Sunday, November 23, 2008

Animal rights group slams Cambodia monkey trade

An undated handout picture taken recently by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) shows a wild monkey trapped in a forest in Cambodia. An animal rights group says Cambodia is flouting international conventions by allowing the cruel capture of monkeys for research in the United States and China. A report to be released on November 24, 2008 by the BUAV says thousands of long-tailed macaque monkeys are taken from the wild each year and kept in cruel conditions before being exported. REUTERS/BUAV/Handout
A handout picture taken recently by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) shows a wild monkey collected from a submerged trap being handed to one of the trappers in a forest in Cambodia. An animal rights group says Cambodia is flouting international conventions by allowing the cruel capture of monkeys for research in the United States and China. A report to be released on November 24, 2008 by the BUAV says thousands of long-tailed macaque monkeys are taken from the wild each year and kept in cruel conditions before being exported. REUTERS/BUAV/Handout
A undated handout picture taken recently by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) shows monkeys kept at Vanny Bio-Research in the Srok Kean Svay district in Cambodia. An animal rights group says Cambodia is flouting international conventions by allowing the cruel capture of monkeys for research in the United States and China. A report to be released on November 24, 2008 by the BUAV says thousands of long-tailed macaque monkeys are taken from the wild each year and kept in cruel conditions before being exported. REUTERS/BUAV/Handout
An undated handout picture taken recently by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) shows a recently caught wild infant monkey in a forest in Cambodia. An animal rights group says Cambodia is flouting international conventions by allowing the cruel capture of monkeys for research in the United States and China. A report to be released on November 24, 2008 by the BUAV says thousands of long-tailed macaque monkeys are taken from the wild each year and kept in cruel conditions before being exported. REUTERS/BUAV/Handout
A handout picture taken recently by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) shows rows of cages, used to house monkeys, at Vanny Bio-Research in the Srok Kean Svay district in Cambodia. (BUAV/Handout/Reuters)

Sun Nov 23, 2008

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - An animal rights group says Cambodia is flouting international conventions by allowing the cruel capture of monkeys for research in the United States and China.

A report to be released on Monday by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) says thousands of long-tailed macaque monkeys are taken from the wild each year and kept in cruel conditions before being exported.

Thousands more are raised on monkey farms in conditions so far removed from nature that they are traumatized for life, it says.

While the long-tailed macaque is not endangered, the group says the unregulated trade is already having an effect on population numbers and leading to a degrading of Cambodia's jungles.

"People around the world will be shocked by the findings of the BUAV investigation and to learn of the suffering inflicted on Cambodia's monkeys," said Michelle Thew, chief executive of the organization.

"At a time when there is growing international concern over the plight of primates, we urge the Cambodian government to protect its indigenous macaque population."

Apart from humans, the macaque is the world's most widespread primate and includes 22 species ranging from Africa to Japan.

They are highly intelligent and adapt well to living in urban areas where they frequently earn a love-hate relationship with locals on account of their mischievous ways.

The report says nearly 10,000 monkeys were exported from Cambodia last year -- mostly to laboratories and primate dealers in the U.S. and China.

International conventions discourage the use of captured wild animals for research, preferring second-generation breeding stock instead, but BUAV says this is widely ignored in Cambodia.

The report said as many as eight out of 10 macaques trapped in the wild died before reaching the laboratory as a result of poor treatment, handling or trauma.

The BUAV has called on the Cambodian government to better regulate the industry and to ban the capture of wild animals.

It also urges the U.S. and European Union to prohibit imports of captured wild animals and to press for better conditions at monkey breeding centers.

(Writing by David Fox; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Cambodian leadership and those in the National Assembly are animals. We should snatch them into burlap rice sacks and lock them up in cages too.
Inhumane treatment of powerless animals by animals with 2 legs (one with a glass eye).

Anonymous said...

9:37AM - You are right man! The government is doing nothing to protect endangered animals in Cambodia. I went to Wat Chulong Malu during Pchum Ben in 2007 and a lot of monkey were there. Again I went to the Wat in 2008 - No single monkey is there. I think they were all captured and sold. At Kirirum National Park, if you ask for wild meat i.e. Boar you can have it. How about elephants, Tiger etc. I doubt who in the government responsible for this? What Ministry? Have they ever read such article? How can we compare ourselves with the neighboring countries in this wildlife protection? All fucking government officials from top to bottom.

Anonymous said...

These monkeys look like Ah Pleu-Oversea.

Anonymous said...

if we (people) don't help to save the animal, who will save them?

Anonymous said...

This is animal abuse at it's worse.
Removing these monkeys out of their natual habitat, and placing them in research laboratories, is a crime against nature. It should be against the law.
We need to stand together, and use our voice for Cambodias monkeys.
USA

Anonymous said...

No kidding, the thing is the Cambodian leadership can't even treat their own people with respect, it's unlikely they're going to respect animals.

Hmmm, true buddhists huh?

Anonymous said...

The stress and psychological damage on these animals would render any research results void one would think.

Do you really think any God would render any benefit to one species from brutally torturing another? There will never be any helpful results from any of this type of research.

This is where an when we need to send in the peace keeping troops.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone seen the exploitation and abuse against the monkeys in the temple at angkor wat? Browse YouTube. Even the Wildlife Alliance in Cambodia is suspicious of the high number of "orphans" due to mothers deaths. These people have caused so much pain and suffering. Browse YouTube and look for the channels of "asean", Kha Pro, Idol sweetpea, Navy Tube, The Wichita, and Pity Monkey--and this is just a very short list! They now have another infant taken illegally and are "rescuing" it. Never mind that every one they touch dies or is permanently disabled due to lack of care. YouTube has been getting complaints for MONTHS and does nothing!