
Wild monkeys with killer herpes are breeding like crazy in Florida - LinuxBender
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/01/wild-monkeys-with-killer-herpes-are-breeding-like-crazy-in-florida/
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ntumlin
Don't take this as me wanting it to happen, but what would it take for the
decision to be made to kill these monkeys, and who would make it?

Is there a state or federal agency that's ever determined an animal to be a
threat to people in an area to the degree that they then tried to wipe it out?
Does it matter that the monkeys got put here because some company thought
tourists would like them?

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honkycat
IMO this is the most pragmatic solution.

Why keep around an invasive species that carries a deadly virus?

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will_brown
Because the solution is typically implemented with a bounty program which is
known to result in the intentional release of more of the invasive species to
collect more rewards.

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jessaustin
That scenario might have happened with e.g. "wild" hogs, but where are the
fraudsters going to get a bunch of non-native monkeys? They aren't available
at the local livestock auction...

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jobigoud
Same. Capture a few and have them breed and collect the reward for the
offsprings.

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jessaustin
How many Floridians would hear about wild animals with horrible deadly
diseases and think "I need to start breeding these in my basement"?

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mikestew
Based on my visits to my parents down there, and other visits over the years,
my tourist slogan for Florida is “The Land of Bad Ideas”. You won’t see it at
Disney World, but seems to me that FL attracts folks that tend to not think
things through to their conclusion.

So to answer your question: more than you might think.

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jessaustin
_...FL attracts folks that tend to not think things through to their
conclusion._

Haha yeah they moved to Florida, didn't they?

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deadfall
I'm actually from that area and recently been back to take the glass bottom
boat tour. The monkey's are pretty illusive and usually stay away from humans
and live in the Silver Springs state park, which is next to the Ocala national
forest (second largest nationally protected forest in the US). I remember the
guide telling us only a few people have died from contact. In those cases were
reseacher/scientist that had been studying the monkeys and had been urinated
on (in the face in one case). The monkey's do bring tourist dollars to a
pretty poor economic area.

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eschulz
*second largest national forest in Florida.

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kevmo
I live about a mile away from the area where these monkeys like to hang out
and go kayaking in Silver River State Park. I always immediately head the
other way if I see them. Everyone who frequents the area is warned to avoid
them.

The guy who introduced them to the area put them on an island in the middle of
Silver River, and they swam away the first day.

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driverdan
Non-blogspam source: [https://www.wftv.com/news/local/wild-monkeys-with-
herpes-in-...](https://www.wftv.com/news/local/wild-monkeys-with-herpes-in-
central-florida-population-on-the-verge-of-doubling/898061214)

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Justin_K
Do you work for that station? Your source has two ads and a request to send
notifications before the fold.

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driverdan
Use uBlock Origin to make your life better and eliminate ads. It's the source
cited in Ars' article. They added nothing to it.

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droopyEyelids
Curious to learn more about this herpes variant?

Check out wiki, which has links to some papers.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_B_virus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_B_virus)

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ChuckMcM
It will be interesting to see how they fare against the pythons[1].

[1] _In a new study, researchers found that the voracious appetite of the
Burmese python can outpace even the reproductive speed of the marsh rabbit, a
small brown bunny that seems to have disappeared from the Everglades National
Park._ \-- [https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-
invasiv...](https://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-invasive-
pythons-eat-rabbits-florida-everglades-20150317-story.html)

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daveslash
I might be excessively critical, but I don't like these two sentences in the
article:

\- _"... a type of herpes lethal to humans."_

\- _" But in humans, McHV-1 can cause a flu-like illness that can
progress..."_

I'm not clear -- is this always lethal (as I understand the first sentence to
be) or is there some survival rate (as I understand the second sentence to
be). I haven't yet found any clarification on McHV-1 online yet -- anyone
know?

[edit: formatting]

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yakshaving_jgt
80% mortality rate.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_B_virus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_B_virus)

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slcjordan
I remember reading "Summer of the Monkeys" in elementary school. I guess I
didn't understand the level of foreshadowing in that book.

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bitxbitxbitcoin
Art imitates life or is it life imitates art.

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herogreen
If you want to learn more about viruses and (some) of their roles in evolution
of species, I recommend you the book "Virolution". (Thanks to the HN commenter
that suggested it in a comment I read months ago). This article is an example
of one case that the book mention: two species that have diverged recently can
"compete" using viruses.

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ams6110
"Wild Monkeys With Killer Herpes" is the name of my next movie. Or band.

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tracker1
While completely off topic, for some reason in the back of my mind, I had the
thought... "just wait until they can talk and develop tools," weak reference
to Planet of The Apes.

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HirojaShibe
florida is going to be the death of us all.

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SeriousM
So the zombie apocalypse could be real?

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ohiovr
They weren’t infected by the rage virus

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0x8BADF00D
They should quit monkeying around so much. ;)

