PhnomPenhPost-Dec 14, 2022
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries denies media reports that Cambodia has suspended export of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to the US.
The denial followed reports that US-based biopharmaceutical firm INOTIV decided to no longer import the animals from Cambodia after the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida (USAO-SDFL) indicted employees of Vanny Bio Research (Cambodia), which is INOTIV’s main supplier of macaques. Kry Masphal, director of the Wildlife and Biodiversity Department at the Forestry Administration (FA), was arrested last month in the US, with the USAO-SDFL alleging that he had conspired with the company to illegally import macaques – sometimes referred to in legal terms in the US as non-human primates (NHPs) – into the US between December 2017 and January 2022. FA director-general Keo Omaliss was also indicted by the USAO-SDFL for his alleged involvement in the scheme. Over the past two days, media reports on the development of the case stated that Cambodia had halted or suspended exports of macaques to the US, basing their reports on INOTIV’s December 12 statement about a conference call related to the delay of its release of financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended September 30 due to the issue. “We have been informed that Cambodia has currently ceased any exports of NHPs, and therefore we are not currently importing any NHPs from Cambodia. We do not know when or if they intend to resume allowing shipments or when and if the US Fish and Wildlife Service will allow shipments,” INOTIV said in the statement. Agriculture ministry spokeswoman Im Rachna denied the reported pause on exports of macaques. According to INOTIV, its expected preliminary total revenues for this fiscal year is $547.7 million, with approximately $140 million from the sale of long-tailed macaques that it had imported from Cambodia. Read more at: https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-no-monkey-export-halt
