BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A spider monkey at a Florida zoo lost his arm after an accident at a Florida zoo last week.
Brevard Zoo in Melbourne said that on Wednesday morning, its black-handed spider monkey, Sully, weaved his arm through his habitat's fencing and was unable to pull it back through.
His animal care team came to his aid, and his keepers cut the mesh to free him, but after radiographs and consultation with a board-certified veterinary surgeon, the zoo's veterinary team determined that they had to amputate Sully's entire arm.
The zoo said Sully's arm was broken at the elbow, and there was a 10% or less chance that Sully would have a normal function of his arm if it remained. Keeping the arm would have led to long-lasting pain.
“Due to his age, healing and adjustment to the absence of the limb are expected to be rapid,” Dr. Trevor Zachariah said. “Primates with a missing arm are still able to thrive. This is especially true for spider monkeys, since they have prehensile tails.”
According to the zoo, Sully is now continuing to recover in his on-habitat nighthouse with his mother, Tika. The vet and animal care team will continue to monitor his healing progress, but they expect Sully to recover well and be back in his habitat soon.
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