The Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team has recently rescued several primates. Once again we have been inundated with requests for updates regarding these individuals. We are all extremely busy rescuing illegally traded wild animals, ensuring these receive the most appropriate outcome and also raising the funds to ensure we can continue with our work. We apologize but do not have the time to respond to individual requests nor provide regular updates on all of the many animals we rescue or care for.
There are suspicions that the VOs filming these macaques interfere with the animals to ensure they have filming opportunities. We have been informed that often these interferences are of a cruel nature, perhaps involving the death of the mother to ensure there is an orphan to video. The number of followers on YouTube channels ensures that VOs are making a lot of money from their videos and have a significant financial interest in continuing this activity.
How can you help?
- STOP WATCHING the YouTube channels. There appears to be some evidence that these filmers are directly interfering with these wild animals, including possibly killing the adults to remove the infants. By continuing to watch these videos you are directly supporting these individuals and condoning their behavior by doing so.
- Complain to the relevant authorities, details below.
The Apsara Authority – [email protected]
The Cambodian Government Forestry Administration – [email protected] or https://www.facebook.com/fa.maff.gov.kh/
I had noticed that the VOs filming the macaques were doing harm, such as giving them medicine or foods that were not appropriate, foods that were even harmful.. However, I didn’t know they were killing moms, I saw that they took dead babies away and buried them. leaving moms without their time for properly grieving the dead child. I unsubscribed from their channels but continued to watch occasionally because I grew fond of certain individual macaques. After I learned how much harm the VOs were actually doing to these monkeys just to make money from them, I blocked them and refuse to watch. Thank you, Wildlife Alliance for all you do to help the wildlife in Cambodia. The animals there have few resources or places that can help, They need you.
Hello Debra. There is a YT video Who Kill King Monkey Brutus And Eat Meat at Bayon Temple. It is by Jane Chestnut. In that video it clearly shows the face of the Apsara Authority security guard/monkey assassin that killed Brutus. This lame excuse of a man and 3 of his assassins used sling shots n ball bearings to kill this beautiful King. Debra, can you please point me in the right direction on who i can complain to ?? Your help is greatly appreciated n needed. Im not gonna sit back n let these sorry s o b do this. Im not sure if i should put my e-m on here or what ? To correspond with you. Please advise.
P.S. Brutus was a gorgeous male Macaque
Yes, it became clear from other getko that the VO were operators. How could so many adult macaques disappear. It’s wonderful that you were able to treat Heidi, Abby, Axel and of course, Lori and Amari. I realize you cannot report on all the animals because of your workload but if you get a smidgen of time could we see a new picture of Lori. Thanks.
I have also left watching the vo’s who have been responsible for any harm to the macaques, I would like to see a pic of all the sweet ones you have been able to save. Amari, Lori, and the babies. Again thank you for everything you do.
Today one baby monkey died, mainly because the VO’s kept feeding/rewarding the kidnapper, so the monkey wouldn’t let the baby return to mother, she always close by. They named the baby monkey “Helpo”, who got no help at all…
Reporting on YouTube and to authorities doesn’t seem enough. Not sure if enough people care since these macaques are not endangered species.
But it is cruel to interfere and cause harm.
Helpo was a natural death. Cyclops had moved up in the troop and he was after Helpy. Infanticide is common among males who have earned more breeding privileges. Killing helpo allowed helpy to go into estrus faster than if she’d raised him to weaning. All normal behavior, albeit it doesn’t happen too often. In one video you can clearly see helpo dying while helpy is grooming cyclops. It’s sad, but it’s nature.
No it wasn’t a natural death and their were hundreds of other babies that were not Cyclops so stop lying, and besides that, Helpo was Cyclops baby. He kidnapped him because of all the food he got because of Helpo and people feeding him. Infanticide is fast and violent when it happens with male alphas, so it wasn’t the case. He didn’t mean for Helpo to die at all but wanted the food he got.
Some have done bad. Its the viewers who tell them to “rescue” that’s the biggest problem right now. Amy wasnt abused by the vos. I really liked the one who helped her. He refused to film her at his house. Not until the vet visit and then no more after that. Kaya i believe they had a hand in her mom disappearing. Not all of course but a few had to have known we would notice. You guys do amazing things for the animals over there. Not just the monkeys. I appreciate the update
There needs to be proof of interference otherwise it will go no where
Thankfully some of them are really bad at editing and they have left the evidence on many a video
Look, everyone of these VO’s is an adult and they have grown up with monkeys in there world and know what to do both to treat them properly and what abuses and interference will cause tem problems and issues. They have the ability to say to viewers, just like any of the good and fair and honest channels do when the viewers start pushing the wrong idea that they will not do what the viewers ask and educate them as to why doing so would be wrong or bad or hurtful to the monkeys. The only reason that they do not educate the viewer and refuse to do their bidding is that doing what they ask means more views for them and in turn more money.to them. they would worry that if they said they would not, even with a good and fair reason that a viewer might not watch then and they would lose a few pennies.
They have no care about the monkeys except what they can make the monekrys do for the sake of making some dramatic clips. There are also many viewers that have been made very aware of their interference, abuse, killing and kidnapping and still prefer to watch and be entertained by the ‘drama’ but say they care about the monkeys. If they did they would not watch or interact on their videos at all as even a thumbs down helps them and leaving comments is more helpful. If people really cared about the monkeys and what the VO’s are doing they would join the community email writing campaign to YouTube to shut down these channels or at least demonitize them, on the grounds of animal abuse and either force these guys to go get a job or find a way to document the monkeys fairly and without interference and all the other abuses they do.
There is no excusing these VO’s or what they are doing or saying that they do it for any other reason than the checks they get from YouTube every month. They do not care how they get the views or what they have to do to get them. These are not children doing the bidding of adults directing them what to do through comments and they are old enough to make their own decisions and be responsible for what they do. Most often the set up is to get the viewer to have the idea they want them to have to do something they know is wrong but the want the viewers invested in watching. they go to a lot of work to set up a situation as they know the viewers will start begging them too ‘rescue
the baby or do other things and then they can do it and get even more vies for it. Had they not done things to set up the whole scenario no one would be asking them to rescue the baby and if someone did they should be explaining that doing so is ripping a baby away from mom, the family and the troop and is bad for every monkey involved – but that would not make money. You cannot excuse what they do by blaming the viewers who are just responding in the way the VO’s want them to and set it up so they would.
It’s a tough job you have. I can’t imagine how many illegally obtained macaques and other wild animals you are dealing with. I also have stopped watching all YouTube videos except for one. That VO has never filmed such horrors. I truly believe he is one of the de ent guys. Some might know who he is. I usually don’t look for updates because I figure you know what your doing and if the animal is meant to live it will. There’s are just so many still out there with no help I’d rather know you are rescuing them and caring for the already rescued instead of posting updates God Bless
I would love to quit watching these channels. Unfortunately I started watching about Macaque baby Axel completely by accident. I fell in love with that baby. And now they have a new orphan, Santa, at Angkor . I really want to see what becomes of her. If she would go to WLA I wouldn’t worry. Alot of us have fallen into the same trap. If there was some way WLA could hire or allow one or two photographers to update us all on the rescues regularly, alot of us would stop watching. There is an enormous group that is very very interested in Axel. We are very anxious about him and would like to see him once a week or so along with other babies rescued recently. Axel could be a terrific ambassador for WLA. I am not joking about that. He is a special macaque. If you want to stop the VOs, start letting us see things from your site. Stop the cycle of exploitation from the VOs.
Vicki WLA runs on donations and you want them to hire photographers to update you? Don’t blame WLS, your reasoning is slightly skewed… why is it that everyone who has a big enough voice to demand videos (so as to stop the exploitation of the VO’s… )seriously? Why don’t you offer to write a check for
500 or 1000 dollars. That would go a long way in WLA being able to do their work instead of listen to demanding ppl wanting updates every week…geez…
There is one pigtail macaque named axel..they say the wla came and got him. He just vanishes under very weird circumstances.I think they took him to their homes and are rotating care for him..so they won’t get caught. Can anyone tell me what has happened to him? They also say he went to live in a mountain range..next time he’s at the wla with Lori,Amy,Sabrina,etc…which one is it,I wonder..thank you..
The one called Axle was on another YouTube channel. They bought it from a market. They already had 2 dogs and cats, also chickens. They spread coffee beans all over the back yard and the monkey ate them constantly. They set up a go fund me account so they could feed the monkey proper food.They had a young boy who used to tease the baby monkey. They suddenly had the boy out with the monkey feeding them both fresh fruit. Occasionally they had the monkey chained around the neck until people watching complained.
The animals walked all over the coffee beans all day long. Also they relieved themselves oeverywhere. God help the people would end up with the coffee beans. Not very sanitary to say the least. The monkey was given a bottle of milk occasionally during the day. It was quite close to the grandmother. She was very kind to him. He also played with the dogs. He loved to tease them and make friends.
When Axle showed up at the park pagoda one day, the other YouTube channel could not be found.
But Axle is the little monkey on the coffee YouTube channel. I am certain of it.
Thank you for all you do with all the animals. With so many odds against them at least the have a chance of a safe life with your help.
Debbie, can you show/say which channel is that what you are talking about?
If you’re talking about a monkey named “Min”, that family is from Vietnam.
Axel was in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
These VO’s simply care about one thing…money that’s it that’s all and if they tried to tell you any different they are lying I know of one newborn baby that they stole from a mother that baby was then given to another mother who lost her 2 month old baby. The mother the next day had marks on her face and looked dazed like she was drugged, and if any of you have watched these videos for long you know when a baby is lost the mother is frantic and searches for it. Now I can’t say which VO or which group of them stole her. The mother’s name is Belly and the baby’s name at the time was Billionia and after the new mother’s name is Fauna and Billionia’s name was changed to Farrah, and after me and some other viewers started to question the fact that Fauna could not have been pregnant and given birth that quick there were a lot less videos of Farrah.
I’ve heard Billionia is now Toto and lives in the cage Santa and possibly Heidi used to.
I love axel so much and worried what has happened to my baby. He was dealt an awful hand for sure. Wishing so many times I could have reached through you tube to hug love and hold him; letting him cling to me as much as he wanted.
PLEASE keep the updates going on this baby. *habit or not still love him*
Now, PLEASE there is ANOTHER baby in need of SERIOUS RESCUE (axel look alike, same habit) very disgusting owner. I believe he is in viet nam.
Is there a wla I can be put in touch with and provide the video links?
My heart breaks for the baby.
There is/was another baby that I figured out his right side toes were cut off, same owner; not a birth defect. At last video, he looked about dead.
Sadly, a few days ago a approximately 2-3 month old baby designated by the VO’s as Daniela was killed by a male after being lured far from her mother and the family groups and the members that normally watched her
If was with great frustration that we watched as the VO’s would do things as she was out exploring in the areas where the mothers and babies gather and would ring around and press in closer and closer until she could not find a way to get away and she would panic and give an alarm. This was usually done when the mother had left her in the charge of one monkey called DeeDee that the VO’s had convinced viewers was a cruel and evil and abuse monkey or one of the older females called Dolly who they also had convinced viewers was abusive to babies by tehri wild and fake video titles. Both these monkeys were of some family relation to the baby’s mother as she was with them all the time and she obviously trusted her baby with them and if they were abusive or kidnappers she would not. When the VO’s would do this and the baby alerted one of the monkeys would grab her and drag her away as fast as possible as is a pretty normal thing to do. they would stop after a short distance to try and pick her up but would see the VO’s chasing after them and assumed there was still danger and keep dragging until they had the baby back to the mother and other females and the VO’s backed off. They used this video clips along with otehr to cobvinbcevbiwers that teh baby was being abused and the viewers were calling for them to ‘rescue’ the baby.
The next interference that they started was to lure this baby to where no adults could see and stuff her full of food so that she would go back to the family groups and not be interest in nursing. Eventually her mother determines that she was ready to not just nuse as she wished and started to say no to her except at specific times. Of course no baby likes when this happens and it was a bit earlier then it happens to most because pf the over feeding the VO’s were doing and the baby carried on and cried and fought the mother to get to nurse and pretty soon, through very misleading video titles the VO’s had the viewers convinced that this a a bad mother starving her baby and keeping it from nursing. The mother was still nursing the baby but not just everytime the baby reached for the teat and the baby was getting plenty of milk and when mother nursed her she would nurse her to full and she would fall off to sleep in that nice “milk coma” state they have.
The baby was getting older and adjusted to more of a scheduled feeding time andthe VO’s were still causing her to panic as often as several times a day to get the dramatic clips they wanted to continue the idea that the baby was abused and that mom was starving her. The Vo’s kept feeding her but it got difficult as she was a pretty active monkey and would tend to eat a lot and then head back to mom and the other females with her mouth and pouches full of food which caused several run in with adults that took issue to her having food that were more rightly foods that adults should have had access to first. A few times they even opened her mouth and took the food away.
We realised that what they were trying to set up is that the baby would appear to be getting self sufficient with foraging and doing so well it was rarely nursing and that might signal mother to fully wean her, which would lead to more calls from viewers to take the baby away from a bunch of abusive monkeys and a mom that would not nurse her and ‘rescue her’ and then they would feel excused to take yet another baby from its mother plus once they have a baby they get donations from viewer to help pat for her care (which is usually horrible care).. We tried telling people what was going on and the VO’s were doing and that the real danger her is if mom did fully wean her it would be moths earlier then she should be and she would lose her primary source of protein in which to grow normally (this was also done to Heidi also and maybe why she had growth issues); However the feeding videos are popular and the VO’s had this ulterior motive and have a good campaign going on about people that try to expose what they are doing are working for the WildLife Alliance which they tell people is a poor agency which ends up killing the monkeys they would work so hard to save so hard to save and that what they say about the VO’s activities is to cover up their poor care of animals.and their inability to rescue them.
Anyway with the baby going back easily when full to her mom and getting caught with food that was getting taken away then by adults or the alphas the baby was then nursing almost as much as usual and mom was not thinking she no longer needed to be nursed. To solve this problem the VO’s started luring her, with food further and further from the family groups and they would stuff her full and she would not easily get back to her mother and adults to easily with food still in her mouth. Luring did not always work as often she was seen getting to far away form the safety of the female and family groups and they would drag her back to her mother – of course this gave the VO’s more abuse videos clips and so they were happy either way and would just start luring her again. Of course it was not hard to lurer her really as they had fed her a great deal and she had gotten to trust them.
They were taking her a very good distance out to an area where there were few monkeys at all and the other day must not have noticed alone male hanging about when they got her out where they could feed her. Apparently, not only did the male spot an unattended lone baby but one being fed food he deemed more rightfully food he should have and he literally jumped over the VO’s heads and went for the baby breaking her neck and disemboweling her. Because they were right there with video rolling while they took feeding pictures they had a front row seat to the attack. It very rare that a wildlife videographers that is not interfering with the wild life will get a video of an attack from before it started to the finish. the baby got one alert off but they were so far from the females and family groups that by the time a female arrived at a dead run and moving faster then I thought possible it was all over. The VO’s were very happy oy document that she had been disemboweled and there are several videos not only showing the attack as there were several there feeding her when it happened but they also made sure to document all the blood and guts afterward.
To add insult to injury later that day they snatched the bay away from the mother who was going through her grieving as were other troop and family members because viewers were call for then to bury the baby. So the mother now has to deal with the fact that they took the body and buried it and lal she can do is sit on the spot she saw they lace the baby. Of course she is mourning and just sitting there and not eating and the viewers are calling for her to be let to starve as she starved her baby and did not love it (which is totally untrue what they saw were due to interference by the VO’s to cause the things they filmed and edited into misleading clips and gave mislead or lying titles too).. I worry that they may do something to hurt the mother now, as I know a monkey will usually eat when hungry enough and she has older children that are around, but I don’t put it past them using poison again to make viewers happy to see the ‘cruel’ mother drop dead. Sadly, they already have a new victim and much younger baby that they are already starting to try and cause to panic and be scared so they can set up as having found another abusive mother and family group.
They don’t care about these monkeys are all but they seem to convince the viewers who have little knowledge of monkeys and think monkeys think and should act like humans, In many ways its not too different from the pet trade with the money they are making abusing and interfering with these monkeys and creating these videos that are telling bogus but dramatic seeming stories and its all at the cost of the monkeys and interference with their lives. There should be laws against what they are doing. We are askling YouTube to consider a animal abuse policy which would have these channel removed for what they are doing.
You are so full of shit!! Daniela was not “lured far away” from her family. Dana was just a few feet away and grabbed her as soon as Santra dropped her. Even if she had been “lured away”, do you really think they good get Santra to attack her just so they could film her? This is the kind of ignorance that will get these channels shut down from those of us who get so much enjoyment from them. Between WLA helping spread falsehoods of abuse with NO PROOF and the other ignorant viewers who do the same!! But no one can YET explain to me how if these animals are being mistreated and abused, they show no signs of it in their behavior towards humans but instead are completely trusting and relaxed even with their babies.
We get attached to these animals just watching them on video but these VO’s spend 7 days a week with them, watch them being born, give them their name, feed them, sometimes apply medicine and bury them when they die but they can’t get attached to them? I say it’s all ignorant racists or just plain ignorance spreading most of these rumors of abuse. I certainly wouldn’t be watching if I thought that was going on so why are they??
You are exactly what she was talking about. A complete fool that has no common sense. Easily mislead by poorly edited videos. Get a life. Because you have to be one of the biggest morons I’ve ever witnessed make comments.
pamela, this isnt a thread for you to try your hand at writing short stories of fiction, thats what reddit is for.And by the way, i wouldnt quit my day job if i were you…
Pamela you are completely wrong about the Daniela situation. If you look at the entire folder of Dana & Daniela videos in order with a primatology perspective, it is clear the entire trajectory of her life.
Dana is a lower ranking mother who fought off Dolly and DeeDees attempts to take her newborn Daniela the first week. These were bloody, multiple female fights where she flipped Baby deep under her to protect her best. At one point Markus tries to break it up and Dana tries to hide Daniela under Markus, hoping if he let’s baby cling to his undercarriage instead the alpha females wont take her. He declined to get that involved. Dana nearly lost an eye preventing the alpha females from taking newborn Daniela.
Among LTMs Alpha females (especially young adult “virgins” or juveniles ) will kidnap the babies of lower ranked mums as a dominance display. Hurting them means increase in the dominance display. Its usually a way to put mom in her place and directed at mom, but some are also fascinated with babies or just sadistic.
In LTM society a lower rank female is not allowed to take her baby back when the alpha females takes it. That is why if they keep a newborn a few days it dies of starvation with mom a few ft away.
In this case after Daniela was over a wk old and Dana and ad been beaten multiple times she realized she hadda give in to bullies. The alphas basically taught Dana she had to give up Danirla to them when they asked or theyd be brutally beaten again.
In all the videos, from that point forward anytime Dolly or Deedee so much as touches Daniela, even when nursing, Dana immediately extricated her and handed her over and left. And the second the kidnappers let Daniela be, Dana ran to her, nurses her and runs away with her facing upside down beneath her, which is the best protection from her being snatched out of Dana’s arms.
Deedee brutally abused Daniela when ever she had her. It’s not my opinion. It’s a fact. When Primatologists study abusive mothers in ltms one of their main operational measures of abuse is dragging the baby especially over bad terrain, especially at a faster pace. Daniela screams in terror the whole time and tries to cling to Deedee to avoid getting injured, and because a baby will cling to kidnapper unless it can see mom and believes she will and can help if baby can get to her. They must cling to something at all times and as this inborn fear of abandonment is often is faded by 2 mos, but if baby always afraid and insecure attachment to mom it will always cling even to abuser.
At 2 mos as a mom and baby they went through the prolonged fighting of the first partial wean. The way every mom and baby does about 2-3 mos. Is was harder for Dana because nursing was Danielas only comfort in life AND she could easily take a beating by that point. So in order to maintain control of her own teats with her 2 mos baby, she really had to be rough .
Daniela was killed by a male with her mom Dana a few feet away and she did cradle body. The male killed her for the main reason ltm males kill babies, which is they wanna mate with baby’s mom. But nursing moms are not in heat. They kill baby to put mom in heat so to mate her and she will have HIS baby instead. This is exactly what occured as Sandor mated with Dana after he killed baby Daniela.
Nobody pays attention to titles. I certainly don’t. But I’ll have eyes and a brain, and have read alot of scientific literature on LTMs.
Wow! This comment is loaded with way out there theories. Wrong theories.
.My husband and I did the behing the scene tour of Widlife Alliance last week. We got to see and feed Axel with some other young Macaques. Axel is doing great! We also saw Santa in the nursery. One of the workers took us to see Amari and Lori privately. They are doing wonderful, well feed and moving around.
Why don’t you stop spreading rumors of abuse when you have no proof? You and I know these animals exhibit NO signs of abuse from humans in their bahavior. If the VO’s were just creating filming opportunities, they wouldn’t always be calling your organization for a rescue which, by the way, they have sometimes been turned down by you. You are also benefiting from their videos whether directly or indirectly because of the monkeys they have sent you. I’m sure you have gotten donations since taking Lori and Amari. I am now not a fan of WLA after reading your post. We don’t need to be contributing to the ignorance out there. Don’t allude to abuse when you have NO PROOF. Some of the VO’s are very caring and attached to these animals and you have no right to damage their good reputation. I am very disappointed. Maybe you think you’re the only people who cares about wildlife in Cambodia. You have lost a supporter today.
Cherry Howell and Roxie you guys need to chill, she was referring to the VOs and not you. The way you two blew up, as if she was tal..kinng about you……wait unless you two are VOs. Now it makes sense.
Why do I get the feeling that YOU are somehow either directly or indirectly benefiting from the VOs?? And reputation?? Really, good reputation? I can proudly say I am NOW a member of Wildlife Alliance and YOUR reactions helped me make that decision. In FACT all the replies somehow defending this abuse helped to further that so thank you for expressing your complete lack of intelligence.
If you would allow Try Sitheng to update us about the Angkor macaques on his YouTube channel, you wouldn’t be bombarded with requests for updates. But for some reason, he isn’t allowed even though it’s his own personal channel. Just once every month or two would be enough but apparently even that is too much. It sure wouldn’t hurt your donations. Maybe you can give us a good excuse why this isn’t allowed.
pamela, this isnt a thread for you to try your hand at writing short stories of fiction, thats what reddit is for.And by the way, i wouldnt quit my day job if i were you…
I AM SO UPSET AT MYSELF FOR BEING SO GULLIBLE. I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THESE PRIMATES AND DIDNT KNOW ALL THIS WAS GOING ON.
WHAT HAVE THEY DONE WITH THE MOTHERS OF LIZZA, CARLITO AND FARRAH? HOW CAN THEY SEPARATE THIS BABY MONKEYS FROM THEIR MOTHERS AND AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE?
WHERE ARE THEIR MOTHERS?? WERE THEY KILLED?
OMG! MY HEART IS BROKEN.
Well said – we should know
There is no evidence at all that any VO has killed any of the monkeys they film. There are certainly concerns about overfeeding in some of the Cambodian troops, and things are not perfect when it comes to the interactions between monkeys and humans there. However there is no evidence that the VOs are killing or injuring these monkeys, and there are many trolls who deliberately spread lies and rumors about the local people and the monkeys.
Can you tell me please how is baby monkey lizza? She was admitted to WLA yesterday. WLA please tell us. Please post some latest photos on you tube or your site. I am really concerned about her. I will be grateful.
Can you at least say if Lizza died at WLA from infected wounds and lung edema contusions? VO shows video of her taken to you now says she died there. Was she ever at WLA? Some are saying no but th as t means the th impersonated your staff with shirt etc in a video.
I am sorry to bother you but if this is a lie it is a huge one that will be able to shut down channels. I just need to confirm whether you guys had her.
No one is killing the monkeys..There’s a woman who has a channel in hong kong who believes if she can get the Cambodian channels shut down her views will go up..So you all have been duped. It was one or two people contacting you under different accts.
Im not sure what is really going on over there with the monkeys but Ill say this Im a veterinarian assistant for 20 years now and I can tell some of these monkey have been drugged the most recent was a queen named Dolly after she gave birth to baby Dalton which some of the workers took turns keeping the baby after they said his mommy (Dolly) died. I believe a lot of stuff is going on over there and I hope people will open their eyes and really see the truth…..
Also why is it that all these mommies can’t feed their baby???? You never see that in the wild maybe 1 or 2 mommy won’t produce milk but not almost everyone of the mommies monkeys now something is not right and it seems to me every time they give the mommie monkeys water from a bottle either they can’t feed their babies or the mommie monkeys get sick and die. DO YOU THINK THIS IS NORMAL??? NO ITS NOT NORMAL SOMEONE IS HURTING THESE MONKEYS…