Monkey torture videos urge inclusion of animals in online safety bill

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Coalition of wildlife organizations urges peers to amend online safety bill in response to growing practice of torturing animals for wildlife videos social networks.

In recent months, an increasing number of "horrible and graphic" videos and images of baby monkeys filmed to be abused and even painfully killed have been posted online.

Clips circulating in private Telegram groups began to appear on social media platforms.

At least six public and private Facebook groups, the largest with 1,300 members, feature videos of "extreme and graphic videos", with members openly promoting and commenting on them.

A study found over 13,000 social media links showing animal abuse collected since March 2021.

Sarah Kite, co-founder of Action for Primates, said the filmmakers were making examples: squeezing a baby monkey's body with pliers; using lit cigarettes to burn a baby monkey tied to a cage; setting fire to baby monkey body parts and trapping monkeys in plastic bottles and placing dogs on top of them.

There are also clips of primates crushed by traffic.The Independent has seen even more gruesome examples, with users posting "laughing" emojis.

"These people currently operate in plain sight, unlike Telegram groups, and the number of groups and members are increasing," Ms. Kite said.

"Many members and moderators use their real names, and although most appear to be from the US, there are some here in the UK as well.

" It's a disturbing escalation of online content showing graphic and violent images of monkeys being abused, tortured and killed for "entertainment". It's really awful.

Action for Primates, together with dozens of animal welfare organizations, is pushing for animal cruelty content to be included in the online safety bill.

Screenshot of images used in a Facebook group

(Facebook)

The new legislation aims to protect people by requiring social media platforms to remove content such as anything from prom...