JAKARTA: Indonesia is renewing a push to supply long-tailed macaques for biomedical research, setting its first export quota in four years as it looks to tap into international demand. The government has also inaugurated a new breeding facility in Lampung province, with officials pointing to the United States as the main market and China as another potential destination.The push has reignited debate over the trade in long-tailed macaques, which are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).Animal welfare groups have criticised the moves as undermining the protection of long-tailed macaques and out of step with moves in some countries to reduce the use of primates in research.
But local officials have defended the latest moves, stressing that strict controls are in place to govern the breeding and export of the animals, while pointing to their potential economic benefits and the need to manage conflicts between the primates and local communities, which have seen the long-tailed macaques attack and injure people as well as wipe out an hectares of crops before the harvest.
Local government officials, police and quarantine officers attend the inauguration of a long-tailed macaque breeding facility in Mesuji regency, Lampung, Indonesia, on Jul 31, 2026. (Photo: Facebook/Nuansa Mesuji)
