Four monkeys on Thursday were released into the forest in southern Kien Giang Province after being illegally kept by a local resident, Vietnam News Agency reported. Local forest protection officers said the four long-tailed macaques, weighing 5 kilograms each, were found in a house on the Hon Tre Island in Kien Hai District.
The crab-eating macaque or long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) is a primarily arboreal macaque native to Southeast Asia.
According to the district’s Forest Protection Office, the island district is home to a number of endangered species, including monkey, weasel, wild boar, gecko, python and snake, of which monkeys are the most crowded.
Long-tailed macaque makes up around 30 percent of an estimated 3,000 monkeys in the region.
Locals said the monkeys got along well with the residents, and the number of monkeys had increased remarkably in recent years.
Although the trade and captivity of the long-tailed macaque is banned by the government, the protected animal usually falls prey to the ignorant people and illegal poachers in Vietnam.