Like all just recently wealthy countries, Taiwan has experienced an increasing demand for pets. Around 1980, a small number of people imported orangutans, gibbons, and other primates through various channels and got very high prices for them. But what really triggered the orangutan fad was the media, and they are really to blame for Taiwan's becoming infamous as a "killer of wild animals."
跟所有經濟乍富的國家一樣，台灣人對寵物的需求日增，1980 年左右，少數人從不同管道引進紅毛猩猩、長臂猿等靈長類動物，然後高價賣出，但引領飼養小紅毛猩猩熱潮的，竟是媒體的推波助瀾，讓台灣一度背負「野生動物殺手」的惡名。