Hong Kong Reuters —Melioidosis, a bacterial infection, was responsible for killing at least nine monkeys at a Hong Kong zoo, authorities said, as a further two died over the weekend, taking the total to 11 in the past week.
Part of the zoo, built in 1860 and the oldest park in Hong Kong, has remained shut since October 14 when authorities reported the first batch of monkey deaths.
Autopsies found a large amount of the melioidosis-inducing bacteria in the monkeys organs, which likely came from soil near the monkeys habitat, they said.
Visitors look at a buff-cheeked gibbon at Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens after 11 monkeys died of sepsis following melioidosis infection in the past week, in Hong Kong on October 21, 2024.
Tyrone Siu/ReutersKevin Yeung, the city’s culture and tourism minister, told local public broadcaster RTHK that works at the zoo required digging up the soil near where the monkeys lived.
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