The ‘Snow Monkey’ (Macaca fuscata), is an incredible animal. But it’s plight in Japan is very troubling. There are two main areas of concern:
Firstly, these macaques are raised from infancy in the homes of humans who become their life-long trainers, forcing them in to a life of degrading circus-style performance, deprived of their ability to express natural behaviours.
Furthermore, tourists are encouraged to feed wild Snow Monkeys in so-called “Monkey Parks”. This false availability of food in turn allows them to reproduce more quickly, so in one respect, their wild population of 100,000 is considered to be thriving by conservation standards.