Heartbreaking Footage Shows Monkey In Thailand Being Forced To Lift Weights

Heartbreaking footage shows a monkey being forced to lift weights and workout in Thailand.

The video, released by PETA Asia, was reportedly recorded in Phuket and shows a chained monkey named Ning Nong being forcibly taught tricks to entertain tourists.

As well as lifting weights, doing press ups and sit ups, the monkey can also be seen riding a bike and being confined to a small cage.

PETA claims monkeys like this are often snatched from their mother shortly after birth and have their teeth removed so they are incapable of defending themselves.

PETA senior vice president of international campaigns, Jason Baker, has urged travel companies and tourists not to promote or visit shows that use animals like this.

He said: "Videos like the one we've just released are helping to change public opinion. Forcing wild animals to perform is no longer the way to draw a crowd, but there's still much work to be done.

"All travel companies need to stop promoting cruel shows and zoos, and tourists should stop buying tickets to them, opting instead to see animals in their natural habitats - the only place where they belong."

Asia Wire/PETA Asia

Last month, a lynx turned on its trainer during a circus performance in Georgia.

Footage showed the animal atop a platform on stage in Tskhinvali as a man in a gold jacket appeared to yank it by a rope attached to its collar.

Eventually the platform collapsed and the lynx fell to the floor before running around frantically as the audience looked on in shock. The lynx could then be seen leaping at the trainer and attempting to maul him with its claws as screams echoed around the venue.

It is not clear whether the trainer was injured.

PETA has long encouraged people not to attend circus performances involving animals.

On its website, the organisation says: "Elephants, tigers, and other animals that circuses use to entertain audiences do not stand on their heads, jump through hoops, or balance on pedestals because they want to. They perform these and other difficult tricks because they're afraid of what will happen if they don't.

"Circuses travel nearly year-round, in all weather extremes, sometimes for days at a time. While in transit, the animals are confined to trailers or trucks, where they may not have access to basic necessities, such as food, water, and veterinary care.

"Elephants are chained, and big cats are imprisoned in cramped, filthy cages, in which they eat, drink, sleep, defecate, and urinate-all in the same place. And there's no relief once the animals reach a venue, where they remain caged and are chained in arena basements and parking lots.

"Avoid all circuses that use animals. Talk to friends and family members, particularly those with young children who might be especially inclined to go."

Topics: monkeys, Thailand, Animals

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey