(UDHAYAM, TOKYO) – A zoo in northern Japan has culled 57 of its snow monkeys by lethal injection after discovering they carried the genes of an “invasive alien species”.
Takagoyama Nature Zoo in Chiba said DNA testing showed the monkeys had been crossbred with the rhesus macaque.
The non-indigenous rhesus macaque is banned under Japanese law. A local official said they had to be killed to protect the native environment.
Japanese macaques, commonly known as snow monkeys, are native to Japan and are one of the country’s major tourist attractions.
Japan prohibits the possession and transport of invasive species, including crossbreeds.
An official from the Office for Alien Species Management said that the culling was unavoidable because there were fears they might escape and reproduce in the wild, foreign media reports.
