We have recently again been inundated with requests to rescue several Macaques and accusations about our alleged involvement in the abuse of these animals.
The Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team has rescued several primates from Angkor in the past that were reported by individuals such as yourself. The team is tasked with combating the illegal wildlife trade throughout the country, rescuing victims of trafficking and ensuring the best outcomes for each individual. We have recently been inundated with requests to intervene and rescue infant macaques that are seen on YouTube. We appreciate your concern and agree that no one wants to see this individual, or any animals, suffer.
However, our rescue team was created to combat the illegal wildlife trade and has limited resources. Sadly, we do not have the capacity to rescue every injured or abused animal in Cambodia, and by continuing to intervene in these matters and remove the animals we are just perpetuating these videos, channels and the behaviours of the filmers responsible for them.
As you may be aware, there are suspicions that the videographers filming these macaques interfere with the animals to ensure they have filming opportunities. We have been informed that often these interferences are of a cruel nature, such as causing or faking the death of a mother to ensure there is an orphan to film. A recent trend has been to hurt the macaques or otherwise put them in dramatic situations and then the VO’s will play the rescuers. The number of followers on the YouTube channels ensures that videographers are making a lot of money from their videos and therefore have a significant financial interest in continuing this activity.
However, you can help!
By taking the three steps outlined below, you can work to stop the abuse of these animals:
1) Most importantly, STOP WATCHING the YouTube channels. There is evidence that these filmmakers are abusing and otherwise interfering with these wild animals, including possibly killing individuals. By continuing to watch these videos you are directly and financially supporting these individuals and condoning and encouraging their behavior by doing so. They will not stop abusing the animals whilst they are receiving views and followers and therefore generating money from their videos.
2) Complain to the relevant authorities. By notifying the local authorities directly, they are able to take steps to protect the macaques and other wildlife in the Angkor complex.
Their details are as follows:
- The Apsara Authority – info@apsaraauthority.gov.kh
- The Cambodian Government Forestry Administration – info@maff.gov.kh or https://www.facebook.com/fa.maff.gov.kh/
- The Cambodian Ministry of Environment – info@moe.gov.kh or https://www.facebook.com/Ministry-of-Environment-314699302002531
3) Report any videos and channels such as these that exploit and abuse wildlife to YouTube. By reporting and flagging the videos, and encouraging others to do so, you can remove the financial incentive to continue abusing the macaques. Animal abuse is against YouTube’s terms of service, and they have recommended reporting the channels as ‘violent threats’ with a brief explanation.
As an animal lover, you can stop the abuse of these wonderful creatures.
Thank you for your help.
At Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center (PTWRC), Wildlife Alliance cares for and rehabilitates animals rescued from the illegal wildlife trade.
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This week 5 monkeys were allegedly “put down” by you according to the VO’s. I didn’t even read that on a video from them but a different corner of YouTube. The situation is just bizarre and everyone is blaming each other.
I understand that you will likely be far too busy to respond to individual comments, but I do have a question if anyone at WLA has time to read it:
Regarding the information you have received about the abuse of macaques on YouTube – is this information coming from third parties, such as govt authorities? Or is it coming solely from viewer complaints?
The reason I ask is because I have seen many blatantly false(and frankly, hilarious) accusations thrown at VOs. There are a subset of viewers who seem determined to blame VOs for anything and everything. Some examples: a monkey that was nervous around humans kept showing her rear end to the cameraman in a classic submissive gesture. In the comments, people accused him of raping the monkey??? Since she was clearly displaying “sexual” behaviours towards him.
In another, a cameraman filmed a territorial dispute between adult male macaques in which you can clearly see one sustain a laceration to his flank. In the comments, the cameraman was accused of everything, from slashing the monkey with a knife, to maliciously kidnapping and releasing a rival male nearby to incite violence.
I ABSOLUTELY agree that VOs deliberately form unhealthy relationships with the macaques, making them too habituated towards humans and accustomed to begging for food. They do this knowing it’s wrong in pursuit of money. Some are guilty of other things(cough – the emotional destruction of Santa – cough).
But I would ask you to take any reports from “concerned viewers” with multiple grains of salt. Some are truly delusional or downright malicious.
Of course, my opinion is contingent on the fact that I haven’t seen concrete proof of accusations – only accusations being thrown around in YouTube comment sections, which are infamous cesspits of trolling and misinformation. I am open to the possibility that I’m wrong!
Anyway, as always WLA, thanks for your hard work and your patient handling of the macaque madness.
Thank you WLA for posting this blog entry. As someone who has contacted your organisation previously when I was concerned about this very matter, it is actually very helpful to know where you actually stand and what your capacity is. While it is a little disappointing to hear that you are unable to be as involved in cleaning up this situation (so to speak), it is also completely understandable. I am sure that if you were adequately resourced, adequately funded and had the correct permissions to do so, that you would definitely want to be involved in ousting those savages who are exploiting these innocent creatures for financial gain.
I have to say that after everything I have witnessed in the videos I have previously watched, yours is the only organisation I trust within Cambodia. Before I was savvy to what was really happening behind the scenes, if there was a clip that showed an injured animal that one of the channel operators managed to capture and take to a local vet, I was impressed with their compassion. It did not take long, or a whole lot of investigation, to learn that on occasions the so-called “vets” in the videos were just people acting the part of a vet. In fact, I was even more surprised to learn that legitimate vets were hard to come by in Cambodia and that many of the so-called “vets” who operated clinics are not in fact vets at all … they are only accredited to basically desex cats and dogs.
I will be sure to share the link to this blog post as much as I can with everyone, but particularly those viewers who really need to be educated. The viewers that are constantly posting comments about how wonderful it is that these VO’s are taking such good care of these animals. It’s still so hard to believe that peoples delusions can be so powerful, even in the face of so much evidence to the contrary. At this stage, however, it does seem easier to educate the viewers then to try and get government to act upon the situation. It would be hard enough getting a legitimate government to act, but trying to get a corrupt one to do something decent ….. well I just don’t have enough money to make that happen..
Thanks WLA
Really nice article we should for sure implent this!
I love those videos and I stopped watching except occasionally being unable to resist checking the welfare of certain individual monkeys.
Stop expecting WLA to prioritize these macaques, stop presuming to know what WLA’s priorities should be, they have been doing this we haven’t.
I hate seeing what the VOs do to them, I hate seeing them, or any living things come to harm.
The macaques aren’t endangered, although they are exploited.
Let these people do their work, stop trying to direct them.
If you don’t like it, stop watching the videos.
Believe me, I know it’s hard don’t try to be perfect try to be as consistent as you can.
Require each person have a license per channel to film the monkeys. That only one person filming per channel