Dead monkey found in shipping container in Whangārei

A dehydrated monkey body was upon opening the fumigated container that had arrived from Guyana in South America. Photo / File

A dead monkey has been discovered squeezed between sawn timber packs on a ship docked in Whangārei.

It was a staff member from BBS Timbers who discovered the dehydrated monkey body upon opening the fumigated container that had arrived from Guyana in South America.

The facility quickly alerted Biosecurity New Zealand, which advised how to remove the monkey and a biosecurity officer followed up with an inspection and picked up the body for disposal.

"The whole response worked extremely well. We were contacted by the business very early and our officers quickly jumped into gear," Biosecurity New Zealand spokesperson Stu Rawnsley said.

"You can't ask for anything more than that when it comes to protecting New Zealand from biosecurity risk.

"This was definitely one of our more unusual interceptions, but we need to remember the dead animal could have been harbouring diseases or hitchhiker pests with the potential to damage New Zealand's economy and environment."

Biosecurity NZ noted the monkey body was in a poor condition and the species had not yet been identified.

BSS Timbers is a registered transitional facility with trained biosecurity staff to check arriving cargo.

There are currently more than 4300 transitional facilities in New Zealand and they are strictly regulated by Biosecurity NZ.