The long and short of it is that if the person advertising is outside of Taiwan, there’s nothing that can be done. If his/her e-mail address were Yahoo or PC@Home, these providers could be asked to trace the owner, but alas. Amanda literally said it’s up to customs Taiwan then but that “customs don’t care about these things”.
If the monkeys are in Taiwan, there’s still not much that can be done, because Taiwan doesn’t (yet) have many laws in place regarding internet trading. To make matters worse, if the monkeys are NOT of an endangered species, then under the current law, one can even get a permit to open a store here to sell these monkeys…
Amanda also said that she’s noticed that the wildlife trade (as in customers!) is moving into Taiwan, Korea, Philippines, mainland China, with the expanding economies meaning more money (for some) to spend. Sad, sad, sad.
I also called the Dept. of Agriculture, but no answer. Amanda didn’t get my hopes up as far as the government goes anyway. They may have the best of intentions, but have extremely limited resources.
I will ask Taiwanted to remove these let-me-put-it-mildly objectionable ads.
It already was a fad in Taiwan, leading to a 10% decline in the global population of orangutans, which are an endangered species.
[quote]Taiwan’s trouble
The fad for pet monkeys (man’s closest relative) in Taiwan was fueled in the mid 1980s by a popular TV show featuring an orangutan that lived as a member of a human family.
Adult primates - especially males - tend to be aggressive and unmanageable. In other words, they make terrible pets. Dozens were consequently dumped by their owners, leaving the country’s primary endangered animal rescue centre - Pingtung - inundated with (often physically abused) gibbons and orangutans[/quote] monkeyworld.co.uk/press.php?ArticleID=18
[quote] Tuan is a male orangutan that arrived at the park on 24/01/02. We estimate that he was born during 1987. Tuan was found wandering loose in Táichung City, Taiwan and it took 3 days to capture him. He will have been smuggled from the wild as a baby and kept as an illegal pet until he escaped from his previous owners. Tuan gets on well with all of the females and Gordon.
RoRo is a female orangutan that arrived at Monkey World on 19/07/2000. We estimate she was born during 1988. RoRo was smuggled from the wild and kept as a pet, in a case, in the kitchen of someone’s house in Taiwan. She was rescued by the Taiwanese Authorities and sent to us to become part of our breeding programme for orangutans.
Lucky is a female orangutan that was smuggled from the wilds of Borneo for the illegal pet trade in Taiwan. She was confiscated by the Taiwanese Authorities from an amusement arcade in Kaoshiung county.
Hsiao-lan is a female orangutan that arrived at the park on 24/01/02 and we estimate that she was born during 1994. Hsiao-lan was rescued by the Taiwanese Authorities after being found at an amusement arcade in Kaoshiung.
A-mei is a female orangutan that arrived at the park on 03/03/04 and we estimate that she was born during 1994. She was smuggled from the wilds of Borneo for the illegal pet trade in Taiwan. Taiwanese authorities confiscated A-mei and she was cared for at the Pingtung Rescue Centre before being re-homed [/quote] monkeyworld.co.uk/topic.php? … e=standard
[quote] [color=red]It is estimated that about 1,000 baby orangutans were smuggled to Taiwan from Kalimantan on Borneo between 1985 and 1990 and sold as exotic pets. This accounts for at least a 10% decline in the wild population [/color] (this percentage includes all those that were killed or died in the smuggling and poaching process; a conservative estimate of over 3,000 animals). The reason for this surge in orangutans as pets was a result of a popular Taiwanese television program that featured a live orangutan as the perfect pet and companion. As a result the demand was met through smuggling and poaching. Eventually the cute and cuddly orangutans grow up and become unmanageable. Many have suffered from neglect, poor nutrition and serious health problems such as tuberculosis and hepatitis B. A few lucky ones were returned to Indonesian rescue centers for rehabilitation and reintroduction into the wild.
In 1990 the government of Taiwan passed a law making it illegal for orangutans to be kept as pets and most have been confiscated and sent to rescue and centers such as Pingtung Rescue Centre for Endangered Wild Animals in Taiwan monkeyworld.co.uk/ [/quote] honoluluzoo.org/orangutan.htm
Hello,they are 100% legal and sold with health guarantee and all certificates without which I wouldn't have been able to ship them internationally.Where are you located?Do you have any handling experience?Looking forward to hear from you.
Thanks[/quote]
The reply I got. Don’t really see the point of responding. Doesn’t seem to be anything illegal about it and I can’t be bothered getting into a “I hate animal traders” back-and-forth with her.
It’s a case of opinion v. opinion, unfortunately. If she can’t see the irresponsibility of shipping off almost-human babies to anyone with a credit card and the ability to say they have experience, then the nicest I can label it is sheer ignorance.
Oh, s(he)'s ignorant allright, but that could suggest innocence. What s(he)'s doing is deliberate maliciousness all for the greenback, says my simple brain (and I SO tried to keep my contributions neutral)
No reply (yet) from Taiwanted BUT THE ADS ARE GONE! :bravo: :bravo: :bravo:
Besides, I’m not sure it is legal. So far none of us is aware of any illegality involved even after some preliminary investigation. But the one person who was referred to above may be unaware of some potential illegality or may have overlooked something. If you really want to stop these monkey traders, you might want to look into it further. Try these folks:
I might not agree with the “almost human” bit – I’d feel the same if they were, say, baby crocs or hippos – but the rest is bang on. I wonder if the “handling experience” part is just to make her feel better about what she’s doing.
Come to think of it, I think I WILL respond with a “I don’t have experience but I’m willing to learn” message. If she’s on the level, she should reject my offer out of hand, don’t you think?
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. We do reserve the right to remove any ads we deem inappropriate, so I have removed them and written to the advertisers asking them not to post again.
We will also review the way the ads are moderated to try and prevent this happening again. If you do catch one, please advise me and I will remove it.
[quote]Hello, I’m a Scottish bloke who lives in Taiwan. Yesterday, an Internet forum here with which I’m involved carried an ad in its classified section advertising for sale captive-bred “tame” baby spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, marmosets and tamarins. They are advertised as being fully licensed and health certified and can be shipped internationally. I believe the seller is not in Taiwan. The seller claims that she will only sell to “experienced handlers.”
It seems shocking to me that someone can pack these creatures into a cage and send them halfway around the world to anyone with a credit card and the ability to type “Yes, I have experience.”
I have a bad feeling that there’s nothing I can do about this and that she’s not doing anything illegal, and I would DEARLY like it if you could tell me otherwise.
Could you please advise me on this?
Thank you for your time.
[/quote]
I sent this to the contact address at Monkey World Apre Rescue Centre. Let’s see what they have to say.
I received the email from Marjan this lunch time and yes, I have taken down the ads. I have replied which you are probably reading right now (feel free to post it btw). I replied to you before reading this post.
It is still difficult for us to moderate the ads as they come in, but please do let me know straight away if you have any concerns about ads being posted. A PM is best or you can email admin@.
Hope you don’t think any of this reflects on you Malc. Not the case at all. No-one expects you to be constantly scanning the new ads that come in for “levels of appropriateness” or whatever.
I thought we were blaming Malc. I’ve just organized the pitchforks and torches! [/quote]
Don’t throw them away just yet. We can still use them for that “other thing” about Malc. You remember – the thing Maoman said we weren’t allowed to talk about on account of, you know, that THING about him.
Isn’t it better that we do get to see these ads? I’m sure people that browse on Taiwanted are a little more concerned with what should be thought about twice.
They will just find another place to advertise, and we won’t be able to do something about it.
I saw a caged monkey yesterday. It was pacing the cage up and down, and looking very frustrated. Apperently, it belongs to the community leader (who’s running a gambling ring in the neighborhood. He sat at a table in the middle of the road on the lookout for the police. Luckily he didn’t see me taking pictures of his monkey!) So, I have the address of where the monkey is located, but it seems to me that it’s okay to own a pet monkey in Taiwan now?
