With oversized and inquisitive eyes, an infant-like expressive face, and a palette of thick, furry coats ranging from beige to black, gibbons tick all the right boxes to be called “cute” and “cuddly.” But their endearing appearance is now costing these native Asian apes their lives and a future in the wild, thanks to people wanting them as pets.

This surging demand in the exotic pet trade, especially from countries where gibbons aren’t native, is thrusting them into the illegal wildlife trade. A particularly worrying trend is playing out in India, say conservationists, pointing to recent seizures of gibbons at Indian airports and border states.

“Over the last two years, there have been a substantial number of confiscations taking place,” says Susan Cheyne, vice chair of the primate specialist group section on small apes at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, referring to the increase in seizures in India. “It’s really quite depressing.”

There are 20 species of gibbons, tree-dwelling lesser apes, spread across 11 countries in Asia. The IUCN classifies five gibbon species as critically endangered and 14 as endangered, making them one of the most threatened primate groups. All gibbon species are listed under Appendix I of the CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, meaning their commercial trade is prohibited internationally. However, legal loopholes and weak enforcement mean the trade manages to thrive.

In 2024 alone, Indian media reported two seizure incidents of endangered siamang gibbons (Symphalangus syndactylus) from Thailand and Malaysia, and one seizure incident of agile gibbons (Hylobates agilis) from Malaysia. They were seized along with other widely trafficked species, such as turtles, pythons and iguanas, that came from Southeast Asia and beyond.

India’s surging demand for exotic animals

Gibbons are a recent addition to the booming exotic pet trade in India. A 2023 report by WWF and TRAFFIC, an international NGO that monitors the wildlife trade, reported 56 seizure incidents of exotic wildlife in the country in 2022. These involved nearly 4,000 animals, including more than 100 primates. However, no gibbons were seized that year, according to the report.

Primatologist Dilip Chetry, who has worked with conservation NGO Aaranyak in the state of Assam for more than three decades, says it’s only in the last three to four years that he’s seen many primate species arriving in the country from Indonesia, Malaysia, Latin America and Africa.

As one of the first people to be called by officials whenever there’s a primate seizure to identify the species, Chetry has firsthand knowledge of the animals seized in northeastern India. He says primates, including gibbons, make up most of the seizures he knows of in the region in the last three to four years, followed by reptiles. Among gibbons, agile gibbons, siamangs, lar gibbons (Hylobates lar) and hoolock gibbons (genus Hoolock) top the list.

Northeastern India is emerging as a hotspot for illegal wildlife trafficking because some of its states share a land border with Bangladesh, noted by conservationists as a source for gibbons being trafficked into India and Myanmar, and a hub for regional wildlife trafficking. Chetry says the region’s thick jungles and tough terrain make it easy for traffickers to bring animals across international borders without getting caught. Once the animals enter the country, they’re transported to other parts of India, where they end up as pets or in private zoos, he says.

Social media, affordability driving gibbon trafficking

As social media use penetrates people’s daily lives, it has also fueled the demand for exotic animals. Posts by celebrities posing with such animals set trends that are aped by followers. “Nowadays, it is becoming worse because of TikTok … the advertisement is becoming more appealing to people,” says Mariani “Bam” Ramli, founder and president of the Gibbon Conservation Society in Malaysia.

These platforms also serve as a marketplace for trafficked animals. While online sales of gibbons have been illegal in Malaysia since the amended Wildlife Conservation Act of 2020 came into effect in 2022, Ramli says the trade continues as the law isn’t enforced.

“Gibbons are not popular target for conservation measures,” she says, adding that most of Malaysia’s conservation policies are currently focused on the country’s big five: Malayan tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni), Asian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus), Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus), Malayan gaur (Bos gaurus) and Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus).

In India, the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 likewise prohibits the commercial trade of native wild animals, such as hoolock gibbons. In 2022, the act was amended to include CITES-listed species, making the commercial trade of Appendix I species, like nonnative gibbons, illegal. But its enforcement remains a concern, Chetry says, which results in the demand for exotic pets.

Kanitha Krishnasamy, Southeast Asia regional director at TRAFFIC, says growing wealth across Asia, including India, is also a driver. “When wealth increases, it correlates with a high number of trafficking, as people want to own pets that are considered rare or unique or beautiful, and they hold a certain level of appeal.”

But that desire for an exotic pet, such as a gibbon, comes at a heavy cost for the already threatened apes. While habitat destruction poses the biggest threat, illegal wildlife trade comes a close second as those trafficked are caught in the wild when they’re young, less than 3 years old, and heavily dependent on their mothers, Cheyne says: “The only way to get a young gibbon from a species that lives 30-40 meters [100-130 feet] up in the tree is to kill the mum.” Sometimes the infants die too, and these deaths disrupt the complex social structures gibbons live in.

Those gibbons that survive the capture process are drugged before being stuffed into suitcases and shipped off for days, either by road or air, without food or water. Many perish on this journey, or else end up deeply traumatized when they arrive at their destinations.

In the best-case scenario, where authorities seize the trafficked individuals, they’re often sent to local zoos that lack the knowledge to care for nonnative apes. In India, Chetry says, he’s seen seized exotic species sent to zoos or set free in the wild, sometimes resulting in unusual sightings of nonnative animals on the streets.

Need for wildlife repatriation and stricter law enforcement

Unlike seized cultural artifacts, which are mandated to be returned to their countries of origin under UNESCO’s 1970 Convention, there are no repatriation clauses baked into international laws that govern trafficked wild animals. That needs to change, say conservationists.

“These animals are the natural heritage of the country of origin,” Cheyne says, adding that they should be considered on par with other cultural artifacts. “If they are not native species, they should be returned to the country of origin and given an opportunity to return to the wild, not end up in a zoo.” In the recent case of gibbon seizures in Chennai, India, the seized animals were sent back to Malaysia.

“Repatriation is absolutely crucial,” Krishnasamy says, adding that it’s recommended as one of the options by CITES. “You want to make sure that the wildlife in question has the highest chance of survival, and the best chance of doing that is to put them back from the place they came from.”

But that’s not always possible, she says, because the process is expensive and could involve quarantine considerations.

Even when animals are returned, returning them to the wild can be a challenging process and take years, says Ramli, who runs a gibbon rehabilitation center in Malaysia. At her center, she says, she’s seen the toll of their trauma as rescued gibbons hurt themselves by pulling their hair and biting their fingers. “The earlier the gibbons are sent to rehabilitation centers, the more chances that they will be sent back to the wild.”

Conservationists also call for stricter enforcement of existing laws to curb wildlife trafficking. Wildlife and border control authorities across the region are underfunded and undertrained to intercept complex transnational crime networks, and don’t have the resources to identify wildlife traffickers. “In the grand scheme of transporting illegal items — arms, drugs and people — wildlife simply isn’t high on the list,” Cheyne says.

The illegal wildlife trade is highly profitable, valued at around $10 billion annually, which means investigations that lead to the conviction of traffickers are crucial, Krishnasamy says. “If the people that are behind the smuggling operations can be identified and put a dent in their business, it will make a difference in terms of how you also influence the demand and the supply.”

People wanting exotic pets also need to do their research, Ramli says. “Please read about what will happen before and during the process of trade, and also, what is their future after they’ve been confiscated or once the owner is done with them.” And for those thinking about keeping gibbons, or any other primates, as pets, Cheyne has some strong words: “Please don’t keep primates as pets, they belong in the wild.”

Banner image: An agile gibbon in Berlin Zoo. When gibbons are seized from traffickers in their non-native countries, they’re often sent to local zoos that lack the knowledge to care. Image by Julielangford via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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