Macaques in Thailand

[Rsantos]

I have spent more hours trying to find answers to my questions through various searches and sites than I care to even try to speculate on.

 

So rather than ask a complicated question to a forum of people I doubt care much about the topic, I'll ask this:

 

Does anyone have a friend, family member, or close acquaintance who is actively involved in rescue / rehabilitation / training macaques in Thailand, specifically macaques confiscated from the illegal pet trade?

 

I've sent so many emails to various relevant NGO's like Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand that I wouldn't be surprised if they have voodoo dolls of me scattered around their properties. I think the pandemic is just keeping these groups too busy, I can't get a response from any of them (no, it's not because I'm asking them weird questions, I'm literally just trying to volunteer time / money and seek information on conditions in Thailand).

 

I know there are groups of people who protect, provision, and look after these macaque troops near tourist sites and temples but it has proven effectively impossible for me to find any of them through vain, badly-translated Google searches. So I figure there's little to lose by asking if anyone happens to know somebody, however long a shot it may be. Maybe someone on this forum has a friend in Lopburi who's involved in helping orphans and seizing illegal pets in that area? Not likely, I know.

 

About me: I'm a licensed wildlife rehabilitator in Washington State but I have never worked with non-human primates. I'm interested in working with young macaques in particular because I made the mistake of typing "baby monkey" into a Youtube search one time and got exposed to the horrors inflicted on poached infants throughout the region...getting shot out of a tree with their mothers is just the beginning of the nightmare for these tiny animals. Now I'm determined enough to help that I'm willing to move to southeast Asia to do it, bizarre as that may sound.

 

Sorry for the strange question.

[PJHassselt]

https://www.firstschoolformonkeys.com/abused-monkeys/

 

First read this, most stories you read are not correct.

 

Then contact this place, https://www.firstschoolformonkeys.com/

 

Probably they can help you.

 

[cooked]

There's this guy: https://www.facebook.com/PaulBartonPiano/about

who does answer if you post him. Foto taken in Lopburi where he has good contacts.

[Rsantos]

On 3/26/2021 at 9:50 AM, PJHassselt said:

https://www.firstschoolformonkeys.com/abused-monkeys/

 

First read this, most stories you read are not correct.

 

Then contact this place, https://www.firstschoolformonkeys.com/

 

Probably they can help you.

 

I appreciate your reply PJ and you raise an important point that I didn’t make clear in my original post: I am not interested in attacking traditional commercial coconut training regimens for macaques in Thailand. I never once bought into the international hysteria over “coconut slaves” and I feel pretty safe in my default assumption that the “truth” is probably just about the exact opposite of whatever a group like PETA says.

 

When I say abuse, I mean the trend of poaching newborn monkeys and making Youtube channels devoted to slowly killing them by playing “mommy.” Try searching “baby monkey” on YouTube sometime, it is absolutely awful. Most of these channels are in Cambodia and Indonesia, but they’re starting to pop up in Thailand now too. That’s what I’m here about, I’m not worried about coconut monkeys at all, unless of course I ran into a school using brutal training techniques. I have actually reached out to a couple of these schools but there’s so far been no way to convince the owners that I’m not some undercover journalist / activist trying to burn them. 
 

I’m a lifelong animal lover but not an activist. I value reason and pragmatism too much.

 

I’ll try reaching out to the school you suggested and thanks again for taking the time to reply to my weird query. 

 

 

[Rsantos]

18 hours ago, cooked said:

There's this guy: https://www.facebook.com/PaulBartonPiano/about

who does answer if you post him. Foto taken in Lopburi where he has good contacts.

That’s a good idea, Cooked, thank you! I have seen his videos many times and I will definitely be spending time in Lopburi because of them. I wouldn’t have thought to contact him directly but you’re absolutely right, he may very well have contacts in Lopburi that I could ask for.

 

Thanks!