Macaque Reintroduction

There is a continuous influx of Long-tailed macaques into the WIN Rescue Center. Some are sick or injured, but most are rescues or confiscated animals from the wildlife pet trade. In 2010 we began a project to reintroduce some of these animals back into the wild. A formal survey of the Subic Bay Freeport Zone was conducted in February and March to establish the macaque population size within the area and to identify suitable release sites.

The first reintroductions began in April 2010 with the release of 4 macaques and another 5 animals in June. The two groups merged shortly after the second group was released. In January of 2011 a third group of 11 macaques was reintroduced. In April 2012 a 4th group of 9 animals was released.

In every case monitoring and provisioning of food is done on a daily basis for 1-2 months, then slowly decreased to every other day, then third day, and finally once a week.

Since 2010, WIN has conducted a follow up survey of the forest and resident macaque population and a total of 10 reintroductions following the same process of post-release provisioning and monitoring. Rescued macaques continue to be admitted to the WIN Rescue Center in record number, so this work is never done.