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File photo: Snow monkeys Mary Schwalm AP/Press Association Images

Japanese zoo culls 57 snow monkeys for being crossbred with an "invasive alien species"

The zoo operator held a memorial service for the monkeys at a nearby Buddhist temple to appease their souls.

A JAPANESE ZOO has culled 57 native snow monkeys by lethal injection after finding that they carried genes of an “invasive alien species”, officials said today.

The Takagoyama Nature Zoo in the city of Futtsu in Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo, housed 164 simians which it believed were all pure Japanese macaques.

But the operator and local officials discovered about one-third were crossbred with the rhesus macaque, which in Japan is designated an “invasive alien species”.

A city official told AFP that Japanese law bans the possession and transport of invasive species, including the crossbreeds, and that culling of them is allowed under the law.

He said the monkeys were put to death by lethal injection over about one month ending early February.

The zoo operator held a memorial service for the monkeys at a nearby Buddhist temple to appease their souls, he added.

Snow monkey-rhesus macaque crossbreeds were designated for culling when Japan’s environment law was revised in 2013.

“They have to be killed to protect the indigenous environment,” an official with the Chiba prefectural government said.

But Japan’s Environment Ministry said exceptions can be made, such as cases in which zoos apply for permission to keep them.

“There are many zoos in the country, which rear animals that became classified as invasive species after the law was created,” a ministry official said.

Though the killing of the monkeys may appear cruel, environmentalists said it is crucial not to allow any contacts between foreign and native species lest the natural balance be upset.

Junkichi Mima, spokesman for conservation group WWF Japan, said invasive species cause problems “because they get mixed in with indigenous animals and threaten the natural environment and ecosystem”.

The snow monkey, known in Japan as Nihonzaru (Japanese macaque), is brown in colour with a red face, and the mountainous area near the zoo is designated as a wild habitat for them.

The zoo started feeding wild snow monkeys in 1957 and held dozens in a rough fence, the city official said.

But in the 1990s, the rhesus macaque, which originates in China and Southeast Asia, started to increase in the area. Chiba prefecture said that since 2005 it has culled wild ones in a bid to stamp them out.

The Takagoyama zoo conducted DNA testing on its snow monkeys and discovered the mixture.

“Preventing exposures to foreign animals is very important,” said Tomoko Shimura of the Nature Conservation Society of Japan.

© – AFP 2017

Read: 390,000 ducks and hens in northern Europe culled over bird flu fears

Read: ‘Don’t sacrifice the goats’: Protesters’ anger defers planned cull of 80 wild animals

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    Mute Ciarán
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    Feb 21st 2017, 11:05 PM

    We had the same prob with the Grey Squirrell decimating the native Red Squirrell in Ireland and sat back and did sweet F A.

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    Mute sparky
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    Feb 21st 2017, 11:11 PM

    Ciaran a squirrel is nothing but a nice word for a rodent..

    24
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    Mute Awkward Seal
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    Feb 21st 2017, 11:32 PM

    @Ciarán: They actively kill the grey squirrels in the phoenix park at least. But you’re right, more should have been done.

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    Mute sparky
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    Feb 21st 2017, 11:37 PM

    @ Awkward Seal.why is that..squirrels are nothing more than a pest.

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 12:17 AM

    @Ciarán: To go with their whale meat lol.

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    Mute BannonsBarse
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 12:19 AM

    The Japanese do racial purity so well.

    26
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    Mute Awkward Seal
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 6:50 AM

    The grey squirrels are pushing the native red squirrel to the brink of extinction. So they’re trying to save the native species. They’re trying to undo damage to the ecosystem caused by the introduction of the grey squirrel.

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    Mute Reuben Gray
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 9:56 AM

    @Ciarán: The Grey Squirrel decimating the red? Not only is that false but I’m hoping you meant it as hyperbole.

    They grey squirrel has done nothing to the red squirrel. Not a single thing. They don’t attack them nor chase them away even. Simply put, red squirrels aren’t as adaptable as greys and are more susceptible to disease. Some people theorise that the diseases were brought by grey squirrels but there’s no evidence of that. Where a red population declines, the grey population naturally increases.

    If there were no grey squirrels in Ireland, all we would notice is a lot less red squirrels in general.

    In a complete 180, a lot of places where the red squirrel population declined and were replaced by greys have seen the opposite occur. This is evident all around Ireland but most notably in the midlands. One theory for this is a resurgence of pine martins. This little fella will eat either type of squirrel, he doesn’t discriminate but this is where the greys advantage over the red goes against it. Red squirrels are naturally more shy and less adventurous. They are far more cautious about coming out of the trees. Perhaps that’s because they evolved with the pine martin as a predator. The greys are much easier to catch for the pine martin as a result. Seems a pine martin when faced with a choice of squirrel is more likely to go for a grey than a red.

    It’s not just that greys are being eaten, it’s the effect of having a predator. Breeding rates naturally go down and stress increases.

    The pine martin itself was in danger but it seems they are recovering, possibly as a result of an easier to catch food source in grey squirrels.

    We don’t need to interfere with the squirrels, nature is taking care of things itself.

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    Mute Chrip Ramsay
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 10:01 AM

    @sparky: humanity is more of a pest on this planet than a squirrel could ever be

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    Mute john Appleseed
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    Feb 21st 2017, 10:46 PM

    Seems extreme. Couldn’t they have been sterilised?

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    Mute jane
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    Feb 21st 2017, 11:27 PM

    Or moved?

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    Mute Awkward Seal
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    Feb 21st 2017, 11:33 PM

    Life finds a way (queue Jurassic Park theme music)

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    Mute Gerry Ryan
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 7:23 AM

    The Japanese have a long history of exterminating problems. Very efficient like that, no emotion is allowed to interfere.

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    Mute DartMcCart
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    Feb 21st 2017, 10:45 PM

    I think the Pixies wrote a song about that

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    Mute Soccer T's
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 1:15 AM

    There is no “The” in Pixies

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    Mute Drew TheChinaman :)
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 2:55 AM

    Rhesus Monkeys and chimps are genetically much closer relatives to humans compared to other small monkeys.

    They can carry a lot of diseases that can be transmitted to humans… Hep B, Yellow Fever, Malaria. It’s important to not allow a population of inter-species animals to develop. We don’t know what kind of disease an interbred may be susceptible too and if that can jump the species barrier to humans. Or it could create an intermediary that allows a virus to jump from bat/bird/reptile to primate interbred to humans.

    It’s widely theorised that HIV came into existence jumping the species barrier SIV to HIV.

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    Mute Ron North
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    Feb 21st 2017, 11:39 PM

    Like most journal commenters I approve of maintaining genetic purity by the culling of any non indigenous element.

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    Mute Stephen murphy
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    Feb 21st 2017, 10:36 PM

    Killing is forbidden in Buddhism, and bad Karma is coming your way Japan.

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    Mute James
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    Feb 21st 2017, 10:52 PM

    Good job Japan is predominantly Shinto then…

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    Mute Chewey Bacca
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 2:15 AM

    Lol

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    Mute Paudi Onail
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 12:45 AM

    So what about humans then? Who are we to judge these creatures if there’s no control over our habitats as it causes problems with our economic system. This is racism against monkeys then, they have a right to remain in Japan as they’re related.

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    Mute Steven Hillert
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    Feb 21st 2017, 10:58 PM

    Mankind has damaged this planet for far too long. United we stand.

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    Mute sparky
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    Feb 21st 2017, 11:19 PM

    God created mankind in his own image.i think it’s time you had a word with” him” that fella has a lot to answer for.

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    Mute Panem et Circenses
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 5:15 AM

    @Steven, United against what exactly? And who, who are you referring to as united? If you are referring to Mankind being united to damage the planet further I’m all in. NUKE THE WHALES!

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    Mute Steven Hillert
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    Feb 21st 2017, 10:43 PM

    Poor monkey business going on here.

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    Mute Ian Flynn
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 9:53 AM

    I know of a few crossbred monkeys in the Dail that could do with culling …

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Feb 22nd 2017, 12:18 AM

    Really sick…

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Feb 27th 2017, 12:43 AM

    Sick as in awful for those who use that word to express something good, what eejits.

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