LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of the Congo — On Dec. 2, Togolese authorities intercepted 38 monkeys at the airport. They were being sent from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to Thailand and included at least two species classified as vulnerable by the IUCN. Thirty of these animals had not been declared upon leaving the DRC. On Dec. 7, Togo repatriated the severely distressed animals to Kinshasa, according to a press release from the ICCN, the Congolese wildlife authority, on Dec. 19. Fourteen of them died at the Kinshasa zoo before the remaining 24 were transferred to an animal sanctuary in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi. “The surviving animals were entrusted to us for rehabilitation so that they can one day return to the wild as we partner with the ICCN,” said Franck Chantereau, president of the J.A.C.K. Primate Rehabilitation Centre in Lubumbashi. He told Mongabay that the high mortality rate was due to the poor conditions in which the traffickers transported the monkeys. The seizure illustrates weaknesses in inspection at the DRC’s borders. The live cargo departed from Kinshasa’s N’djili Airport and was transiting through Togo to Thailand. Among the animals intercepted were lesula (Cercopithecus lomamiensis), a species of guenon found only in the forests of the Lomami Basin which was not identified and formally described until 2012, and black crested mangabey (Lophocebus aterrimus). Both species have been classified as vulnerable by the IUCN. Listed in CITES Appendix II, they can be exported from the…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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