Illegally keeping and using macaques for entertainment purposes on social media in Vietnam
On June 26, 2024, Thanh Hoa provincial authorities responded to a publicly reported crime via the ENV Wildlife Crime Hotline and confiscated two macaques from a YouTuber who had been illegally keeping these monkeys for the purpose of using these animals as entertainers on his YouTube channel.
Since the confiscation by the authority of the illegal macaques, the YouTuber has actively been mobilizing his international fans to help him retrieve the monkeys, promising a substantial reward for the return of the animals. As a result, ENV has received many requests from foreigners via emails, phone calls, and social media asking ENV to return the monkeys to the YouTuber.
Every year, thousands of macaques are poached from their homes in the wild and trafficked to meet the demand for macaques as pets, or for use in traditional medicine, and as lab testing animals.
Dealing with the rapid growth of the pet macaque trade in Vietnam is a major challenge for law enforcement authorities across the country. Unfortunately, some enterprising social media users have capitalized on the exploitation of pet macaques for entertainment on TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and other social media platforms. Showcasing their pet macaques on social media has become a highly profitable form of illegal business for some macaque keepers.
However, such showcasing of illegally obtained animals is not only illegal, but it also encourages others to engage in similar activities, resulting in many more animals being hunted from the wild and exploited as entertainment on social media.
“If you love animals, please stop supporting this industry. Your clicks and likes inadvertently help fuel the demand for more wildlife being taken from the wild,” says Ms. Quyen Vu, Executive Director of ENV. “If you want to lend a hand to protect wildlife and stop the illegal hunting and trade of wildlife, please contact social media platforms where wild animals such as macaques are found and urge them to remove those videos,” urged Ms. Vu.
All five species of macaques are protected by law in Vietnam. Violations involving these species range from administrative fines to prosecution.
ENV is committed to working with our government partners and members of the public to protect our country’s biodiversity by combatting the illegal hunting and trade of wildlife that threaten the survival of macaques and other species in nature. Reducing consumer demand and ensuring that the law is enforced is a critical part of achieving this goal.
