Largest monkey farm in Cambodia meets demands for monkey specimens and live animals for years before being charged for wildlife trafficking. Story The monkeys started to amass in the clearing in front of our room. travelswithtalek.com also participates in other affiliate programs and may receive commissions through purchases made through each link at no cost to you. Thats likely a conservative estimate, they said, based on factors including infant mortality and fertility rates. U.S. charges drug researchers with sending trade secrets to China, but will case stand up? Monkeys Life in Cambodia - Facebook She was probably the ringleader. there are a lot of new baby were born in temple area. One. When we cautiously returned to the guest house that evening there were no monkeys to be seen. illegally exporting hundredsand potentially more than 2000 cynomolgus macaques, Burst of brain activity during dying could explain life passing before your eyes, This Brazilian frog might be the first pollinating amphibian known to science, Scientists use AI to decipher words and sentences from brain scans, Colombian officials halt research, seize animals at NIH-supported facility after alleged monkey mistreatment, Scientists in India protest move to drop Darwinian evolution from textbooks. In general, watchdogs such as Transparency International have long found corruption to be endemic in Cambodia, routinely listing it among the worst in the world on its annualCorruption Perceptions Index. (202) 332-0982 In what Kite called an ironic tragedy, the November indictment followed the arrest of an official from the Cambodian Forestry Administration which enforces CITES within the country in the U.S. for wildlife trafficking. Cambodia is a ratified party of CITES. Last July, the species was uplisted from vulnerable to endangered on the Red List of Threatened Species, which cited biological use as a key threat. An indictment in U.S. law is considered an accusation and defendants are innocent unless proven guilty. She says wild-caught monkeys carry viruses that could infect other animals theyre housed with or humans. The prevalence and profit of the live trade often overshadows the specimen market, which lengthens the supply chain for Cambodian monkeys. The stump-tailed macaque lives in the rainforest and eats small insects, seeds, fruits, tubers, and other plants. The company currently houses more than 9000 monkeysthe vast majority cynoswhich it sells to private and academic labs. Regarding this case, our authorities are searching for the identity behind those YouTube accounts to question them to take legal action, he said. If monkeys are to be used in research in the U.S., there is a responsibility to ensure they are well cared-for and sourced responsibly., Sarah Kite, the co-founder of Action for Primates, a U.K.-based advocacy organization, agrees. Monkey - Wikipedia But the nearly 50-year-old system is infamous for legal loopholes and data deficiencies. In 2014, the CITES Management Authority in Cambodia submitted a letter to the CITES Secretariat, which is one of the only public documents with information about the then six breeding facilities in the Kingdom. Within the four years prosecutors say wild monkeys were laundered through the legal trade into the U.S., labs there acted as a main supplier of Cambodian macaque specimens for countries across the West. Those listed in mass are probably tissue from organs such as the brain, liver or muscles. Animal rights activists angry as over 1,000 macaques imported from Macaques are actually both a predator, a prey and a seed disperser. The primate industry,worth an estimated$1.25 billion, is overseen by a UN trade convention known asCITES, which legalises the commerce through apermit system,animal welfare regulations,breeding requirementsand other rules. Alarm bells have been ringing globally since 2008, when conservationists warned that long-tailed macaque populations were declining, yet the monkey remained a species of least concern until 2020, when the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, listed it as vulnerable. Monkey populations increasing in Cambodia - Asia For Holiday In China, approximately 1,700 pig-tailed macaques are known to exist, while approximately 1,500 are known to exist in India. Our paper is asking more questions than providing answers. Regardless, the pandemic surge of macaque exports shocked researchers. Cambodia has eight monkey farms. That was a while ago. Your tax-deductible contribution plays a critical role in sustaining this effort. We only removed the most active and mean macaques that were causing issues for tourists and the temples. It also denied that any of its exported monkeys had been captured from the wild. Adding to the researchers doubt is how farms more than doubled exports after 2019, when just under 14,000 monkeys were traded. Malene Friis Hansen, director of the Long-Tailed Macaque Project, told theGlobein a January interview that the species is ecologically vital. That could be accomplished by designing studies that require fewer animals, and working with regulators to require fewer of these animals for research such as drug safety studies. I think [the indictment] is going to constrict the pipeline even more, says a U.S. consultant on industry and academic monkey research who has worked in the field for decades but asked not to be named because of concerns of damaging relationships with his clients. The ANA said their plan was to take the monkeys to the Phnom Tamao Zoo, but only temporarily. According to CITES trade data, Italy imported the largest quantity of nearly 41,000 specimens in two massive shipments in 2020 and 2021. As Cambodia leads the global macaque market, the depth of the allegations against its government and largest monkey farm have cast doubt over the entire trade. Facebook 'Nuisance monkeys' relocated from temples to zoo to protect tourists Wed, 30 December 2020 Mom Kunthear The Apsara National Authority (ANA) captured 16 macaque monkeys that had been living in and around the Bayon Temple compound. Cambodian Officials Charged with Wildlife Trafficking, a 'Wake-Up Call The U.S. Department of JusticeannouncedKrys arrest on 16 November, also slapping charges against Cambodias Forestry Administration Director General Omaliss Keo. The findings of a2023 studyhighlight the incredulity that Cambodia is meeting market demands legally. Facebook. Southeast Asia Globe is member-supported publication featuring in-depth journalism that promotes a more informed, inclusive and sustainable future. The letter stated Cambodia's six operational monkey farms had a total stock of nearly 56,000 macaques in 2014, a year when the Kingdom exported barely 5,000. The company did not respond to a request for comment but in a public release strongly denied any wrongdoing. In total, the indictment alleges that 2,634 wild-caught macaques with a declared value of $9.3 million were illegally brought into the U.S. Nao told RFA that only he had the authority to sign . It's illegal to own macaques, and most other wild animals, as pets in Cambodia. Former Hwang Colleague Faked Monkey Data, U.S. Says. According to an ANA notice on December 28, in addition to causing disturbances involving tourists the monkeys had posed a risk to the temples by inadvertently knocking stones loose and causing other minor damage that could become a problem if it accumulated over time. The species is nomadic and roams through the forest, eating fruits, flowers, grains, and insects foraged from trees and on the ground. Based on these numbers, the researchers calculated the farms would have needed to breed almost double their stock to about 103,000 macaques to support the roughly 33,000 exported in 2020. When you think of Cambodia you think of the temples of Angkor Wat but you dont think of a monkey attack! "We saw a complete change in the pattern of the global trade in macaques throughout the pandemic," said Kite, co-founder of animal rights group Action for Primates. We saw a complete change in the pattern of the global trade in macaques throughout the pandemic, said Kite, co-founder of animal rights group Action for Primates. According to the DOJ indictment, two high-ranking employees of Vanny Resources Holdings, a Hong Kong-based company that breeds monkeys for research, paid millions to black market suppliers and Cambodian wildlife officials to capture thousands of cynos from national parks and other protected areas of Cambodia, and to fake their paperwork to indicate the animals had been bred in captivity. A significant sum when compared to Cambodias recently-raised minimum wage of $200 a month for garment workers, a major industry in the Kingdom. According to Pheaktra, there are a small number of stump-tailed macaques to the west of the Mekong River and a moderate number to the east of the rivers in Cambodia. Canada brought in more than 26,500 millilitres of Cambodian-origin macaque specimens from 2017 to 2019, which was a larger volume than any other country trading with the U.S. He also suggests genotyping every monkey used in a research study to better trace their origins. Aggressive macaques removed from Angkor Archaeological Park The adults are silvery grey and their young are a distinc. New Investigation Exposes Horrifying, Hidden Cruelty to Baby Monkeys in At the time, Masphal Kry, deputy director of wildlife and biodiversity, was on his way to an international meeting about trade regulations for endangered species. "According to a study conducted by the environment ministry and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS Cambodia) in 2020, within the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary the number of pig-tailed macaques has increased from 733 in 2010 to at least 1,473 in 2020," he said. Ive seen them steal glasses! Cynomolgus macaques, also known as long-tailed macaques or cynos, areby farthe monkey species most imported to the United States. Nearly seven in 10 of those monkeys landed in the U.S. My goal is to inspire you to seek your own unique experiences and provide useful information to help you on your journeys. but it banned the sale of wildlife at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.