Torn From The Wild

From the forests of Cambodia to laboratories in Europe. This track begins with some of the most unaltered recordings on the album. Captured covertly in the forests of Cambodia, it documents the moment a wild monkey is caught for the research trade. As layers of rhythm and tension build, it traces a harrowing journey from jungle to primate farm to European laboratory.

Each year, tens of thousands of long-tailed macaques are exported for use in research. While some are bred in captivity, many are still captured directly from the wild. Cambodia has become a central hub in this trade. Investigations by Tracks have exposed the brutal methods used to trap these animals - hidden snares, baited cages, and the distress calls of those freshly captured.

The opening of this track is almost documentary in feel. You hear the rustle of undergrowth, the buzz of insects, the rush of a nearby river, and the terrified cries of a macaque moments after capture. These sounds are raw, unfiltered. A sonic imprint of trauma.

As the track evolves, pulses and distorted atmospheres convey the next stages of the journey: the monotony of life inside primate farms in Mauritius, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. And finally, the clinical coldness of European laboratories - where confined animals are kept in rows of barren metal cages, deprived of space, stimulation, and companionship.

Field recordings by Tracks Investigations in 2008, 2009, 2014, 2017 & 2023.

Macaques are now officially endangered, yet thousands continue to be trapped from the wild and sold into research. Approximately 100,000 to 200,000 primates are used in research worldwide each year.