A growing black market is tearing spider monkey families apart in southern Mexico, where poachers are killing adults and snatching their babies to sell as exotic pets in the United States—often through social media. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, almost 90 baby spider monkeys have been seized at the Texas-Mexico border in the past year and a half, a number that officials say is just a sliver of the total smuggled into the country, per CBS News. The trade is fueled in part by viral online videos portraying the animals in diapers and human outfits, which experts say glamorize illegal ownership while obscuring the grim reality behind the scenes.
Poachers often shoot mother monkeys, whose babies cling to them, affecting an especially vulnerable species that only reproduces every two to four years. "You very well may end up killing dozens of monkeys, just to keep a few of the babies," says FWS agent Jim Stinebaugh. The smuggled monkeys endure harsh conditions, often arriving malnourished, injured, or worse. The situation rarely improves once a monkey is purchased: A pet spider monkey is likely to suffer sickness, malnutrition, and chronic stress, despite an owner's best intentions, an expert previously told NPR.
"Some of these animals are so traumatized that they'll just huddle in a corner," Oakland Zoo veterinarian Dr. Andrea Goodnight told the outlet. They also become dangerous to people when they reach sexual maturity. Law enforcement faces an uphill battle against the trade, hampered by limited staff and light penalties for traffickers, per CBS. Meanwhile, rescued animals are sent to facilities that are stretched thin, prompting a broader effort to find permanent care for the survivors among accredited zoos. Even with care, survivors may never return to a social group, per NPR. Simply put, the trade is pushing the species toward extinction, Stinebaugh tells CBS, urging the public to opt out.
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