Abstract

The objective of the reintroduction program ongoing at the Fundação Florestal/CEMAS is to reintroduce primate species to the area where they previously existed. The restoration of these species to the São Paulo forests from which they have been extirpated has broad public interest and support. It symbolizes the importance of protecting and managing whole ecosystems. The Fundação Florestal/CEMAS reintroduction program has experimented with various techniques for reintroduction and monitoring which can be carried over to other projects. An added benefit of the program has been the opportunity to study clinical aspects of primates in captivity and wilderness. The purposes of the Fundação Florestal/CEMAS include the conservation of critical species threatened with extinction in southeastern Brazil through rehabilitation and clinical management in captivity and establishment of wildlife reserves to recover natural populations and their habitats. With primate species the objective is to evaluate pathogenicity and virulence of agents which affect primates in captivity and in the wild in order to establish guidelines for reintroduction programs.

The captive population of nonhuman primates consists of the following: brown howler monkey Alouatta fusca, buffy tufted-ear marmoset Callithrix aurita, black tufted-ear marmoset C. penicillata, masked titi monkey Callicebus personatus and woolly spider monkey Brachyteles arachnoides. These animals originate from traffic and rescues from the wilderness or where animals in urban forest parks were found suffering traumatism and sent to CEMAS veterinary hospital. Samples collected from 98 brown howler monkeys from the Cantareira State Park, located in southeast São Paulo state, showed the following results: 9 samples positive with rabies (rhabdovirus), 5 samples positive with Leptospira interrogans and none positive for Leishmania sp. and Herpesvirus simiae. In the area of coproparasitology, all animals studied showed positive for Enterobius sp., and after a short time in captivity 70% were positive for Giardia sp. Bacteriology of feces in immune-depressed animals with clinical symptoms showed a proliferation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in all individuals and Proteus sp., Streptococcus sp. and Corynebacterium sp., in lesser proportions. Necropsy examinations in 2 brown howler monkeys showed the presence of Dipetalonema reconditum in the abdominal cavity. These findings together with data from other primate species have resulted in the development of a specific standard for the reintroduction programs for endangered primates in Brazil.