Pet monkey craze fuels illegal trade  

野生猕猴成“萌宠” 这边线上订购那边深山捉猴

Monkeys confiscated from illegal pet trades.

Monkeys confiscated from illegal pet trades.

Online photos of a cute mini pet monkey.

(ECNS) -- Many rhesus monkey infants in Southwest China's Sichuan province are being hunted and sold on the black market after a mini pet monkey became a hit online, West China City Daily said.

Photos of a cute mini pet monkey, named "Monkey King," which is said to maintain its small size and won't grow bigger, have sparked many netizens' interest in pet monkeys, fueling the illegal hunting and trading.

Experts said the so-called mini pet monkeys from Japan are actually infants of the macaca mulatta, a wild animal species under second class state protection, which can grow to 10 kilograms at most and can attack people.

Illegal hunters in Jinchuan, Dazhou, Danba and other places in Sichuan would hunt and capture monkeys as soon as online stores receive an order, the report said.

An infant rhesus monkey can be sold for 15,000 yuan, local police said, adding that it is illegal to raise them without a permit.

Altogether 19 monkeys were confiscated from illegal pet trades last year by Sichuan police, but only seven alive, and three people received sentences.