Aggressive macaques removed from Angkor Archaeological Park, Hun Sen honoured as patron of Buddhist fellowship, PM offers appreciation to workers on Intl Labour Day, Japan plans fireworks display to celebrate ties anniversary, Westerdams return a symbol of Kingdoms care for, Kantha Bopha treats over 70,000 kids in Apr, PM warns extremists who threaten election process, Manet praises medics for Covid-19 sacrifices, Third round of ministry, NGO consultative meetings May 3. In a separate incident on Saturday, police officers and rangers from Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary arrested a man for illegal wildlife trafficking. The alleged smuggling ring is part of a global, billion-dollar wildlife trade industry, which in Cambodia has long been under suspicion oftrafficking wild macaquesthrough the legal trade of captive-bred monkeys.Bribes for ministry officials reached tens of thousands of dollars over the years, indicated a U.S. court document, which also noted a hefty donation from Vanny Bio Research to Cambodias ruling political party at the request of the now-indicted director general. Wild populations of long-tailed macaques, as well as the health and well-being of the American public, are put at risk when these animals are removed from their natural habitat and illegally sold in the United States and elsewhere, said Edward Grace of the U.S. Rich types of monkeys at the temple complex of Cambodia. By notifying the local authorities directly, they are able to take steps to protect the macaques and other wildlife in the Angkor complex. The indictment, which carries multiple felony charges, will likely exacerbate the shortage of these monkeys, used in everything from drug safety testing to vaccine research, says Dave OConnor, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who studies infectious disease in cynomolgus macaques. The ride into Siem Reap is surprising. The Angkor Wat monkey troop was in full force. 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 annual Corruption Perceptions Index. Have you ever had an unexpected incident good or bad involving animals on a trip? Who is Monica Bertagnolli, Bidens pick to lead NIH? That may be whats fuelling the alleged illegal trade in Cambodia. Cambodias Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has issued a diplomatic note to the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh requesting clarification about the arrest and for the release of Mr. Kry and for him to stay at the Cambodian Embassy in Washington, Nao shared. They are found in Cambodias protected areas, particularly in the Cardamom Mountains, where they live in dense and semi-dense forests. We had opted for a direct flight from Ho Chi Minh City, the last leg of a long journey through Vietnam by train, boat, bus, car, foot and tuk-tuk, the ubiquitous southeast Asian rickshaw. The now-indicted Omaliss, who also serves as the chairman of the CITES Scientific Authority for Terrestrial Forest and Wildlife Resources in Cambodia, said in a 2016 article by Khmer Times, a widely considered pro-government outlet, that no licence for the capture of wild macaques had been approved since 2010. A welcome sign stated that the farm would not accept any interview from any media.The owners and managers of this facility, as well as two Cambodian government officials, were indicted by U.S. prosecutors for wildlife trafficking in November. 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. This is all a for-profit trade. If we've learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's that we cannot wait for a crisis to respond. The final destination Washington, D.C. The fact you have government officials involved, surely must raise question marks as to what could be happening in other facilities in Cambodia, said Sarah Kite, who is a part of a primate transportation monitoring network. Learn more about Angkor Wat before you arrive in order to maximize your trip. Alongside these legal concerns, Chaber also points to the risks that mixing wild-caught and captive-bred monkeys could have on global health. The companies running the facilities are not named in the indictment, but in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week, Inotiv disclosed that its principal supplier of nonhuman primates was the target of the DOJ probe, indicating that the company gets most of its monkeys from Vanny. Animal rights activists angry as over 1,000 macaques imported from Cambodia in 2020 for research Canada has approved the import of roughly 2,500 non-human primates annually from the U.S., but. OConnor suggests one solution: ensuring that all captive-bred animals have extensive pedigree records, which could be kept in a global registry. Preap Socheat, a specialist from the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre in Takeo province's Bati district who took part in the removal of the macaques at the Angkor Archaeological Park, told The Post on Sunday that more than 20 of them were relocated. All told the area is larger than the 5 boroughs of New York City combined! travelswithtalek.com also participates in other affiliate programs and may receive commissions through purchases made through each link at no cost to you. The move upended the . Today, primatologists fear that ecosystems without macaques could have concerning effects on Southeast Asias forests. In the morning we were in a rush to get out and see Angkor Wat but right outside the house, I saw a monkey holding her baby. We tried walking around them but they again blocked our path. We provide an element of an answer because the numbers provided to CITES do not match with Cambodias farming capabilities.. Anything that happens within the American import and export trade will have repercussions on the supply chain throughout the world.. Ive seen them steal glasses! The largest one, which spans 40 hectares, is a stones throw away from a provincial Forestry Administration building. Homeland Security Agent Ricky Patel stated in the release that federal agencies will continue leveraging all of our authorities to stop people and organisations from violating our laws regardless of where they reside in the world.. One of the only public documents with information about in-country breeding facilities is a leaked 2014 letter from the CITES Management Authority in Cambodia, which until recently was led by the indicted Omaliss. A parent and baby monkey peer down from their safe vantage point in a tree in Cambodia's Phnom Sampov. But there is really no difference between the two trades. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The 13 birds have been released into the natural forest, he said. Thailand is also thought to have a sizable population of this species. We removed some macaques from the Angkor Wat area because they were too vicious and caused problems for tourists and the roofs of the temples. The billion-dollar legal industry draws heavily on the long-tailed macaque species to provide monkeys for medical experiments. He also suggests genotyping every monkey used in a research study to better trace their origins. She notes the European Union is poised to pass a law this month that will ban the import of all wild-caught animals and their offspringand says the United States should do the same. We provide an element of an answer because the numbers provided to CITES do not match with Cambodias farming capabilities.. The farm exported more than 40,700 live macaques to the U.S. from 2020 to 2022, according to data published by the head of Cambodias Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. 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. The species was one of the main animal models employed to test COVID-19 vaccines, and researchers are increasingly using the monkeys to study Alzheimers, Parkinsons, and other diseases. 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. U.S. federal court documents allege this international wildlife smuggling ring used the legal trade of captive-bred monkeys to launder thousands of wild-caught monkeys into U.S. laboratories over at least four years. The letter stated Cambodias six operational monkey farms had a total stock of nearly 56,000 macaques in 2014, a year when the Kingdom exported barely 5,000. Now is the new season . November 28, 2022. He said only the most troublesome animals had been removed. Washington, DC 20036 Buyukmihci, who founded the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, said the units used to measure the specimens provide clues. I swear I am not making this up. "They have been released into the forest near Tnort Chum commune's Prey Khla village, in . You plan for many unexpected incidents on a foreign trip. You have to be very very careful when youre around them because they will attack and they are very unpredictable and very territorial. Cambodias dominance of this trade, which spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic, leaves researchers boggled and pointing at the countrys murky monkey business. Due to the risk of the activities, this is a global concern, said Anna-Lise Chaber, a public health expert and lecturer at Australias University of Adelaide, who recently published a study on the primate trade. I love your monkey attack story monkeys are really something else! Adding to the researchers doubt is how farms more than doubled exports after 2019, when just under 14,000 monkeys were traded. Sek Seng, deputy chief of the Animal Rescue and Treatment Office under the Forestry Administration, said the monkeys will be temporarily kept at the Phnom Tamao Zoo. There must have been 15 monkeys out there. The world is a village. They have been released into the forest near Tnort Chum communes Prey Khla village, in Pursat provinces Krakor district. The indicted Vanny Bio Research is Cambodias largest monkey exporter in recent years. They spend a lot of time in tall trees, jumping from branch to branch in the morning. One of the only public documents with information about in-country breeding facilities is a leaked 2014 letter from the CITES Management Authority in Cambodia, which until recently was led by the indicted Omaliss. The 102 monkeys were in poor condition, some with wounds and . . Besides the ecological impacts to the dwindling number of wild monkeys, veterinary scientists say mixing poached animals with the farmed population could pose a global public health risk by potentially exporting diseases to foreign labs. His superior, Forestry Administration Director General Omaliss Keo, was also charged in the indictment but remains free in Cambodia. Representatives from the Wildlife Conservation Society, Wildlife Alliance, Fauna & Flora International, Conservation International and WWF-Greater Mekong all declined to comment on the subject, pointing to its political sensitivity. Preap Socheat, a specialist from the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre in Takeo provinces Bati district who took part in the removal of the macaques at the Angkor Archaeological Park, told The Post on Sunday that more than 20 of them were relocated. Wildlife can be laundered from illegally obtained wild animals into legal captive bred animals in the countries of origin, which complicates enforcement. However, research in Cambodia discovered that there are 56 groups of them.". Photos by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe. WWF-Cambodia said more than the others but not by much. They carry diseases and can easily bite or scratch people.. This could magnify the potential illegality within the primate trade since one monkey is likely sliced and diced into multiple types of specimen, from blood to brains. If this is going to happen, it will not be good for supporting conservation of primates, Omaliss said in the 2016 article. If the Forestry Administration considers them to be new measures, it is unclear what it had been doing since Vanny Bio Research was certified to operate in 2004. Kosal said: There are thousands of macaques in the Angkor Wat area. Washington, DC 20036 David Grimm is the Online News Editor of Science. Malene Friis Hansen, director of the Long-Tailed Macaque Project, told theGlobein a January interview that the species is ecologically vital. Next. However, some videos of the monkeys being caged and taken away were posted on YouTube by people who accused the authorities of acting immorally, treating the monkeys in an inhumane manner and even killing them. These can be hit or miss but Ive found most to be clean, comfortable and centrally located which is really all you need. If this is the reaction from the supply side, then we think there needs to be much stricter controls on the demand side, says Eric Kleiman, a researcher at the Animal Welfare Institute, an animal advocacy group that has closely followed the issue. That was a while ago. "Pileated gibbons inhabit dense and semi-dense forests." The research community needs to be held accountable for whats happening to this species.. The pipeline is likely not sustainable. The practice of illegally taking them from their habitat to end up in a lab is something we need to stop, said Juan Antonio Gonzalez, a U.S. attorney. The ANA noted that operations to capture nuisance monkeys at the temple and relocate them happened almost every year because they become accustomed to people, especially if they are fed. To see such a rise in such a short period of time, it is almost astounding to the point where you almost have to ask: If it is real, they are doing something incredible. Thanks for commenting. Members work with our team to shape our editorial direction and hold us accountable. There are knock-on consequences for any trade involving the U.S. and its import and export of macaques for research.. imports of macaques. ANA spokesman Long Kosal said when they decided to intervene and capture the monkeys, they went to the officials at the Forestry Administration who readily agreed to help with the effort. You can fly direct to Siem Reap from all southeast Asia capital cities and many secondary cities as well. We arrived exhausted in Siem Reap around 9 PM with our hassle-free Cambodia visas on arrival. There were some members of the public who frowned upon the monkey removal raid, according to Kosal. Not being accustomed to spending time around a couple of dozen hungry macaque monkeys, some tourists were alarmed and complained to park authorities. This could magnify the potential illegality within the primate trade since one monkey is likely sliced and diced into multiple types of specimen, from blood to brains. 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. The ANA said some of the wild monkeys had become too accustomed to receiving food from tourists and other people and this had effectively domesticated them, turning them into animals more akin to pets, but not entirely given their frequent habits of stealing food and biting people. "According to a 2020 study conducted by the environment ministry and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS Cambodia), the number of pig-tailed macaques within the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary has increased from 733 in 2010 to at least 1,473 in 2020," he said. According to Pheaktra, the Apsara National Authority, Wildlife Alliance, and Forestry Administration released four pileated gibbon families into the Angkor Archaeological Parks forests in order to protect and conserve the species. As a country, Cambodia traded more than 33,000 live macaques in 2020, more than half of the recorded global macaque trade that year. Disclosure: travelswithtalek.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. there are a lot of new baby were born in temple area. I love my country and I am dedicated to bring you the latest news about travel and tours in Cambodia. It also raised new ones about the role U.S. labs may be playing in re-laundering allegedly wild-caught animals through specimen exports. This was not cute anymore. Monkey Shelter Cambodia, we care monkey. Masphal Kry was en route to an international meeting about trade regulations for endangered species. That was a wild experience. Angkor Wat is such a massive tourist draw that Siem Reap has its own airport. WWF-Cambodia said more than the others but not by much.Wildlife trafficking remains a serious major crime globally, the office wrote to Globe. In that same period, for the first time recorded by CITES, Canada also imported more than 2,000 live macaques directly from Cambodia. bucket list places to visit once in a lifetime. Another video featuring still images and captions claimed that the ANA took a total of 40 adult and juvenile macaques to be slaughtered. In 2020-21 this increased to $10,000 and in 2021-22 it increased again to between $20,000-$24,000.. The court document, filed in the state of Florida, lists dozens of illegal, overt acts. If found guilty, defendants would have violated CITES, according to American and Cambodian laws. It is a vast complex of massive temples built between 1130 and 1150 as a Hindu structure dedicated to the god Vishnu. By now Im screaming get it off!get it off!. But the nearly 50-year-old system is infamous for legal loopholes and data deficiencies. I couldnt believe what had just happened and how aggressive monkeys in Cambodia could be. Nearly 30,000 entered the country last year, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which regulates the import of nonhuman primates. Additional reporting by Sophanna LayThis article was produced in collaboration with Kontinentalist, with the support of The Pulitzer Centers Rainforest Investigations Network. The more mild-mannered ones can help to attract tourists to the temples because they are generally well-loved and very photogenic. U.S. federal court documents allege this international wildlife smuggling ring used the legal trade of captive-bred monkeys to launder thousands of wild-caught monkeys into U.S. laboratories over at least four years. Knowingly or not, the labs re-exporting these specimens could be further laundering macaques poached from the wild in Cambodia, enabling importers to look past the Kingdoms alleged corruption. The Kingdom made up 78.5% of the global trade in 2020, according to the CITES trade database, which also recorded that three in every five of those monkeys were exported to the U.S. Cambodia traded more than 32,300 macaques worldwide in 2020, nearly doubling the amount of exports from the Kingdom the year before. "It eats a wide variety of fruits, leaves, flowers, and insects.". In that same period, for the first time recorded by CITES, Canada also imported more than 2,000 live macaques directly from Cambodia. The ANA said their plan was to take the monkeys to the Phnom Tamao Zoo, but only temporarily. Last year, Inotiv purchased the major research animal supplier Envigo (under fire recently for a series of animal welfare violations at one of its beagle breeding facilities), making it the worlds largest supplier of nonhuman primates for research. As the Cambodian government remains tight-lipped, conservationists wonder if the charges will spark change. The prevalence and profit of the live trade often overshadows the specimen market, which lengthens the supply chain for Cambodian monkeys. From a consumer perspective, it is quite difficult to question the legitimacy of a particular animal with the documentation, said Daan Van Uhm, a criminology professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who has studied the E.U. "There are about 30,000 of this species in eastern Thailand, and there are some in southern Laos, but there are relatively few pileated gibbons present there.". Males measure between 20 and 26 in (52-65 cm) tall and weigh between 22 and 27 lb (10-12.2 kg). Photos by Anton L. Delgado for Southeast Asia Globe. Macaques such as these are prime targets for a growing network of international wildlife trade, fuelled by growing Covid-19 vaccine demand. 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science. That valuation is echoed in. They arent stupid. 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. At the age of six, gibbons become adults. On top of that, Canadian labs bought an additional 159 live monkeys from the U.S. that originally came from Cambodia. In China, approximately 1,700 pig-tailed macaques are known to exist, while approximately 1,500 are known to exist in India. Your tax-deductible contribution plays a critical role in sustaining this effort. FACEBOOK. As the start of a global supply chain that connects multiple countries, a disease outbreak in a farm as large as Vanny Bio Research could have international consequences. Cambodia is a ratified party of CITES. The authorities are continuing to search for more macaque monkeys thought to be present in the Angkor Park area to join the 16 already in custody, first at the zoo and then at their new home in a sanctuary. But in what conservationists call an ironic tragedy, Kry was apprehended in New York for smuggling endangered wild monkeys into the United States. According to the IUCN, there are over 65,000 pileated gibbons worldwide, with Cambodia accounting for more than half of that total. If they appear to be in good health they will be released into the wild again but into an area that is free of tourists and other people. According to CITES trade data, Italy imported the largest quantity of nearly 41,000 specimens in two massive shipments in 2020 and 2021. Some people think Angkor Wat is just the main temple that graces the Cambodian flag but it is actually a complex covering over 400 square miles with many other temple complexes. However, the industry has come under scrutiny when in November this year, federal prosecutors charged eight members of a primate smuggling ring for their role. It usually weighs between 8 and 12 kg. If you are looking at the actual origins of where these body parts are coming from, then it is difficult to know how many macaques were involved in that trade, said Kite, who previously managed undercover investigations into primate labs. 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. So, illegal trade and trafficking of the species is against the law.. (Rhesus macaques, another heavily used monkey species in U.S. biomedical research, are mostly used by the academic community, which largely obtains them from national primate research centers.) As in the live trade, CITES tracks the import and export of specimens, which areofficially definedas any readily recognisable part of an animal. No units of measurement were noted. Taking the time, even though the mind boggles at doing these calculations, to arrive at a feasible number gives us that backing, Warne said. In order to get specimens, you have to have the live animal somewhere, said Nedim Buyukmihci, an emeritus professor of veterinary medicine from the University of California-Davis who published a 2023 paper on animal welfare in labs. Sanctuary director Prom Vibolratanak told The Post that the 34-year-old suspect was detained by technical officials in Sre Khtum communes Chhneng village, in Mondulkiri provinces Keo Seima district, after police discovered 13 birds in a Lexus RX330. It's illegal to own macaques, and most other wild animals, as pets in Cambodia. 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. Kosal added that 16 macaque monkeys had been captured so far, but efforts were still ongoing. 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. A Khmer version of this story can be found onFocus Ready For TomorrowandSoutheast Asia Globe. According to CITES data, Cambodia maintained this high level of export in 2021, trading 31,000 macaques. This is not just a national issue since this is an international trade. But nothing like what really happened. On your way to these adventures I hope to provide you with useful information to help you get there. Cambodia traded more than 32,300 macaques worldwide in 2020, nearly doubling the amount of exports from the Kingdom the year before. 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. Nao, who chairs the Cambodian delegation to the 19th Conference of the Parties the event Kry was travelling to stated that a meeting had been arranged with the secretary-general of CITES to discuss the situation. Chilling, drinking and fighting - random clips of monkeys being monkeys!COPYRIGHT SONG- laxcity, good morning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKNouEIjTdo Government officials have steadfastly denied the corruption charges. They typically live in small groups of two to five people, which include the mother, father, and children. I imagined exotic vistas, imposing stone carvings peeking from lush junglesand yes, maybe a couple of Angkor Wat macaque monkeys. It is unclear if any tangible policy or regulation changes have taken place within Cambodias farms. I so want to go to Cambodia and meet those macaques. The crazy videos published on YouTube are mostly created for financial gain or to get people to click like and share them. We bring the sick monkeys to rescue center for treatment and bring them back to the troop. If you are looking at the actual origins of where these body parts are coming from, then it is difficult to know how many macaques were involved in that trade, said Kite, who previously managed undercover investigations into primate labs. The letter stated Cambodias six operational monkey farms had a total stock of nearly 56,000 macaques in 2014, a year when the Kingdom exported barely 5,000. Large swaths of Cambodia are designated protected areas, but while laws supposedly safeguard these En route to a meeting about protecting threatened species, a government official was arrested for smuggling endangered monkeys, raising questions about Cambodias breeding industry. Those listed in mass are probably tissue from organs such as the brain, liver or muscles. 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. We asked for everyones cooperation to safeguard the public, the temples, and the monkeys themselves, he said. The shipments that arrive in the U.S. hold enormous value: One, of 396 long-tailed macaques on Nov. 11, 2020, was worth more than $1 million, the indictment states. This blog was created to inspire your travels and to explore experiences in fascinating locations. The monkeys had been disturbing tourists recently and there was some concern that their presence could damage the temple ruins by causing wear and tear on them over time. An email sent to The Post claimed the animals that were removed included adult males, juveniles and about seven nursing female mothers who left behind three-month-old babies to suffer an agonising death of starvation and vicious attacks. June 23, 2020 5:22pm. Authorities have collaborated to relocate several particularly aggressive long-tailed macaques from the Angkor Archaeological Park to protect tourists and the temples. It is important to build that whole picture and drive home how significant this issue is.. Kosal denied rumours that had been spread about the death of two of the monkeys. Demand for the species skyrocketed after the outbreak of Covid-19. This is not just a national issue since this is an international trade.