Luna and Garina were two helpless, infant monkeys held by the same captor. They were ruthlessly tormented, endured extreme cruelty, and were ultimately killed on social media, as exposed in a new report from Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates.
Multiple videos of their short, agonizing lives have been posted for “entertainment” on at least 93 Facebook profiles, groups, or playlists – and torture videos showing their abuse continue to be posted regularly. LFT and AfP are urging Facebook parent company Meta to remove and block all content depicting such horrific animal cruelty.
Garina was a female, long-tailed macaque who was captured at about four weeks old. She was tortured for three to five months before the video trail ended.
Garina’s fur was removed from her head, making her more sensitive to the biting ants, pinching crabs, and aggressive blasts of cold water she was subjected to. Her captor bound her feet and hands before physically abusing her, and sexually assaulted her with their own hands, thorny cactus, or crabs.
Garina was also violently shaken and held down underwater; set upon by a large dog, and dumped into deep water, forced to swim until she nearly drowned from exhaustion. At the end of her very short life, Garina can be seen emaciated, furless, and covered in wounds, her eyes bulging with terror and despair.
Luna suffered similar torture to Garina, and according to videos, she died relatively quickly.
At the time these infant monkeys were captured, they should have been nursing in their mother’s arms. Instead, Luna’s captor wrapped tape around her feet and hands and placed a bottle of milk in front of her so she could not lift it. The captor would hold up the bottle to make Luna stand, but then take it away, squirting her on the face. When Luna was too weak to stand, her captor would lay the bottle in front of her, and with her limbs taped together, she whimpered and trembled.
The fur on her scalp was removed and she quickly became covered in bruises, gashes, and scabs, which her captor peeled off as she screamed. At least one of her eyes was swollen shut for most of her brief life. She was taped to other monkeys as they struggled and cried, and buried up to her neck in muck. In one of the last stills of Luna, she can be seen lifeless, bare skin stretched taut over protruding bones, and bloodied.
Facebook viewers who identify as “monkey haters” watch the suffering with sadistic pleasure.
One commenter posted: “Have you seen the ones about garina and luna? They’re on facebook and there’s some pretty good ones. They get f***ed up.”
Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates initially reported to Meta 28 sites containing these torture videos, found between November 2023 and February 2024. Those sites were subsequently removed. However, 23 additional sites were reported beginning in February 2024, and they remain active. In addition, Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates have recently identified another 42 unique Facebook sites with at least two torture videos of Luna or Garina. Meta has allowed them to remain active.
“This underestimates the distribution of the Garina/Luna torture videos since not all sites are likely to have been identified and the number of places the videos get posted increases daily,” states the report.
Dr Nedim Buyukmihci, a veterinarian and co-founder of Action for Primates stated:
“These vulnerable infant macaques were placed in extremely frightening situations; were physically harmed by severe restraint and injuries by other animals; and were emotionally and physically brutalised over a period of time. Their facial expressions and their clinging onto each other is visual evidence of their extreme distress. Physical injuries comprising facial wounds, for example, are evident. Further, these infant monkeys were ‘broken’ psychologically by the continual daily torture methods creating a state of learned helplessness in which an individual internalises pain and suffering because they have ‘learned’ that attempts at avoidance do not bring relief.
“What the people are doing to these infant monkeys is particularly disturbing. It is untenable that Meta should tolerate the existence of such individuals and groups on its platform, not only because of the horrifying nature of the atrocities being inflicted upon non-human primates, but also because of the harmful and damaging impact the viewing of such content will have on people, especially children.”
Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates have sent this report directly to Meta. As of this writing, no response has been provided.
“Facebook promotes animal torture by failing to identify, through its own monitoring systems, and remove such content, and by failing to remove such content when torture videos have been reported to the company,” the report stated. “Twenty-five percent of the Facebook sites represented in this report were previously reported to Meta by Lady Freethinker and Action for Primates because of the monkey torture videos posted on the sites – but the sites and torture videos remain active and available to anyone to access and view, including children.”
Add your voice to stop the cruelty! Please sign the petition urging Meta to remove all content depicting animal abuse and torture for “entertainment” and take swift measures to prevent it from being posted in the first place.
