Conservation authority the IUCN has upheld the endangered status of the long-tailed macaque after rejecting the U.S. biomedical lobby’s challenge to downgrade it.Demand from research labs has fueled illegal “monkey laundering,” with wild-caught macaques funneled through breeding farms in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and exported as captive-bred animals.U.S. industry lobbyists have opposed stronger protections to maintain access to macaques for biomedical testing, despite evidence of the widespread illegal trade.Conservationists warn that poaching, the pet trade and online abuse continue to endanger the species, and call for tougher laws and greater accountability.
BANGKOK — The long-tailed macaque will remain on the Red List of the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, despite objections from the biomedical industry arguing the designation hampers research that relies on the primate to test vaccines and drugs.
The IUCN escalated the conservation status of the species, Macaca fascicularis, from vulnerable to endangered in 2022 after macaques poached from the wild were found to have been laundered into breeding farms in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam supplying laboratories abroad. The National Association for Biomedical Research (NABR), a U.S. lobby group, challenged the listing, but the latest assessment, published Oct. 10, found that wild populations of the macaque had declined by 50-70% over the past three decades. That led the IUCN to reaffirm the species’ endangered listing.
