It’s believed that the person broke into the enclosure to collect the gold coins in the moat. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Tasmanian authorities are urging the person who broke into a monkey enclosure on Tuesday night to come forward and seek treatment for potential Herpes b virus.
According to the Launceston council, the unidentified person broke into the Japanese Macaques enclosure, damaging the electric fence, and stealing coins out of the nearby moat.
But this act has potentially exposed them to the Herpes b virus, which most Macaques around the world carry.
Officials say that monkeys are not harmed by the disease, but humans can be.
“The virus can be asymptomatically shed by the monkeys through bodily fluids and ‘fomites’- that is, any material that has come into contact with the virus, which includes the water in the enclosure,” said the council.
The incident which happened at the City Park monkey enclosure, has seen authorities send out an urgent call for the intruder to get medical attention because their have been fatalities from the virus.
More than 30 people have died worldwide and one of those cases was a human-to-human transmission.
Experts say that the symptoms are varied and include “blistering, pain, numbness near the infection point, flu-like symptoms (fever, muscle aches, headache, and fatigue), respiratory distress, encephalitis, and neurological dysfunction”.
Launceston mayor Albert van Zetten said that the exact motives behind the break in are unknown, but they have an idea.
“It’s strange, there’s no doubt about that. Perhaps someone saw some money and thought, ‘oh well, here’s a chance, I might be able to get some’.”
