Vienna: Confiscated monkeys move into the Czech zoo

After 7 of the 13 monkeys moved to a zoo in March, the family with the baby monkeys is now traveling on.

Only in January did 13 monkeys - including 2 moustached tamarins, 1 red-bellied tamarin and 10 pygmy marmosets - move into the Vösendorf animal shelter after they were stopped by customs at Vienna-Schwechat Airport on their journey to Malaysia. Originally, the animals were supposed to fly east for breeding purposes, but the owner could not produce any papers.

7 of the 13 monkeys moved to a zoo in the Czech Republic two months ago. In order to cause as little stress as possible for the parents and the young animals - which were discovered by a keeper by chance and caused an animal surprise at Tierschutz Austria - they stayed in Vösendorf for a while until the little ones were big enough for the onward journey were. Now the time has come and the monkey family with their two cubs Mona & Lisa are moving on to a zoo in the Czech Republic. Since the gestation period for these animals is around 140 days, the lady monkey was already pregnant when she arrived at the animal shelter. In the case of dwarf silks, the father diligently helps with rearing, carries the young, keeps them busy and actually only hands them over to the mother to suckle.

"We are glad that we were able to offer the animals temporary accommodation at such short notice at the beginning of this year and that we were able to look after and care for them. Arranging a place for 13 monkeys in a short time is not an easy matter, even for us in Austria's largest animal shelter. Nevertheless, we are happy to have been contacted in this case and look forward to being able to help out in such situations in the future," says Stephan Scheidl, head of the animal shelter.