Men Carrying Dead ‘Monkey’ Bewildered MX Mall Malang

Visitors of MX Mall, Malang, East Java got bewildered by two men carrying around a dead 'monkey'. The monkey was surrounded by people wearing primate masks and bringing various posters. Apparently, the parade was only an act staged by activists of Protection of Forest & Fauna (PROFAUNA) Indonesia, who were celebrating the Indonesian Primate Day, on Saturday (30/1/2016).

Obviously, the monkey was not an actual monkey, but one of PROFAUNA's activists who act like one, with his face painted in such a way representing a suffering primate.

"Indonesian Primate Day's theme for this year is 'Stop Primate Poaching'. The whole celebration involves thousands of people in more than 30 campaigns and education throughout the country," said Swasti Prawidya Mukti, PROFAUNA's campaign officer.

This year, the Indonesian Primate Day was celebrated in many different cities including Malang, Surabaya, Jakarta, Bandung, Tangerang Selatan, Solo, Purwokerto, Berau, Balikpapan, Medan, Palembang, Halmahera, and so forth. The events came in many forms, from educational programs at schools, demonstrations, up to setting up anti-poaching information boards.

For the past 5 years, the trend of primate poaching has been sharply increasing, which can be seen from the growing number of people choosing hunting as a leisure activity and also the increasing number of people flaunting their hunting photos in social media.

More than 70% of Indonesian primates are on the verge extinction due to poaching. If people used to hunt for food, today most poachers hunt primates for sport or leisure. This violent behaviour shows the failure of our environmental education system as well as the low morality of our nation

This is ironic compared to Indonesia's rich biodiversity. Out of 600 species and subspecies of primates in the world, over 40 species can be found in Indonesia. The list of 25 most endangered primates in the world for 2014-2016 released by the IUCN includes 3 Indonesian primates, i.e. the Sumatran Orangutan (Pongo abelii), Javan Slow Loris (Nycticebus javanicus), and Pig-tailed Langur (Simias concolor).

"Every year, more individuals and communities join our movement to promote the protection of Indonesian primates. Such massive grassroots movement is extraordinary and very rare in Indonesia," added Swasti.

The graduate of English Literature major also explained, "PROFAUNA encourages everyone, all Indonesian citizens, who are concerned to take action. No matter how simple it is, it would really help the conservation efforts of Indonesian primates."