Eight people were charged by federal prosecutors with trafficking endangered monkeys. One of them was a Cambodian wildlife official, who was traveling to the United States for a conference about protecting endangered species. endangered species.
The official plus a colleague in that country’s wildlife agency and six people connected to a Hong Kong-based company were involved with breeding long-tailed macaques for scientific and academic research, supplying them to labs in Florida and Texas. The group was accused of illegally buying wild macaques from their breeding operations to support the business.
International trade law protects long-tailed macaques. To import these animals into the USA, special permits must be obtained.
Masphal Kry, the deputy head of Wildlife and Biodiversity within Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, were arrested Wednesday at John F. Kennedy International Airport. New York.
Kry, 46 years old, was visiting Panama to participate in an international meeting to regulate trade in endangered species. This was according to a U.S. official who spoke under anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
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Omalisss Keo (58), is the director general of The Southeast AsianAlong with six Vanny employees, the eight-count indictment includes charges against the country’s Forestry Administration. Officials did not say whether Kry or anyone else had been taken into custody. Each could be sentenced to up to 145 year imprisonment.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida stated that the macaque was already listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. We must end the illegal taking of macaques from their natural habitats to keep them in labs. Responsible conservation must always be prior to greed.
Pictured outside Singapore’s Thomson Nature Park, July 20, 2022 are long-tailed macaques. Eight people were accused of smuggling endangered monkeys to breed. They were accused of illegally buying wild long-tailed macaques to run their business.
(Then Chih-Wey/Xinhua via Getty Images
The indictment states that Vanny Resources Holdings founder James Man Sang Lau (64), and Vanny Resources Holdings general manger Dickson Lau (29), both operated from Hong Kong and conspired to purchase wild macaques to be exported to the U.S. falsely labeled as captive bred.
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According to officials, the macaques were transferred from Cambodian national parks and other protected areas to breeding centers where they were issued false export permits. Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries were paid $220 each for a collection quota of 3000 “unofficial” monkeys.
“Wild populations and the health and well being of American citizens are at risk when long-tailed Macaques are taken from their natural habitats and illegally sold in the USA. United StatesU.S. Edward Grace, Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement Assistant
The Panama conference, which brought together delegates from 184 Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITIESM), includes a Nov. 23 session on threats to species that the Cambodian officials are accused of trading in.
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The longest-tailed macaque, which is almost exclusively used for laboratory research, is the most traded primate in the CITES Database. The CITES Trade Database shows that more than 600,000. were exported from 2011 to 2020 and are either born in captivity or declared to have been bred there. In 2020, almost 165,000 live specimens were shipped.
