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More bad news for the Oregon Zoo, which recently fired its director and chief veterinarian after "sloppy" medical treatment led to the death of Kutai, a 230-pound orangutan.
Six newly-acquired monkeys were found dead in quarantine at the zoo's $8.8 million veterinary medical facility on May 25, three days after arriving at the zoo on loan from Harvard University.
Jim Middaugh, a spokesman for Metro, the regional government that operates the publicly-owned zoo, has confirmed the death of the six cotton-top tamirins to WW.
The deaths add to the unwelcome spotlight on the zoo's stumbles, examined by WW in this week's cover story.
Since the beginning of
2013, 27 of the zoo's 329 mammals have died—including two gibbons, two gazelles,
a sea lion and a tiger. (That doesn't count the six monkeys.)
It's difficult to say if the Oregon Zoo has a better or worse track record than other zoos on animal mortality. Since 1994, zoos and aquariums haven't been required to inform the U.S. Department of Agriculture when their animals die.
WWeek 2015