When he realizes that his rescuer is already secure, a monkey who had endured suffering his entire life takes his hand.

Animal abuse is one of the biggest problems we see around the world, standing out more in Asian countries. An example of this is Thailand, a tourist country that forces animals out of their habitat only in order to amuse their visitors. These animals are subjected to mistreatment and neglect by their owners to obtain monetary income. Fortunately, an association rescued one of these poor exploited animals.

Tom Taylor is a young project manager at Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT), a group that is responsible for rescuing injured, confiscated and abandoned wild animals located in Phetchaburi, Thailand. Thanks to the collaboration and organization of this association, a caged monkey is rescued from the daily mistreatment he suffered in a temple.

From an early age, the seven-year-old macaque, known as Khai Now, has lived in a wire frame , deprived of his freedom to be subjected to daily mistreatment by humans. It had not been his choice to go through such a bad situation. He was treated as a tourist attraction by visitors to a temple located in Rayong, Thailand, and he had no choice but to accept the remains of food, garbage, or alcohol, in order to survive.

Taylor and WFFT, upon hearing the story of this monkey, immediately got to work. The main objective was to rescue Khai Now, and then go for all the animals that were deprived of their freedom in the temple. When the rescuers arrived at the place, they experienced an unpleasant moment, the monkey was curled up like a ball, showing great fear, even his face showed his discouragement.

The great surprise was taken by Tom when, as he approached, Khai Now, with his animal intelligence, perceived that someone was coming to offer him help, and in response, the monkey voluntarily approached the young man and offered him his hand.

Thus the two new friends remained, hand in hand for a few minutes, in which Tom never let go and offered him some water, something he definitely needed. Clearly, this action is a sign of how desperate the macaque was for company.

“Khai, he is a gentle soul. I wanted nothing more than to hold him to comfort him,” Taylor said.

The rescuers proceeded to take Khai Now with them to an enclosure, and from that moment he was diagnosed with malnutrition , and with behavioral problems for all the time he was caged and alone in that temple.

“Macaques are social monkeys, which need interaction with their own species in order to develop good behavior and have good stress reduction. That’s the main reason for Khai Now’s problems,” Tom said.

Currently, this macaque is in recovery, which will take a little time. It is under the responsibility of great people, with adequate food and living in a large enclosure with all the comforts.

Clearly, life for Khai Now has not been easy. For any animal or human being, being deprived of their freedom cannot be a positive thing, but we are sure that with the help of WFFT, this monkey will get ahead.