Prisoner on the Beach
[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
posted by Pyewacket at 10:05 AM
3 Comments:
I read your piece with much consternation towards the atitudes of some people towards wild animals and actually animals in general. I have often seen the monkey chained up in the food stalls in Bangsar for everyone to oogle at ...sigh...
I have seen monkeys in Bangsar, too. It seems as if many people are lacking the imagination to empathize with what an animal experiences -- loneliness, frustration, boredom, physical discomfort, etc. That's the only explanation I can think of for how some people treat animals. Empathy is learned as a child; I think the only way to achieve real change is to consciously nurture empathy in children. As for adults who are empathy-deficient -- I guess we have to persuade the government to control their behavior by law. But when the authorities also lack knowledge, empathy and imagination, how will they enforce the laws? I join you in that sigh. But I'm so glad to hear from someone who cares.
The other thing that does bog me sometimes is the reporting/complaining mechanism - there simply isn't one - I am amazed that when a lay person notices something amiss and feels compelled to report (ie monkey in duress in Bangsar) , he/she has absolutely no clue where to turn to and has to spend some hours calling up to get to the relevant authorities.
Sigh again.....
Anyway, wonderful links from your blog - I have put myself up to volunteer with the conservation of orang utans when needed.
I use to serve as a population geneticist in efforts to conserve coral reef fish and am always on the lookout for conservation efforts since coming back to Malaysia.
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