Gibbons are the most diverse group of apes, with 20 species across Southeast Asia — all threatened by forest loss, pet trade, and entertainment use that creates profound welfare harm for individual animals.
Gibbons held as pets or used for tourist photo opportunities experience profound welfare harm. Taken from their mothers as infants (the mother is typically killed during capture), they are deprived of the years of maternal care and social learning essential for normal development. Tourist-site gibbons are kept on short chains or in small cages, forced into physical contact with strangers, and exposed to constant noise and human activity. The psychological damage to gibbons deprived of normal arboreal living and social experience is extensive and difficult to reverse. Rehabilitation programs can help, but many gibbons rescued from entertainment use retain behavioral abnormalities that make full rehabilitation and release challenging. Forest loss meanwhile eliminates the habitat needed for both wild populations and released rehabilitated individuals.