Pet Trade - Gibbon Trafficking in India and Its Impact on Conservation Efforts

In recent years, the capture and trade of gibbons, primates, and exotic species has risen tremendously in Southeast Asia. In the past two years multiple seizures of gibbons have been reported at international borders where people have attempted to take these species across country borders. In fact, primatologist Dilip Chetry says that it is only in the last few years that primate trading has increased the most.  

In particular, Northeast India has become a major hub for illegal wildlife trading. With many of the Indian states sharing borders with countries such as Bangladesh and Myanmar, it has allowed for gibbons and primates to be transported across the border. Furthermore, the terrain in these regions includes thick jungles which facilitates the trafficking and makes it more difficult to catch the smuggling.  



The large interest in gibbons in primate trafficking has risen from a few sources in the past few years. Their physical features of large eyes and infant like features has made many find them to be ideal pets, as people describe them to be cute and cuddly. In addition, social media has facilitated the increased want for primate pets, specifically gibbons. One individual involved in stopping the trafficking described that with wealth, the want for these pets increases, as these exotic animals are thought to be unique, rare, and beautiful. The appeal of owning these pets is then perpetuated through social media. In fact, online markets such as via Tiktok have served as platforms for advertising/selling of these primates. 

This part of the article made me think about our journalist guest speaker. While one form of media utilized is to bring attention to important matters, such as conservation and the negative impacts that various industries have on conservation efforts, this showcases a different side of media that is used to facilitate the illegal conservation inhibiting initiatives. 



However, this idolization and illegal trading of gibbons is detrimental to their wellbeing. There are around 20 species of gibbons in Asia, of which 5 are critically endangered and 11 considered endangered. Additionally, while habitat destruction is the largest threat to populations, trafficking is the second largest. For acquiring these gibbons requires killing the mother gibbon and sometimes infants, as well, which can create strain on the social structures for these gibbon species. Furthermore, the transport of these gibbons is a brutal process which can often disrupt their future social and behavioral interactions, as well as cause long term trauma.  

Clearly, illegal trade has become a large problem within this region and wreaks havoc on the primate populations. Therefore, the article discusses ideas for intervention and reducing the amount of illegal trading occurring. These policies mirror many of the ideas discussed in class. One of the largest policy ideas discussed is repatriation, bringing these animals back to their initial environment, instead of zoos or privately owned environments. However, an idea that we discussed in class regarding disease transmission is also an important issue, as due to their exposure to humans, placing these gibbons back into their initial environments could pose large threats to the entire population that resides there. Furthermore, another idea that was discussed was that many due to the trauma they face need to be placed into rehabilitative centers, as they begin to express stress-induced behaviors. One of the ideas brought up during discussion was the social systems of primates and how ecotourism could affect them, likely removing them from their environment and reintegrating them would have even greater effects. The final idea discussed was creating business consequences as illegal trading is highly profitable and finding a way to curb the effects. This seems like the ideas discussed in class regarding carbon credit systems and utilizing monetary and market related incentives to decrease carbon emission. Perhaps, utilizing similar measures to make areas that illegal traders often invest into more expensive that could be one way to deter illegal traders. 

Links:

https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/increase-in-gibbon-trafficking-into-india-has-conservationists-worried/

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/two-caught-smuggling-agile-gibbons-from-malaysia-to-bengaluru-in-suitcases/article69000735.ece

https://www.deccanherald.com/india/maharashtra/passenger-from-malaysia-caught-trafficking-5-baby-siamang-gibbons-in-hand-bag-at-mumbai-airport-3391392

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/two-caught-smuggling-agile-gibbons-from-malaysia-to-bengaluru-in-suitcases/article69000735.ece

Image 1 - https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikivoyage.org%2Fwiki%2FNorth-Eastern_India&psig=AOvVaw1ruAnUpiEh7JYsbITYxNKX&ust=1741801004262000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBkQjhxqFwoTCMi00sLIgowDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

Image 2 - https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/increase-in-gibbon-trafficking-into-india-has-conservationists-worried/

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