"Each year, thousands of long tailed macaques are bred and captured from the wild for sale in Jakarta where they face a life of exploitation and cruelty. There are three main fates awaiting macaques: the pet market (including “Topeng Monyet”), research (export) and food (Indonesian based Chinese restaurants).
Over recent years JAAN has actively campaigned and lobbied to end the exploitation of macaques in Indonesia, in particular those macaques used for the cruel “Topeng Monyet” trade.
Young macaques are caught from the forests by poachers and sold (the price straight from the trapper is Rp 25.000 or US$2). In Jakarta, for Rp. 70,000 (US$7) a young macaque can be purchased. Macaques are sold in pet shops, bird markets and in front of shopping malls by street vendors. The baby macaques attract people because they look cute and are cheap to purchase.
The macaques can be seen kept on short chains, on the street and often in front of the owner’s house. While growing up to adulthood, the chain often grows into the skin, leading to horrific infections and tetanus. Macaques are highly social creatures and in need of social contact. Macaques also form potential health hazards in urban areas due to the likeliness of disease transfer.
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Recently Governor Jokowi agreed with the need to stop this practice.
The new regulation formed by Governor Jokowi was implemented in October 2013 and is a very big step towards primate protection and general animal welfare in Indonesia and will end the cruelty now inflicted on thousands of monkeys captured from the wild to be exploited on Jakarta’s busy streets."