Longleat's Monkeys confined to barracks

Longleat can confirm the continued closure to cars of its drive-through Monkey Jungle.

After carrying out routine testing of the monkey colony, one single female tested positive for Simian Herpes. The whole group has now been tested and all have proven to be negative bar this one female. Despite this, Longleat has taken the decision to keep the Monkey Jungle closed to drive-through traffic until further tests have been undertaken. This requires retesting the whole group which is a major excersice.

Whilst the Monkey Jungle is closed, it is confirmed that the rest of Longleat including the Safari Park is open.

Visitors will still be able to gain entry into Longleat Safari Park, Longleat House, the Adventure Castle, Longleat Hedge Maze, the Safari Boats and all other Longleat attractions.

The Monkey Jungle is only one enclosure within the Safari Park. The monkeys are free ranging within this enclosure and Longleat has taken the decision to continue to close this area for the immediate future. All other enclosures within the Safari Park – Tiger Territory, Lion Country, the East African Reserve, Wallaby Walkthrough, the Big Game Reserve and more are all open as normal.

Longleat is working with all relevant professional authorities to try and establish how the positive reading has occurred in a closed negative colony.

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