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Iowa’s largest zoo cited for snow monkey’s death from burns, gangrene [1]
['Clark Kauffman', 'More From Author', '- June']
Date: 2023-06-07
Iowa’s largest zoo has been cited by federal regulators for contributing to the death of a snow monkey last year.
According to a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector’s report and officials at Des Moines’ Blank Park Zoo, an 8-year-old Japanese snow monkey named Nico underwent a lengthy dental procedure at the zoo on Aug. 17, 2022.
During the procedure, the monkey was under anesthesia and lay on its back for approximately three hours with an electric heating pad under its back. The amount of heat that’s applied in such circumstances is “usually monitored by veterinary staff,” a USDA inspector reported.
The inspector alleged that “in the investigation into this case, the zoo’s attending veterinarian and leadership staff concluded that proper monitoring was not done, resulting in the severe burn to the monkey’s back.”
That burn resulted in a “large, gangrenous wound,” and on Aug. 30 — which was 13 days after the dental procedure – the snow monkey was euthanized due to its poor prognosis for recovery, the USDA alleges.
The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service cited the zoo for a “critical violation” related to its attending veterinarian and the provision of veterinary care. That specific regulation requires animal exhibitors to establish and maintain programs of adequate veterinary care that include appropriate methods to prevent and treat diseases.
According to the inspector’s report, all Blank Park Zoo veterinary staff were “retrained on use and monitoring of the heating pad.”
The violation was the only infraction cited by the USDA during its April 2023 visit. At the time, the zoo had roughly 2,800 animals — including, according to the inspector’s report, 10 snow monkeys.
When contacted by the Iowa Capital Dispatch, Blank Park Zoo CEO Anne Shimerdla noted that the zoo, as required, immediately reported the incident with Nico to the USDA.
“This is a very difficult situation and a very unfortunate incident,” Shimerdla said, but noted that the federal inspector found no other issues or violations during the April visit. “So it really leads me to believe this is an isolated incident.”
There’s no public record of the incident in the disciplinary files of the Iowa Board of Veterinary Medicine, which is administered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Over the past five-and-a-half years, the board has issued public orders of discipline against three of Iowa’s 2,800 active, licensed veterinarians.
The snow monkey, also known as the Japanese macaque, is a species native to Japan. In 2019, the Blank Park Zoo stated that it had on hand three males and seven females ranging in age from two to 28 years old.
The zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a national organization that conducts what it calls “intense, multiple-day, on-site inspections.” The organization has what it describes as a “verifiable track record of enforcing its standards,” but notes that it “does not share the specific results of accreditation inspections” with the public. Shimerdla said the zoo does not make public those inspection reports, either.
The zoo is funded and operated by the Blank Park Zoo Foundation, a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. The foundation’s tax returns indicate that in the fiscal year that ended in March 2022, the zoo collected $8.7 million in revenue and spent $7.6 million. It ended the year with $23 million in net assets.
In 2021-22, the foundation staged two major fundraising events that resulted in a combined, net loss of $19,000 after event-sponsor revenue was deducted, according to the tax returns.
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