Regulators say Cambodia lags on monkey trade reforms

International wildlife regulators report that Cambodia has shown little advancement in reforming its biomedical monkey trade, roughly one year after receiving official guidance to overhaul management practices. An October document from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, indicated that regulators cannot confirm or dismiss fraud within the country's exports of endangered long-tailed macaques.

The findings arrive prior to a November Standing Committee session in Geneva, where participating nations evaluate whether reviewed countries comply with international benchmarks or risk trade sanctions. Cambodia drew global scrutiny following an investigation by the United States Fish and Wildlife Services, which gathered evidence indicating commercial farms were falsely labeling wild-caught macaques as captive-bred animals.

Specialists note that laundering wild primates heightens the danger of pathogen transmission from animals to people while depleting local ecosystems. Wild populations of long-tailed macaques in Cambodia fell between 50 and 70 percent over the previous three decades.

According to the CITES Secretariat, Cambodian officials have not produced sufficient documentation proving that six previous reform directives were fully executed. The regulator noted that domestic laws dating back to 2006 remain unaligned with treaty standards. Furthermore, authorities continue capturing wild monkeys to stock breeding operations without completing population studies, erroneously viewing animals taken from public spaces as outside wild classifications.

Oversight mechanisms also face operational hurdles. When asked for complete permit records to verify individual identification numbers, the government submitted only five examples. Officials also provided no records regarding the destruction of numerical neck tags, which risk being reused fraudulently to disguise wild primates. In addition, an electronic microchipping initiative originally scheduled for late 2026 was postponed to 2028.

Cambodia exported over 182,000 macaques between 2020 and 2024 to satisfy biomedical research demand, including more than 56,000 sent to the United States. Following the exposure of alleged laundering in 2022 and subsequent purchasing freezes by private laboratories, exports dropped substantially. Cambodian agricultural ministry representative Khim Finan dismissed unproven allegations and stated that the nation remains focused on collaborating constructively with international regulators.