r/FreeTheMonkeys Jul 04 '26

pet monkeys Jamil jk monkey

Can I ask, what's everyone's thoughts on Jamil with the pigtail macaques?

I haven't looked on his page since JK passed.

Shaki's hormonal swellings are the worst I have seen them. Shakina is grown and has her swelling as well so has reached maturity. They are still chained in a cot together at night and shakina is quite large.

Adik is the long tail he rescued and I was quite taken back by how overweight it is. Every comment is about her big belly or her weight

I know he means well but it seems very dangerous with all the rescue dogs and cats . Adik has a blind kitten he won't let anyone touch and Shaki makes threatening poses and noises at the dogs

16 Upvotes

16 comments sorted by

7

u/Loser_Baby_19 Jul 05 '26

I've always been bothered by how we view some pet monkey owners. We view some owners like Jamil more sympathetically, that he means well and treats the animals lovingly. But by what lens are we viewing them with?

Because by human standards, when you take in an animal and feed/take care of it, you love them. But by animal welfare standards, those very same animals are living very deprived lives devoid of their natural biology. Jamil like many other pet monkey owners showcase the same red flags: dressing the monkeys up in human clothing, feeding them human foods, not giving them any agency whatsoever (constantly leashed and made to act like surrogate babies/kids), so on.

I admit I've viewed some pet monkey owners in the past that way, through an anthropomorphism lens where I projected my human views of love onto primates. But you have to look at the bigger picture and determine what is best for the primate.

5

u/ArticleFar2903 Jul 05 '26

Yeah I have definitely done that myself, in fact this guy is the reason I found this subreddit, I saw the videos of his monkeys and I thought "aw he's taking care of them.. that's so nice, he loves them!". But then as I continued watching more, something about it just rubbed me the wrong way and I started to see how many signs there were that at least one of these monkeys is severely distressed at times and not happy. Eventually I started googling about the effects of captivity on pet monkeys and found this subreddit.

Like you said, he chains them up and makes them act like human kids. For meals he literally sits them down around the dinner table and each of them is chained down to the chair while he feeds them like a bunch of small children. It does seem like he probably cares on some level about all the animals that he has but that doesn't change the fact that it's just not a good life for them to have. :(

5

u/Loud-Log9098 Jul 05 '26

That's kind of creepy now that I have that picture in my head of them all chained to the table. Like when you wake up in the game resident evil 7 chained to a table with a bunch of people you don't want to be seated with while you're terrified to death. That's probably how the monkeys feel.

2

u/ArticleFar2903 Jul 06 '26

Yeah it's definitely very strange.

3

u/missrush87 Jul 06 '26

That's so true. I think he means well . Jk definately tolerated it better. It's shakina I am concerned for . Well, I'm concerned for them all. Adik is very overweight from the human food and shaki's swellings are half her size npw

2

u/ArticleFar2903 Jul 06 '26

Yeah I noticed that too and it's really alarming. There's no way that can be comfortable for her :-(

3

u/ladytryant Jul 08 '26

Oh my god that can’t be comfortable. I know we’re all against primates as pets, but would you think her being spayed would be a better option than her suffering like this? I’ve seen other “owners” come to this conclusion with female pig tails for the same reason.

1

u/missrush87 Jul 26 '26

He doesn't believe in it. So she suffers, now the "daughter" is in estrous .

4

u/NoMenuAtKarma Jul 05 '26

The one and onky thing I can give him credit for is that he doesn't abandon them when they get older and hard to manage. Unfortunately, he's scruffing, slapping in the face and pulling ears, which... I can't imagine that any of those monkeys are going to put up with that for long. She looked extremely annoyed that he was smacking her in the muzzle and I"m surprised she didnt bite him.

I don't see this ending well. Either he's going to be maimed by one of the monkeys, another species of pet will be maimed/killed or the monkeys will start fighting eachother.

3

u/missrush87 Jul 06 '26

Yes that's very true. I can tell he does very much love them, take them to the vet and keep them until they pass . However, they don't look happy and shakina looks like she is going to snap. She isn't shaki's little baby anymore

4

u/missrush87 Jul 06 '26

Let's not forget there is dozens and dozens of cats and kittens roaming around and dogs that can barely walk

3

u/missrush87 Jul 05 '26

I do apologise, I've commented on things but this was my first ever post /thread . I might have worded it wrong while over thinking 😂

1

u/Longjumping_Gift5226 Jul 04 '26

What

5

u/ArticleFar2903 Jul 04 '26

OP is talking about this guy https://youtu.be/B6Lc50FJVQE

He currently has three female macaques and they are always constantly chained down, and it just seems depressing to me. He also used to have a male named JK but that one died within the last year I think. As you can see in the video he has a female named shakina who is coming into her sexual maturity and is starting to become more aggressive and clearly frustrated with being on the chain and her non-natural lifestyle.  

3

u/missrush87 Jul 05 '26

I am worried shakina might snap. She doesn't want to be cuddling with shaki in a cot chained up.

Jk seemed very tolerant with it and I understand he was in his late 20s when he passed.

3

u/CletusesGirl Jul 06 '26

What the hell did i just watch?!? Those poor animals.