Zoo destroys two monkeys who fought each other

Conservationists yesterday criticised a zoo after it put to death two monkeys of an endangered species because the pair were constantly fighting. Newquay Zoo in Cornwall said the male primates, Venus and Ia - both crested black macaques - were destroyed after it proved impossible to find them new homes.

The monkeys are native to Sulawesi, Indonesia, where their habitat is threatened by hunting, settlements, logging and land clearance for agriculture. The Monkey Sanctuary in Looe said it could have taken them in or helped find them a home. The refuge is only 40 miles away.



Matt Thomas, a keeper at the Monkey Sanctuary, said of the deaths: "That's quite awful and that would not happen here. Yes, they can be aggressive and will fight, but it's a process that enables them to live with each other. We would never put them to sleep. There are other options."

A spokesman for the charity AnimalAid branded the decision to kill the creatures as "horrific and unacceptable".