‘Punch’: Even when lab monkeys are given stuffed toys for comfort, they suffer miserable lives and deaths
Amid all the media and social media attention devoted to the Japanese macaque Punch, many if not necessarily all of the reporters, commentators, and audience have missed the greater part of the story. Punch is representative of the many thousands primates still being used in sadistic experiments, still being held captive in zoos where they can’t express their natural behaviors. Punch shouldn’t just be a viral clip, he should be a reminder that animals aren’t ours to experiment on, or to display for human entertainment.
ANIMALS 24-7: The most famous Japanese macaque ever is doubtless Panchi-kun, called Punch for short in English. Born at the Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan on July 25, 2025, abandoned by his mother, Punch was bottle-fed by keepers, then introduced into the 60-strong “Monkey Mountain” Japanese macaque troupe on January 19, 2026.
Videos viral on social media, especially one posted by the Ichikawa City Zoo itself on February 5, 2026, attracting more than two million viewers, showed Punch getting pushed around, dragged, beaten up, and rejected by the other macaques…
“To aid in his socialization, zoo officials gave Punch an IKEA Djungelskog orangutan plushie, which he began clinging to and treating as a surrogate mother”… NBC, BBC, USA Today, The Times of India, The New York Times, and other mass media amplified Punch’s story…
Amid all the media and social media attention devoted to Punch, however, and even if the Punch story really does have a happy ending, many if not necessarily all of the reporters, commentators, and audience may have missed the greater part of the story: more than just one charismatic little macaque, Punch is representative of many thousands, worldwide, some like Punch born into captivity for exhibition, but many thousands more bred for biomedical research use.
“I spent two years as a caretaker for 500+ macaques at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Harlow Primate Lab,” recounted Madeline Krasno on Facebook. “Caring for rejected newborn macaques, like Punch, was one of the most gut-wrenching parts of the job. But rejection was not the tragedy. It was only the beginning. “In the lab,” Krasno wrote, “reproduction was not natural. Females were routinely placed into cages with designated “breeder” males. It wasn’t chosen, and it wasn’t always gentle. “I saw mothers injured, sometimes visibly beaten up in the process of being impregnated,” Krasno testified…
Down Under in Australia, Emma Hurst, a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council representing the Animal Justice Party since 2019, expressed a similar perspective. “Primates are still being used in sadistic experiments,” Hurst said, as well as “still being held captive in zoos where they can’t express their natural behaviors. “Punch shouldn’t just be a viral clip,” Hurst emphasized. “He should be a reminder that animals aren’t ours to experiment on, or to display for human entertainment”. MERRITT CLIFTON
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