Riviera Maya, Q.R. — Personnel with the Biodiversity and Natural Protected Areas Institute of Quintana Roo (Ibanqroo) says they intend to relocate monkeys. The Institute intends to send a group of approximately 50 mantled howler monkeys from the state of Quintana Roo to Veracruz.
According to Javier Carballar, head of Instituto de Biodiversidad y Áreas Naturales Protegidas del Estado de Quintana Roo (Ibanqroo), a group of howler monkeys in south Playa del Carmen has grown in size and needs to be relocated to its endemic environment.
The Ibanqroo Director says they intend to send the group of approximately 50 of the mantled howler monkeys to the state of Veracruz this year. The reason for the relocation, he says, is concern they will continue to reproduce and affect native species.
He says this particular breed is not native to Quintana Roo, but is native to the Tuxtla region of Veracruz. The mantled howler monkeys ended up in Quintana Roo jungle after several were seized by local authorities more than two decades ago. Those confiscated animals were released into the local jungle and reproduced to the figures seen today.
“Around 20 or 25 years ago they had a confiscated group and there was nowhere to put them. They found a space where they could be kept in a natural area that did not have a fence or bars. It was in the middle of a hotel property in the Playacar subdivision of Playa del Carmen,” he explained.
Carballar says authorities in Veracruz have already been contacted to have the animals returned to their original habitat. He says the transfer is planned for this year and that dates are being finalized with the state of Veracruz with researchers from the Bajío Regional Center.
He also noted that both sides are waiting on federal permits to transfer the animals by air. According to Carballar, Quintana Roo is home to the peninsular spider monkey and the black howler monkey.
