Dear friends, did you know that in March 2022, the global status of Long-tailed and Pig-tailed Macaques had been declared as endangered?

Well, it’s not so surprising, since there have been a lot of Indonesian media coverages highlighting the nightmares faced by these monkeys in recent years. Traded in live animal markets, kidnapped from their homes to be exported as objects of laboratory experiments, had their teeth pulled out by pliers to be made into dancing monkeys, and even blended—yes, in a blender—for contents enjoyed by internet psychopaths!

Many have expressed their protests towards this injustice and cruelty faced by the Long-tailed Pig-tailed macaques, including local Indonesian organisations JAAN​, AIPOM​, Koalisi Monyet Ekor Panjang​, KPHI, and international organisations Asia for Animals​, Action for Primates, and The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), all showing the urgent situation faced by monkeys in Indonesia.

Actually, there is a way to minimise the mistreatment of these monkeys, while securing a space for them to live in their colony peacefully. There is Act of The Republic of Indonesia, Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning Conservation of Living Resources and Their Ecosystem (KSDAHE). Article 21 paragraph 1 of Law No. 5 prohibits anyone to “catch, injure, kill, store, possess, nurture, transport, and trade-in protected animals in alive condition;” and Article 21 paragraph 2 of Law No. 5 prohibits anyone to “store, possess, nurture, transport, and trade-in protected animals in dead condition;”. Anyone who violates it will be convicted.

The monkeys could only obtain this legal protection status if Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry, is willing to declare Long-tailed Macaques (Macaca fascicularis) and Pig-tailed Macaques (Macaca nemestrina) as protected animals.

The circulating evidence of violences covered by the media, as well as their status as endangered animals, should already be a strong reason for the monkeys to be given legal protection. However, as long as Mrs. Nurbaya remains silent, there will be more monkeys out there being exploited. Until one day, there would no longer be a single long-tailed macaque nor pig-tailed macaque who remains, for they are left to be extinct.

Best wishes,
Primates Fight Back Coalition
Consisted of various animal protection organizations, musicians, artists, and conservation communities in several areas of Indonesia. Formed to fight for the end of exploitation and violence experienced by the Long-tailed and Pig-tailed Macaques that are currently endangered.