A statement from Wildlife Alliance Director of Wildlife Programs, Nick Marx:

“Wildlife Alliance in cooperation with the Cambodian Forestry Administration rescued infant long-tailed macaque, Heidi, on Sunday, January 27th. We thank those concerned for their information resulting in the rescue. Despite our work to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade and ensure that the wildlife we rescue receives the best possible outcome we have received a certain amount of unfair criticism. For this reason and also because we are extremely busy, we will not be giving daily updates on Heidi, but our Social Media team will try to give reports on the progress of Heidi and also of Amari and Lori, the two macaques we rescued from Angkor in Siem Reap. Heidi is now being cared for in our Baby Nursery at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre, she is a bright little thing and she should be fine. Amari and Lori, also in our Nursery, have also recovered from their ordeals and are now in good health.

I take this opportunity to point out that the VOs who steal infant monkeys from their mothers are doing this because they can earn significant money by posting their videos on YouTube. This is cruel and is extremely hard for Wildlife Alliance or the Cambodian government to locate and crack down on. I appreciate the subscribers to the VOs’ videos watch and report what is going with the very best of intentions. However the VOs do not care, their motives are purely financial. We do our best to rescue wildlife that is in trouble and whenever we can, we release it again if we can ensure its survival. However, the best way to ensure this particular problem ceases is to stop watching the channels of these VOs.”