On Wednesday, a pig-tailed macaque (Macaca leonine) was released back into Da Nang’s Nam Hai Van special use forest by the Lien Chieu Forest Ranger Division.

On 24 May, the 1.5kg animal was found being illegally kept in a coffee shop on Nguyen Sinh Sac in Lien Chieu District.

Completely unaware of the national laws on rare animals, the owner of the coffee shop had raised the monkey for several months and it is now over one year old.

A pig-tailed macaque

In April, 2 more pig-tailed macaques seized from local households were also released back into the wild by the Division.

All these monkeys belong to Group IIB which are rare animals restricted from being held in captivity, hunted, traded or killed.  However, the use of these types of animals for scientific research is permitted within the law.