NEW ORLEANS, La. — The tiny cotton-top Tamarins, weighing less than one pound, were kept outside overnight in temperatures that dipped below freezing at the Alexandria Zoo in central Louisiana.
According to Reuters, One of the monkeys survived, officials with the city of Alexandria, which owns the zoo, said.
“This is a tragedy,” zoo director Lee Ann Whitt said in a statement.
The zoo keeper who was responsible for the monkeys on the night in question has resigned after being placed on administrative leave, and an investigation into the incident is ongoing, said Mr David Gill, the city’s public works director.
“This appears to have happened as a result of human error and not a system problem,” Mr Gill said in a statement.
The Alexandria Zoological Park is a 33-acre (13 ha) zoo located in Alexandria, Louisiana, United States. First opened to the public in 1926, it is owned by the City of Alexandria and operated by the Division of Public Works. It is home to about 500 animals.
The zoo was started in 1926 in Bringhurst Park as a row of cages. When the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) threatened to close the zoo in the 1960s, the city created the committee that is now Friends of the Alexandria Zoo (FOTAZ), the support organization for the zoo.
The zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and takes part in about 20 Species Survival Plans (SSP).
