Two cotton-top tamarins of the endangered species die in Alexandria Zoo from cold temperatures

#Tamarins #PETA #AlexandriaZoo It was unfortunate that two cotton-top tamarins, belonging to the endangered species, died from freezing cold temperatures in the Louisiana Zoo. Each of the monkeys weigh less than a pound and they died when a caretaker "overlooked" them and left them out in the cold on Jan.7 at the Alexandria Zoological Park. There was a third monkey but, it survived the exposure.
News of these deaths have been made public only this week.
Incidentally, these monkeys from Colombia are among the world’s smallest new-world primates and need temperatures of 76 to 85 degrees to survive. However, the high temperature last Wednesday in Alexandria was in the 50s while the overnight low was in the teens. The deaths are seen as due to carelessness.
The cotton-top tamarins monkeys are critically endangered and there are roughly 1,800 in captivity and about 6,000 in a small area of northwest Colombia – this is as per the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
PETA, is demanding a federal investigation into the deaths of the tamarins because, in their opinion, the deaths could have been avoided.
With drop in temperatures, the zoos have been stepping up measures to ensure that the animals are kept protected from the cold.