Torture network against monkeys (Photo_ Reproduction_BBC)
This Tuesday (20) British broadcaster BBC unveiled an international network set up to torture monkeys. The discovery was made by journalists who spent a year infiltrating the secret groups. According to them, customers from all over the world, mainly from the USA and the UK, paid people from Indonesia to kill the animals and record the process on video.
The gang’s pursuit began after a complaint from a YouTuber, who drew attention to the surge in content featuring baby monkeys during the pandemic. After that, the BBC began an intensive search for the torturers, who gathered in Telegram groups to exchange ideas about abuse, and hired people in Indonesia to carry out these abuses.
Reporters took part in these talks to pass information to the police, who have already made some arrests. 20 people are currently under investigation, including three women living in Great Britain and a man in the US state of Oregon.
Mike McCartney, known as “The Torture King,” ran several groups where torture enthusiasts distributed videos. “They would organize a vote,” McCartney told the medium. “Do you want a hammer? Do you want pliers? Do you want a screwdriver?” he explained. McCartney added, “It’s not unlike drug money. Drug money comes from dirty hands, this money comes from bloody hands.”
The minipuppy was the big trigger of the investigation (Picture: Reproduction/BBC)
In addition to him, two other suspects were identified by reporters. Stacey Storey, a 47yearold Alabama woman known in the community as “Sadisctic,” had more than 100 torture videos on her cell phone. She even paid to create the most aggressive content in the group. “Mr Ape” (“Mr. Monkey”), whose real name has not been released, also commissioned “extremely violent” videos. The man claimed he was responsible for the deaths of at least four monkeys.
Special Agent Paul Wolpert, who is leading the Department of Homeland Security’s investigation, said all agents were deeply shocked by the nature of the crimes. “I don’t know if anyone was willing to commit such a crime. The same goes for the attorneys and the jury, and anyone who reads that this is happening. It’s a shock, I think.”
“Mr. Monkey”, Stacey Storey and Mike McCartney have not yet been charged but face up to seven years in prison. Indonesian police have arrested two torture suspects: Asep Yadi Nurul Hikmah was sentenced to three years in prison and Ajis Rasjana received the maximum sentence of eight months.
After the backlash, Facebook, Telegram and YouTube spoke out. Mark Zuckerberg’s company said it “does not allow the promotion of animal cruelty on the platforms and will remove the content if it becomes aware of it.” The messaging app said it is “committed to protecting user privacy and human rights such as freedom of expression,” but added that its moderators “cannot proactively patrol private groups.”
Some channels were created solely for violent content (Photo: Reproduction/BBC)
In return, representatives of the video sharing platform issued a statement guaranteeing that the site “must have no animal abuse” and that the company “is working hard to quickly remove content that violates its policies.” “In this year alone, we have removed hundreds of thousands of videos and terminated thousands of channels for violating our violent and explicit policies,” the statement concluded.
The cofounder of the animal welfare organization Action for Primates, Sarah Kite, laments the increasing spread of violent content on the Internet. “We’ve seen an escalation of this extreme graphic content that used to be hidden but is now circulating openly on platforms like Facebook,” she said, proposing that the UK legislate to help punish people showing torture videos sponsor.
“If someone is proactive in causing that pain, paying to do it, and providing a list of things they want to do to the animal, there should be stricter laws to hold them accountable.” The full BBC report is below in the original language: