In the middle of the night, the well-dressed female anchor sat in the live broadcast room, shouting for everyone to click on the little yellow car and place an order to buy products such as plum fruit. In front of the spotlight, there are two monkeys wearing diapers and skirts. They climb on the female anchor and sometimes make a cry, becoming a "powder-sucking weapon" in the live broadcast room.
These female anchors have another identity. They are zookeepers. In the evening, they will dress up their monkeys and start live broadcast with goods. Some anchors even broadcast live until midnight. The extreme news reporter also found that there were also anchors who painted lipstick on monkeys during the live broadcast.
These anchors have attracted many fans by dressing up cute monkeys, but many netizens are worried that these monkeys will be "forced to open business" in the spotlight every day, and will they be hurt?
On May 27, the wildlife protection department of the city where the relevant zoo is located responded to the journalist, and the zoo was not allowed to use monkeys to bring goods live. After investigation and verification, this behavior would be stopped.
"Monkey Anchor" was forced to open late at night
"Special offer once a month, let’s hurry up and shoot, and count down for 10 seconds … …” Late at night on May 25th, a blogger named "Xiaoxinxin" sat in the live broadcast room and recommended a plum fruit product, claiming that the plum fruit has the function of losing weight.
Unlike other anchors with goods, this anchor is crawling with two monkeys. One of them was wearing a diaper, and the other older one was wearing a flowered skirt. On the table in front of the anchor, in addition to the products she promoted, there is also a sign printed with "Xinmaqi Fantasy Animal Theme Park Work Permit". A netizen who just entered the live broadcast room asked: "Why can I bring a monkey live?" The anchor replied: "Because I am their keeper."
The breeder of Hebei Hengshui Xinmaqi Fantasy Animal Theme Park is broadcasting live (Source: video screenshot)
During the live broadcast, two monkeys clung to the anchor’s clothes and snuggled up to her, sometimes squinting. The anchor put them on the table and wanted to stand up and show the slimming effect after eating plum fruit. When a monkey saw that the anchor was ready to get up, he swooped back into her arms, tugged at her clothes firmly and squeaked until the anchor held it in his arms and stroked it like a baby, and the monkey’s mood stabilized.
Many netizens said that the monkey may be too sleepy and need to sleep, so his mood is uneasy. The anchor said that the monkey thought she was leaving, so she climbed on top of her.
The live broadcast lasted until after 0 o’clock the next day.
Also broadcast live late at night, there is an anchor in Tieling, Liaoning. The anchor’s live broadcast room has a work permit hanging on his chest, and the background of the live broadcast room has the words "Tieling Longshoushan Zoo". In the live broadcast room, there is a monkey named "Little Apple", wearing a red skirt, and sucking the "Shumian Fuling Ziziphus jujuba seed paste" in the anchor’s hand. The anchor is also promoting a plum fruit and a probiotic freeze-dried powder that is said to have weight loss effect.
A zoo keeper in Tieling, Liaoning Province asked monkeys to bow to netizens (Source: video screenshot)
The live broadcast record of the anchor shows that on May 24, several of her live broadcasts began at 6: 50 pm and ended at 0: 30 on the 25th. At 8: 27 pm on the 25th, she started the live broadcast again until 0: 21 the next day.
In addition to the anchors that broadcast live at night, there are also some anchors that broadcast live during the day. In Hengshui Wildlife Park in Hengshui City, Hebei Province, a keeper opened two accounts, and the live broadcast record of one account showed that on May 26th, she started at 1 pm and ended at around 10: 30 pm, during which several live broadcasts were conducted.
On the afternoon of 27th, Jimu journalists entered the anchor’s live broadcast room and saw a monkey in diapers and a monkey in clothes playing in a corner, eating melon seeds, etc. The anchor only spoke beside him and didn’t appear. The anchor said that there are many monkeys in the zoo and they will appear one by one.
In the live broadcast room of a zoo keeper in Siyang, Jiangsu, the reporter saw that the anchor was selling a cosmetic at a loud voice, and the little monkey in front of her squinted from time to time and looked very tired. Some netizens expressed their distress.
Someone once made monkeys smoke and wear lipstick.
After consulting the accounts of these breeders’ anchors, Jimu journalists found that they not only let the monkeys appear in the live broadcast, but also update short videos about monkeys every day to attract fans’ attention.
The video released by the keeper of Hengshui Wildlife Park shows that she often interacts with monkeys and baboons in clothes, sometimes giving them a bath and sometimes feeding them lollipops and lactic acid bacteria drinks. A video updated by the anchor in March this year shows that a monkey has three lollipops in his mouth, his cheeks are bulging and he still holds a lollipop in his hand.
In the video released by Xiao Xinxin, the monkey will sit on a stool like a human being, cross his legs and hold a bottle of drink. There is also a plate of fruit on the stool next to it and a tablet computer in front. The scene is obviously designed by the breeder, and the video has 178,000 likes.
In the video released by the male breeder of a zoo in Jilin, he sometimes takes the monkey to eat fried dough sticks in the ice and snow, sometimes takes the monkey to eat French fries, and sometimes eats instant noodles and ice cream. This monkey has become a food broadcaster.
The extreme journalist also noticed that in the video released by the breeder, a monkey was holding an unlit cigarette and biting it, with the caption "The little guy shredded all the cigarettes to help her uncle quit smoking". Some netizens commented: Don’t play with cigarettes for monkeys.
The behavior of these breeders taking monkeys live and shooting short videos has also caused many netizens to worry that these behaviors will hurt monkeys, and some videos are even suspected of abusing monkeys.
In November last year, some netizens reported that Hengshui Wildlife Park had forced a young monkey to smoke and filmed a short video and sent it online. This behavior was suspected of cruelty to animals, or attracted attention and promoted the park by hype. The video shows that a monkey is sitting on a small bench with a lit cigarette in his mouth. Because of the smoke stimulation, the little monkey keeps blinking. After someone took the cigarette, the little monkey rubbed his eyes, then lay on the ground and was covered with white cloth, suggesting "death". The words "smoking is harmful to health" also appeared in the video.
Hebei Hengshui Wildlife Park once took a short video of monkeys smoking (Source: Red Star News)
At that time, the zoo had explained to the media that the monkey just posed with cigarettes and didn’t really smoke. The short video was just to promote "smoking is harmful to health". The video was deleted after it caused controversy.
Another video obtained by Jimu journalist shows that the keeper of Hengshui Wildlife Park once put lipstick on it with a monkey in his arms. Some netizens also questioned that this move is animal cruelty. At present, the video has been deleted from the accounts of the zoo and the breeder, but some people are still forwarding it.
The breeder of Hengshui Wildlife Park in Hebei once painted lipstick on monkeys (Source: video screenshot)
The reporter also noticed that on May 1 last year, the female breeder of Qinhu Zoo in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province painted eye makeup for monkeys in the live broadcast and promoted beauty products. In February of this year, another netizen reported that the breeder gave the monkey milk and drinks, ate strawberries, durian, longan, lychee, etc., and made a short video live. The Network Information Office of Jiangyan District Committee of Taizhou City replied that the office, together with relevant departments, had an interview with the anchor and the person in charge of Qinhu Zoo, reiterated the relevant laws and regulations, urged him to remove the products containing bad content before, and asked him not to make up monkeys, not to use live monkeys to bring goods, and not to use live monkeys for a long time.
The wildlife protection department said that it would stop the live broadcast.
The journalist noticed that the keeper of Qinhu Zoo temporarily stopped updating short videos from May 16th. She replied to netizens in the comment area that she has arrived in Binzhou, Shandong Province and will resume live broadcast in the near future.
On May 27th, Jimu journalists called Qinhu Zoo many times, but no one answered. The reporter also called Hengshui Wildlife Park and Xinmaqi Fantasy Animal Theme Park respectively, suggesting that some netizens thought it was inappropriate to use monkeys to bring goods live, and the relevant staff responded and would report the matter to the leaders. That night, Simaqi Fantasy Animal Theme Park replied to the reporter that the live broadcast time would be adjusted in the future, and monkeys would not be allowed to live in the middle of the night.
The reporter also contacted the Nature Reserve and Wildlife Protection Management Section of Hengshui Natural Resources and Planning Bureau. The staff said that the zoo was not allowed to use monkeys to carry goods live. After investigation and verification, they would stop this behavior.
At 9: 00 p.m. on May 27th, a journalist noticed that the keepers of the above two zoos in Hengshui City had not carried out live broadcast with goods.
A zoo keeper in Jiangsu is broadcasting live (Source: video screenshot)
Hu Huijian, a researcher and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, said that primates such as monkeys are protected animals at or above the national level, and artificial breeding of monkeys should go through legal procedures such as the Wild Animal Domestication and Breeding License. If individuals or units do not have relevant certificates of legally owning monkeys, it is illegal. From the perspective of wildlife protection, using monkeys to carry goods live will definitely have an impact on wildlife. Because whether it is a zoo or an individual raising monkeys, we must consider "abundance", that is, the needs of wild animals for the environment and psychological needs.
Animals need a good natural environment, and live broadcast with goods is in a very artificial environment, and monkeys certainly have no will to live broadcast with goods, so forcing them to live broadcast with goods is a serious violation of animal welfare. If the breeder puts makeup on the monkey, forces the monkey to take a photo, or forces it to do some body movements, it is not only against animal welfare, but even suspected of cruelty to animals.
In addition, among all primates, humans need the shortest sleep time, while monkeys need 10 to 15 hours of sleep time, while monkeys generally move during the day, so live broadcast at night will also affect the rest of monkeys.