International Body Punts Decision on Cambodia Monkey Trade: PETA Statement

For Immediate Release:
February 4, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

After an appeal by the U.S. government and with support from the Canadian government, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Standing Committee today delayed a decision on the Secretariat’s recommendation to suspend the trade of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia, keeping the trade in review instead. Please see the statement from PETA Senior Science Advisor on Primate Issues Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel:

Today’s disgraceful postponement by the CITES Standing Committee is a step closer to extinction for long-tailed macaques, and it proves that backroom deals and industry influence over U.S. and international officials hold sway over what should be an independent, science-driven process. Cambodia was caught red-handed falsifying export paperwork and laundering tens of thousands of wild-caught monkeys into the laboratory supply chain. There is no proof that anything has changed. By ignoring mountains of evidence from a five-year undercover investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. CITES Management Authority, and PETA, the international body is choosing, at least temporarily, to safeguard profiteering corporations like Charles River Laboratories rather than the animals they are charged with protecting.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.