[Click on picture for larger version]
I took this picture of a pig-tailed macaque (beruk) at a fishing jetty near Port Klang yesterday. He had a companion in a separate cell, a female with only one arm -- apparently a birth defect. Their keeper said he had raised them from babies. As captive monkeys go, they seemed reasonably well-cared for. They were lunching on fresh carrots and mangos when I saw them. The man said he sometimes takes them on leashes to swim in the ocean. He hopes to breed them when they are older, thus creating more captives -- an appalling thought.
Despite the occasional dip in the sea, these monkeys are still prisoners, confined for life, unable to move about freely or bond with other monkeys. (Of course, it's possible the one-armed female would not have survived in the wild.) At this point, it would be crazy to remove them from their keeper, as they have no experience in their natural environment. Very likely, the authorities would simply put them down. The only way to put an end to the plight of captive animals like this would be for the government to prohibit the keeping of Wild Animals as pets -- and to enforce the prohibition.
Right now, it is possible to get a license from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks to keep monkeys as pets. The authorities are supposed to monitor the conditions under which the monkeys are kept and ensure that they meet certain standards, however, after repeated queries to the Department, I have not been able to discover what those standards are. I reported the case of a monkey being badly kept -- on a short chain, in filth, being beaten. The Department said they investigated and found no problem with the monkey's living conditions (although later, they apparently removed the monkey in response to a complaint from my Malaysian neighbour).
Ultimately, it comes down to human awareness. Wild animals are not appropriate pets.
Categories: Animal Welfare
