Video exposes trade of rare monkeys in Cambodia

A undated handout picture taken recently by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) shows monkeys kept at Vanny Bio-Research in the Srok Kean Svay district in Cambodia. An animal rights group says Cambodia is flouting international conventions by allowing the cruel capture of monkeys for research in the United States and China. A report to be released on November 24, 2008 by the BUAV says thousands of long-tailed macaque monkeys are taken from the wild each year and kept in cruel conditions before being exported. REUTERS/BUAV/Handout (CAMBODIA). FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS.

PHNOM PENH -- An investigation into the illegal animal trade has revealed graphic evidence of rare and endangered monkey species throughout Cambodia being captured and bred to supply the world's animal testing industry, national media reported Tuesday.

The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV), a UK- based animal rights group, released photographs and videos Sunday of industrial-sized monkey farms in Cambodia's Kandal and other provinces, the Phnom Penh Post said.

The group says that monkeys had been hunted, put in plastic mesh bags and transported by canoe to be confined in metal cages at the facilities, the newspaper said.

"People around the world will be shocked by the findings," BUAV Chief Executive Michelle Thew was quoted as saying.

"There is growing international concern over the plight of primates; we urge the Cambodian government to protect its indigenous (species)," Thew said.

Some of the footage taken by the organization shows "trappers" taking animals from swamps and jungles, including from nationally protected nature reserves, and throwing them in mesh bags.

Other footage shows the confinement of the monkeys in cages at a factory farm run by a company called Vanny Bio-Research in Kean Svay district, Kandal province.

The group expressed particular concern for the exploitation of rare species, including long-tailed macaques, which are listed on the Convention of the International Trade in Endangered Species.