Dangerous heatwave

Mexico: Howler monkeys fall dead from trees

The current heatwave in Mexico has already claimed the lives of dozens of howler monkeys.(Bild: AFP/AFP, Conservación de la Biodiversidad del Usumacinta)

Due to a heatwave with temperatures of more than 45 degrees Celsius, numerous howler monkeys are falling dead or dehydrated from the trees in south-eastern Mexico. "We have to take care of the animals," said President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Monday. He will therefore ask the Ministry of the Environment to intervene. According to reports from environmentalists, 78 monkeys have already died in the states of Tabasco and Chiapas.

Rescue teams of biologists and veterinarians are on the road in Tabasco to provide the howler monkeys with water and food, especially fruit, according to the local civil defense. In the communities of Cunduacán and Comalcalco alone, a total of four howler monkeys, including a young one, were found dead.

Animal rights activists collect fruit donations
Activists asked the population to donate fruit to feed the monkeys. Videos of howler monkeys in a veterinary practice where they were given water from syringes to drink circulated on social media. In Cunduacán, some of the specimens were taken to a medical rescue center on a baseball field.

In addition to heatstroke and dehydration, the reasons for the howler monkeys' deaths include forest fires and the destruction of their natural habitat, which leads to water and food shortages, the head of the environmental organization Cobius told the news site "Animal Político".