Meet ‘Ground’ the Latest Monkey Saved from an Abuse Past!

Meet ‘Ground’ the 8-month-old juvenile long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis). She was brought to us from Chonburi by a lady who was keeping her as a pet and was concerned about legal issues with a wild animal. We have received an endless amount of reports of animals in need since the case of Mali the macaque last week. She was initially kept by a lady who kept her as pet in her apartment. Grounds mother was killed after being hit by a car. Unable to keep her anymore, at two months old Ground was handed over to a friend who then brought her to the WFFT Wildlife Rescue Centre.

The long-tailed macaque is listed as Least Concern (LC) by the IUCN Red list of Threatened Species, in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, tolerance of a broad range of habitats, occurrence in a number of protected areas. Females are often taken into breeding facilities and males are exported internationally primarily for use in laboratory research. Habitat loss and degradation due to human encroachment, pose the biggest threat to all macaque species. They are regularly persecuted as pests. Increasing competition between macaques and humans due the increase in need of land for agriculture and other human activities is the foremost reason that macaques are persecuted as pests. Hostile encounters with macaques are common in urban areas due to the active promotion of their presence for spiritual and entertainment purposes by provisioning food for the macaques. We (humans) both promote population growth through the provision of food and the protection habitat, and on the other hand we hinder it through the continued fragmentation of habitat, capture and exportation for research, and the pet-trade.

Upon arrival Ground was rather stressed, but after a few days of care and love at the WFFT Wildlife Hospital she is now settling in. Once out of her quarantine period we will start introducing her to other monkey at WFFT. She will once again be able to live within a troop of conspecifics. We will keep you update on her new life at WFFT.