Wildlife

Scores of monkeys killed in Rio yellow fever panic

Fears of spreading yellow fever are behind the illegal killing of scores of monkeys in Rio de Janeiro, complicating efforts to fight the virus, authorities say.

Locals, mistakenly believing that the animals can spread yellow fever to humans, are blamed for the surge in killings.

Just this year, 238 monkeys have been found dead in Rio state, compared to 602 in all of 2017, said the city sanitation service, launching a campaign against the killings.

Of those, 69 percent showed signs of human aggression, mostly being beaten to death and some poisoned. Last year, the proportion found killed by humans was 40 percent.

The rest died of natural causes.