VietNamNet Bridge – While a lot of animals living in the wild have been hunted by people, many others have been put on cages at private houses just to entertain people.

The baby monkey tied with an iron chain and fastened to a tree in front of a restaurant on Sam Son beach in Thanh Hoa province, caught the special attention of many travelers.

A lot of people going by stopped and fed the monkey. When the people left, the monkey returned to its normal position, on a fork of a branch. The iron chain reached one meter only, which means that the monkey could only go around within a short radius. The money had nothing to do, except standing, sitting and lying.

Some travelers at the restaurant said they felt sorry for the monkey. It was like in prison. Its place should be in the wild, not on the place, close to people.

The monkey was tamed. When a person held the monkey’s hand, it climbed into his hands. After that it held the arm tightly like a baby who embraces the sleeping pillow. The big eyes of the monkey might remind people of the images of the monkeys hugging their mothers at Thu Le Park. It seemed that it needed the warmth.

Scientists once made experiments to find out the features of the monkey’s maternal love. Two mother monkey effigies were made, one made of iron, and the other of rice straw. A bottle of milk was put next to the iron effigy, and nothing next to the straw effigy. They found out that when the monkey got hungry, it would go to the iron mother to drink milk, but then it leaves and returns to sleep with the straw mother.

Restaurants keep monkeys for commercial purposes, because monkeys can attract visitors. Meanwhile, people also keep monkeys, but just for fun.

The animals which are considered the ancestors of human beings have been imprisoned, having to live in the places not intended for them. Therefore, the animals would be furious when they feel they are maltreated.

That explains why the monkey at a restaurant in Dong Anh district in Hanoi always gets aggressive when it sees someone coming closer. The restaurant owner always has to ask customers to keep far away enough from the monkey, or the monkey would bite them.

The detaining of rare wild animals is considered a brutal behavior towards nature. However, people seem to ignore the laws, still keeping rare animals for ornament at their homes. The most favorite rare animal for breeding is monkey.

Monkey is a rare animal species belonging to the 2B group. Under the current laws, breeding and keeping animals in captivity homes, cafes, and restaurants is illegal.

In late 2011, ENV, a nature education center, informed to the forest ranger unit in Phan Thiet City of Binh Thuan district about a long-tale monkey which was bred at a restaurant in the province. The individual monkey was then seized by the competent agencies.

Most recently, state management agencies successfully rescued five individual monkeys in HCM City. However, since the monkeys were captive for many days, they might not survive in the wild. Therefore, the individuals have been carried to the rescue centers or the Cuc Phuong Primate Center.

The Soc Son Wildlife rescue center in Hanoi once received a monkey brought by a foreigner. When seeing the monkey on sale at the Dong Xuan Market, the foreigner bought the monkey and then brought to the rescue center, hoping that the rescue center would help bring the monkey back to the wild.

Thanh Mai