Buddha: " Whenever you see things, just see. Whenever you listen, just listen. Whenever you know, just know."Chiang Mai Visitor Attraction - Mae-Rim Monkey SchoolANY MONKEY SCHOOLS - NOT RECOMMENDED!Mae-Rim Monkey School near Chiang Mai.
We visited the Mae-Rim 'Monkey School' in December 2007 and found an inhumane and degrading animal show posing as a teaching centre for working monkeys within the coconut farming industry. Undoubtedly monkeys are used for this coconut harvesting work but the Maerim Monkey School probably has nothing to do with it and if they did then the place should be reorganised to give the monkeys imprisoned there more humane conditions. The 'performing' monkeys are kept in tiny cages behind high screens and 'trainees' are kept tethered by short chains to posts in a concrete compound, which when we arrived was 'wet' and without any interactive equipment. Visitors are charged an exorbitant 200 Baht for a 30 minute 'show' which we can only compare with a very bad circus animal act. The monkeys looked bored and unkempt. Our guide told us that the other 'monkey schools' in the area were pretty much the same. We asked him to inform prospective patrons what they were likely to see. The 'funky' entrance ticket has a stark statement on the bottom 'NO REFUNDS', which implies to us that there have been more than a few people demanding their money back! Our advice to anyone wanting to see the 'show' at Maerim Monkey School is, forget it! Keep your money in your pocket and don't support this kind of business which exploits animals in the worst possible way. The people at Mae-Rim Monkey School are not animal lovers; they are cold and calculating, money grabbing animal abusers!
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