FOR COMMERCIAL
PURPOSES SEEN FROM
ANIMAL WELFARE
POINT OF VIEW
By: Atian Muhammad Zaky Fahrian
Translator : Ludmila
The first thing I’d like to address is that there are many content creators who keep wild animals and show them on their social media platforms. One of them is Macaca fascicularis, or as we call it, the long-tailed monkey. Actually, the content that these
creators post on their social media is simple, as if they show us that they really care and are passionate about primates and also post videos about how funny and cute those animals are. They also show us how easy it is to keep them as pets.
But what people should know, especially these so-called creators, is this recent news from IUCN. According to the IUCN, this primate species, Macaca fascicularis, is classified as an endangered or threatened species. The number of this species will decrease if we keep taking them away from their habitat, and soon they will be extinct.
Many of these creators show their pet primates when they are still so young and little (babies). Although they treat their pets as babies, when these primates start to get bigger and enter their mating age, they will show their aggressive and territorial nature. This could be dangerous
for their owners and people around them, and vice versa, because they already get used to being kept by humans and will find it hard to adapt to their natural habitat in the wild, or worse, they won’t even survive.
So, what impact would happen when these creators uploaded their videos? The desire of people to make this primate their pets and massive hunting to supply this demand
Aside from the difficulties of caring for and fulfilling their animal welfare, especially primates,
they also need enough nutritious food and a particular cage because they basically need to express themselves as if they are in the wild, or when they are sick, they will need a lot of money for the care and medications, and most importantly, they are social creatures, so by keeping them alone as pets, this will disrupt their psychology.
The most concerning thing is that they are animals potentially carrying zoonotic diseases. Zoonotic disease is an infectious disease that is transmitted between species (from animals to humans or vice versa). According to many studies done by scientists, primates can carry diseases or viruses that are deadly and have a high death rate of up to 80% in humans.
Lastly, I would like to ask everybody not to keep primates or any wild animals as pets. They would be more beautiful and
sustainable in their own habitat without abusing the slogan “SALAM LESTARI” on social media accounts, when the truth is we just want to enrich ourselves without any regard to animal welfare
No matter how strict the law made by the government is, it means nothing and will do nothing when certain animal species or ecosystems go extinct if we don’t have self-awareness.
“Primates are not domestic animals like dogs and cats.” THEY ARE WILD ANIMALS AND SHOULD NOT COEXIST WITH HUMANS”.
Reference :
https://www.iucnredlist.org/fr/search/stats?query=Macaca%20fascicularis&searchType=speci
es
This article was written by Atian Muhammad Zaky Fahrian, A.Md. Vet., a student in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, born in Tasikmalaya on November 10, 1999..
He loves everything related to animals and aspires to dedicate himself to the realization of animal welfare in Indonesia.
