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SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2016 HERALDSUN.COM.AU

Primate death riddle

MARK DUNN
THREE primates used at Monash Universitys high-security medical research facility in
Gippsland have mysteriously
died, including two animals
this year, according to documents released under Freedom
of Information.
A 10-year-old female marmoset, imported from France,
was found bleeding from its
bowel and listless at the Monash Animal Research Platform Gippsland on February
20, according to an incident/

Dying animals feed fight over uni experiments

noncompliance report that
was filed in line with ethics
committee oversight requirements.
A vet at the centre was
called immediately and advised treatment and care in a
humidicrib but the animal deteriorated, produced more
blood and was gasping for
breath about two hours later
before it died.
Animals are being moni-

tored for similar signs and

symptoms, the report, accessed by Humane Research
Australia, states.
Another male marmoset,
also imported from France, on
January 14 this year was noted
to be listless, having very shallow breathing and vomiting
clear, foamy saliva looking
fluid.
Although a Monash vet was
also called in this case the pri-

mate died 30 minutes after

treatment was given.
Post mortem pathology results were yet to identify the
cause of the deaths but the incident report notes other animals were monitored for
similar signs of illness.
The two deaths are unusual,
and records state the only
other unplanned death since
2011 related to a 2013 incident
where a primate was being

used for commercial collection

of blood.
Taking blood samples
from Macaca fascicularis monkeys under anaesthesia for a
commercial client when at
9am on 18/09/2013 one macaque exhibited adverse reaction to anaesthesia in that he
took a long time to regain consciousness and had difficulty
moving his limbs, documents
state.

Bleached
reefs to
die out
LARGE tracts of the Great
Barrier Reef are likely to be
dead within 20 years as climate
change drives mass coral
bleaching incidents, top Australian scientists say.
Scientists from the Australian Research Councils Centre
of Excellence for Climate System Science have taken the
unusual step of releasing their
latest research paper early, due
to the reef being in such a dire
predicament.
They said if greenhouse
gases kept rising, mass coral
bleaching, such as the one currently gripping the reef, would
happen every two years by the
mid-2030s.
That spells death for large
swathes of the reef because
corals wont get the 15-year
break they need to recover.
Our research showed this
years bleaching event is 175
times more likely today than in
a world where humans werent
emitting greenhouse gases. We
have loaded the odds against
the survival of one of the
worlds greatest natural wonders, lead author Dr Andrew
King said yesterday.
He warns the loss of Great
Barrier Reef corals would put
thousands of species at risk,
and imperil 69,000 jobs in the
tourism and fishing industries
that depend on it.
The scientists found climate
change increased ocean temperatures by 1C during this
years bleaching in March,
which authorities have called
the worst on record.

Top voices
for rabbits
X-MEN stars James McAvoy
and Nicholas Hoult and Star
Wars actor John Boyega are
set to voice rabbits in a TV remake of Watership Down.
The actors will voice bunnies Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig
alongside Sir Ben Kingsley as
cruel General Woundwort in
the four-part miniseries remake of the 1978 animated
film.

The animal was administered oxygen and a reversal

drug but the following day was
euthanased when it failed to
show signs of recovery.
HRA has launched a campaign calling for research to be
restricted to computer modelling.
Associate Professor James
Bourne says the use of primates in research is crucial in
helping save and improve
human life and has previously
been fundamental in tackling
polio and HIV.
mark.dunn@news.com.au

Auctioneer Glen Coutinho is

selling 23 Widford St,
Hawthorn East, for the third
time in almost a year.
Picture: ELLEN SMITH

ITS THEM, NOT ME: MANOR UNDER HAMMER AGAIN

BENN DORRINGTON
GOING once, going twice,
going three times?
A Hawthorn East
mansion has been unlucky
in love, heading to auction
for the third time in almost
a year.
The well-trimmed
six-bedroom house at
23 Widford St has changed
hands twice over the past
12 months, settling each
time with payment in full.
The period home has
notched up a profit each
time, and is now hoped to
fetch half a million dollars
more than it sold for last
April.
Despite its quick

turnover, listing agent Glen

Coutinho, of RT Edgar, said
the resales were purely
circumstantial and there
was nothing wrong with the
home or neighbourhood.

He said a family had lived

there for decades before
deciding it was too big for
them and selling under the
hammer last April for
$4.02 million.

A father purchased it for

his daughter, who returned
overseas, so they offloaded
the home at auction last
November for $4.3 million.
The current owner

bought the property for his

son, but the son and his wife
found the property too
large, Mr Coutinho said.
Now the period home,
opposite Anderson Park
and with city views, heads to
auction again on May 7,
with price hopes around
$4.5 million.
Its in one of Hawthorn
Easts most tightly held
pockets, he said.
This sort of house only
comes up once in 20 years
and weve had it come up
three times in a year.
Mr Coutinho, who will
sell the home for the third
time, said it was the first
time in his 30-year career
he had seen anything like it.
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