A few months ago, the Welsh Mountain Zoo sadly lost Aranya, a female spider monkey, who passed away suddenly. A post-mortem revealed she had suffered from a perforated ulcer. So when their male, Smokey, began vomiting, it understandably caused a lot of concern. We were very pleased to be involved in his care and were able to get him examined with a CT scan. Fortunately, the results showed a severe gastroenteritis rather than something more serious. With treatment, Smokey has made a strong recovery and is now back on display, doing well.
From our perspective, being able to CT scan Smokey brought many advantages.
Firstly, the procedure was very quick, which meant Smokey was only asleep for a short time — something that carries obvious benefits for his safety and recovery.
Secondly, the scan provided us with an incredibly detailed and definitive diagnosis. We were able to rule out tumours, foreign bodies, and even ulcers. This allowed us to manage Smokey medically without the need for surgery. Operations in spider monkeys are always complex, and in Smokey’s case, there was an added concern: during the COVID lockdowns, he became stressed without visitors and pulled fur from his arm, so having a healing wound could have been a real temptation for him.
Thirdly, the process caused minimal stress. Smokey was darted, anaesthetised quickly, and cared for using our ambulance’s anaesthetic facilities alongside the CT scanner. By the same afternoon, he was safely back in his pen and eating again.
Finally, it was a real privilege for our team to be part of his care. Jess Nettleton, our Head Nurse, monitored the anaesthetic, while Deputy Head Nurse Robi McAffrey led the CT scan. We believe Smokey may now be the only red-faced spider monkey in the UK, which makes us fairly confident in saying we are among the very few teams to have ever performed a CT scan on a spider monkey!
