15 January 2025: CITES Secretariat recommends suspension in macaque trade from Cambodia

Action for Primates has welcomed a recommendation from the CITES Secretariat to suspend the trade in long-tailed macaques from Cambodia. This recommendation to the CITES Standing Committee will be voted on at a forthcoming meeting in Geneva on 3rd-8th February 2025. If accepted, the Standing Committee will recommend that all member countries stop importing long-tailed macaques from Cambodia.

This recommendation follows a CITES Review looking into the breeding and trade in long-tailed macaques, which has questioned the validity of the source codes used on CITES export permits, in particular claims of captive-breeding. A five-year US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) investigation into monkey trafficking revealed that wild long-tailed macaques in Cambodia were being falsely labelled as captive bred at Cambodian facilities (including Vanny Bio Research (Cambodia) Corporation Ltd). Unable to breed enough long-tailed macaques to supply the demand from the USA import and user companies, it was claimed that Vanny Bio Research started to illegally source wild-caught monkeys and export them labelled as captive-bred. The USFWS subsequently denied permits for the import of macaques from Cambodia, but other countries, including Canada, which has imported thousands of macaques in recent years, have continued to do so. The exploitation of this species is driven by the global trade in long-tailed macaques for the research and toxicity (poisoning) testing industry.

Sarah Kite, co-founder, Action for Primates, stated: We welcome this recommendation by the CITES Secretariat. Action for Primates, with other wildlife and conservation groups, has for many years been pushing for greater conservation protection for the long-tailed macaque in Cambodia and neighbouring countries, raising concerns about the credibility of captive-breeding claims, the conservation status of the species and the impacts of increasing international trade on that status.

Investigation of the macaque trade in Cambodia was recently the subject of a Bloomberg documentary: "The Dirty Business of Monkey Laundering | Bloomberg Investigates".

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora