Heng Sinith/AP Photo
- YouTubers are abusing monkeys at the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage Site, authorities said.
- Videos cited by the Associated Press include a YouTuber repeatedly dousing a baby monkey with water.
- The group overseeing the archeological site is prepared to take legal action, a spokesperson added.
Authorities in Cambodia say YouTubers are tormenting monkeys at the Angkor UNESCO World Heritage Site, and that they're prepared to take action against the worst offenders.
"They're making the content to earn money by having the viewers on YouTube, so this is a very big issue for us," Long Kosal, a spokesperson for APSARA, said in an interview with the Associated Press.
APSARA, or the Authority for the Protection of the Site and Management of the Region of Angkor, oversees the archeological site that houses Angkor Wat.
"The monkey should be living in the wild, where they are supposed to be living, but the monkey nowadays is being treated like a domestic pet," Long Kosal said.
AP cited disturbing examples of influencers mistreating monkeys, including a man holding a baby animal by the neck and repeatedly dousing it with water.
In another instance, the news agency said a person played with the genitals of a male macaque to get it excited for the camera.
Long Kosal said that the worst offenders would face legal action, according to AP.
"If we can build a case, they will be arrested for sure," he told the news agency. "Any animal abuser will be seriously punished by law in Cambodia."
YouTube, Facebook, and other sites typically remove graphic content, but the news agency said that clips of other close encounters, such as the feeding of monkeys, can still generate thousands of views and can lead to other problems.
These interactions are making monkeys reliant on handouts and sometimes cause them to become violent toward tourists.
"The tourists carry their food, and they would snatch the food," Long Kosal told AP. "If the tourists resist, they bite and this is very dangerous."
Tourism is vital to Cambodia's economy, contributing about 11.5% of its GDP, according to the Asian Development Bank.
According to The Phnom Penh Post, more than 600,000 international tourists visited the Angkor Archaeological Park in the first 10 months of 2023.
This brought in nearly $23 million in ticket sales, the newspaper reported.