in the last 12 months alone.
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