Since the 2000s, cocoa production has declined due to plant diseases and falling local prices, leading many people to convert their cocoa plantations into pastures. Valenzuela explains that this typically means there is pasture, farmland, or human settlements between cocoa plantations. Because monkey habitats are fragmented, thermoregulation is not uniform; the smaller the forest fragments, the more heat they receive from their surroundings. Land-use change is exacerbating the effects of global warming.
Well-intentioned confusion
Gilberto Pozo describes the initial response to the emergency as “a lot of people helping each other” – chaotic but innocent. “We had more than 150 volunteers. Without the support of the local population, it would have been difficult,” he says.
But some people were bringing monkeys to clinics without registering or notifying authorities, so Profepa is now visiting clinics to collect data. Pozo is also concerned that volunteers and primates could transmit diseases to each other. “They grabbed the monkeys, approached them without masks or gloves, hugged them, kissed them, talked to them. This indicates a high risk of zoonotic and zoonotic diseases.”
Plus, vulnerable monkeys are at risk of being abused, says Ana María Santillan, founder of the Mexican Primate Rehabilitation Center, which rescues monkeys that have fallen victim to mascotization and the illegal trade. Members of the public shouldn’t move specimens, she says, because that’s illegal. “We were lucky that Profepa got involved,” she adds. Still, her group does find orphaned young monkeys for sale.
To deal with the situation, the private organizations involved have formed specialized units, coordinated by COBIUS, according to Santillan. One is dedicated to retrieving dead and dying animals. The other, to care for the monkeys, is made up of veterinarians trained in working with primates, some from Profepa, Tabasco, and others from the Autonomous University of Juarez (UJAT), Tabasco. The third unit performs autopsies. One of the most important activities, explains Hilberto Pozo, is the establishment of two medical units to treat animals in need.
