Incident at City Park monkey enclosure

Published on 10 August 2022

At some stage overnight on Tuesday evening, an unidentified intruder has broken into the City Park monkey enclosure, causing damage to the electric fencing and stealing coins out of the surrounding moat.

Unfortunately, this action has potentially exposed the intruder to the Herpes b virus, which is carried by the City Park monkeys. 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.

The virus is not considered a risk to the monkeys, and exhibits symptoms similar to that of cold sores in humans.

However, it is potentially fatal to humans, with more than 30 known deaths recorded worldwide, with only one confirmed case of human-to-human transmission. Symptoms of viral infection include blistering, pain, numbness near the infection point, flu-like symptoms (fever, muscle aches, headache, and fatigue), respiratory distress, encephalitis and neurological dysfunction.

Tasmania Police and the Tasmanian Department of Health have been advised of the break-in.

The majority of macaques around the world carry the virus and there is signage at the enclosure stating that the monkeys are infected.

We ask that anyone with information regarding the break-in to contact Tasmania Police immediately.

But importantly, the Council urges the intruder to seek medical attention as a matter of some urgency