Rajesh Nagarajan, founder of Lawyers for Animal Rights (LFAR), said the monkeys were long-tailed macaques and protected under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010.

“We call upon Nik Nazmi to institute an independent panel to investigate the incident,” he told FMT.

He also called on the police to investigate the incident under the Wildlife Conservation Act.

Rajesh’s comments come after Selangor Perhilitan said that a recent operation to “control the population” of “aggressive” monkeys in Batu Caves had followed set SOPs.

This came after a video had gone viral showing two men, who claimed to be from Selangor Perhilitan, loading monkeys onto a pickup truck at SunwayMas apartments, a residential area in Batu Caves.

Some apartment residents and LFAR later accused the department of killing around 20 monkeys there.

Earlier today, Perhilitan denied that some monkeys were shot, saying the animals caught in the traps were sedated before being lifted into the cages.

It added that monkeys caught in traps would be swiftly retrieved to ensure they did not die while snared.

KS Avatar Singh, who previously alleged that he saw three plainclothes Perhilitan officers carrying out the operation on June 13, today said he wanted more details on the SOPs Perhilitan claimed it was following.

Avatar, who previously lodged a report against Perhilitan over the operation, also brushed off the department’s claim that the monkeys were tranquilised.

He called for a post-mortem on the carcasses to determine the actual cause of death.