John the Long Tail Macaque gets rescued thanks to the internet.

Edwin Wiek, the founder of WFFT was recently contacted and asked if he could help with a long Tailed macaque. The lady who contacted him lived nearby but only spoke German and Russian. Thankfully Edwin is fluent in German and could ascertain the problem.
John was bought by a Russian living in Thailand two years ago as a pet. They now could not deal with him as a pet as he tended to bite when handled and was destructive and messy. No fault of John. As a young macaque he has a lot of energy to burn off and is a wild animal not a cuddly living doll to be mollycoddled.
The Russian owner then posted on a web site for Russians living in Thailand hoping that someone could take him. They may have realised that keeping a macaque as a pet is actually illegal and could have landed them in trouble with the authorities. Fortunately the lady who contacted Edwin acted as a mediator and managed to coordinate his rescue. Having only picked him up from the Russian on the morning of the rescue she knew little of his past. Likely taken as a baby from the wild, his mother would have been killed to allow his poachers to catch him. He would then have been sold as a pet in the lucrative wildlife pet trade. Though highly illegal it is somewhat common in Thailand. Baby macaques seem super cute and are seen as something of a status symbol. Unfortunately they are very high maintenance as pets and quickly grow into adults that can be destructive and dangerous. With long lifespans macaques are a huge commitment that most people cannot handle past the baby phase. They are then often banished to inadequate cages and unable to exhibit normal behaviour in solitary confinement.
With his vast experience Edwin was able to calm John down and handle him. He was transferred from his tiny cage to a transport cage. He was then whisked to the WFFT quarantine area where he was released to his temporary home. He immediately was in awe of the space and freedom he had . He could not believe his luck as he gazed in wonder at the space and enrichment he had obviously been denied for a long time. A swimming tub, branches to climb and ropes to swing from. Unsteady at first he quickly found his balance as he explored with ever growing confidence.
John was clearly fascinated by his neighbours : other macaques. Clearly he had been deprived of his own company since he was poached as an infant. As sociable animals to be denied company would have been torture for him. Once he has passed a suitable quarantine period he will be matched with his own kind again. We have no shortage of young long tailed macaques, all learning to play and interact as nature intended. He will join one of these groups and be able to live a long and happy life in a large open enclosure far removed from the abuse and torture he has suffered so long in his short life. The rest of his troop will have all suffered similar fates at the cruel hand of man but thankfully they have found WFFT and Edwin and will never suffer again.