Monkeys at 'hellhole' Thai zoo risk infecting visitors with TB, campaigners claim

Tourists visiting a Thai zoo who have fed and cuddled monkeys there are being warned they could be at risk of catching tuberculosis from them after the animals were filmed suffering from unusual, repeated coughing.

- JANE DALTON

Dozens of monkeys at the Samui Monkey Centre were filmed with coughs, which investigators said could be a sign of an infectious disease such as tuberculosis (TB). The witnesses, who say they have together visited more than 100 animal centres worldwide, reported that this was the first time they had seen widespread coughing in primates.

Past reviews on the Tripadvisor website suggest monkeys were coughing at least nine months before the investigation, "so the problem is thought to be persistent", according to activists from the Moving Animals organisation, which documents animal cruelty globally.

The centre, on the tourist island hotspot of Koh Samui, encourages visitors to physically interact with its animals by feeding, touching and hugging them.

Thailand is among the 30 countries with the highest TB rates in humans, according to the World Health Organisation, and investigators from Moving Animals said the risk of humans and the monkeys infecting one another and spreading the disease more widely, was a threat to public health.