The recent discovery of an injured proboscis monkey near a railway track in Thailand points to the likelihood of cross-border trafficking in the endangered species, reports Mongabay contributor Ana Norman Bermudez. Proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus), known for their distinctive long noses, are found only on the island of Borneo. The species is legally protected in all three countries that share the island: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. It’s also listed under Appendix I of CITES, the global wildlife trade treaty, meaning its international commercial trade is prohibited except for specific research or conservation breeding purposes. Bermudez reported that local residents found the injured animal in Thailand’s Samut Sakhon province in January and later brought it to a nearby clinic. That’s when clinicians identified it as a “foreign monkey” and transferred it to the Ban Pong wildlife rescue center run by Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP). The monkey had suffered serious injuries, requiring the amputation of a finger and part of its tail. It’s currently recovering at Ban Pong, and while it can’t be returned to the wild, discussions about repatriating it to Borneo once it’s stable are being considered. “I believe this monkey was brought illegally, because there are no records of it in the CITES database,” Kanpicha Han-Asa, a veterinarian with DNP, told Mongabay. At least one other proboscis monkey lives in a private zoo in Thailand; Mongabay confirmed its presence at the zoo during a visit in March. “Where did these animals come from?…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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