A discovery as rare as it is exceptional.
Xavier Bonnard, former president of SPA Marseille Provence, was called by firefighters for a strange discovery: a tamarind monkey was walking alone in a school near the Marseille flea market.
“It is a lion-headed tamarin monkey, a very rare species that is endangered, and protected by the Washington convention.
He was walking around a school 100 meters from the flea market, ”explains Xavier Bonnard.
Between 20,000 and 50,000 euros per specimen
After warning the police and the services of the prefecture, the former president of the SPA realized that this monkey had been stolen from an association in the Paris region fifteen months ago, thanks to the chip of the animal.
"It is the largest in France which raises tamarind monkeys before reintroducing them into their natural environment, they had filed a complaint following this theft," he says.
Ugo, 6, according to the same chip, has since been in the shelter, in a secret place belonging to the SPA to prevent any new theft.
And it will very soon be transferred to the association where it was stolen.
According to Xavier Bonnard, this breed of monkey can sell for between 20,000 and 50,000 euros on the black market.
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Threatened species
Society
Monkey
Miscellaneous
Flight
Marseilles