Monkeys held captive at a show in Thailand face an uncertain future after the coronavirus stopped tourism.

The primates had been a popular attraction performing tricks for crowds of holidaymakers at the zoo in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand on Wednesday (April 1).

But after the COVID-19 pandemic stopped arrivals and movement in the country, the monkeys are going hungry.

Footage taken yesterday morning (April 2) shows the monkeys locked in metal cages. Some of lead out with metal chains on their necks for exercise.

The centre owner Prasit Chuendag, 66, said revenue had dried up and he can no longer afford to feed them but he refuses to let them go.

He said: "I have also laid off the staff to reduce the costs and spent the money instead on feeding the monkeys. However, I have raised them for so long that I could not let them go."

Thailand's animal tourism industry has been hit hard by the pandemic as it relies on vast numbers of tourists visiting.

Hundreds of elephant farms around the country have been forced to close with the animals facing being re-homed in overseas zoos or put to work in the logging industry.

Theerapat Trungprakan, president of the Thai Elephant Alliance Association, said around 2,000 elephants are currently "unemployed" as the virus eviscerates the country's tourist industry.

The lack of cash is limiting the fibrous food available to the elephants ''which will have a physical effect'', he added.

Mr Theerapat fears the creatures could soon be used in illegal logging activities along the Thai-Myanmar border -- in breach of a 30-year-old law banning the use of elephants to transport wood.

Others ''could be forced to beg on the streets,'' he said.

Monkeys held captive at a show in Thailand face an uncertain future after the coronavirus stopped tourism.

The primates had been a popular attraction performing tricks for crowds of holidaymakers at the zoo in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand on Wednesday (01/04).

But after the Covid-19 pandemic stopped arrivals and movement in the country, the monkeys are going hungry.

Footage taken yesterday morning (April 2) shows the monkeys locked in metal cages. Some of lead out with metal chains on their necks for exercise.

The centre owner Prasit Chuendag, 66, said revenue had dried up and he can no longer afford to feed them but he refuses to let them go.

He said: "I have also laid off the staff to reduce the costs and spent the money instead on feeding the monkeys. However, I have raised them for so long that I could not let them go."

Thailand's animal tourism industry has been hit hard by the pandemic as it relies on vast numbers of tourists visiting.

Hundreds of elephant farms around the country have been forced to close with the animals facing being re-homed in overseas zoos or put to work in the logging industry.

Theerapat Trungprakan, president of the Thai Elephant Alliance Association, said around 2,000 elephants are currently "unemployed" as the virus eviscerates the country's tourist industry.

The lack of cash is limiting the fibrous food available to the elephants ''which will have a physical effect'', he added.

Mr Theerapat fears the creatures could soon be used in illegal logging activities along the Thai-Myanmar border -- in breach of a 30-year-old law banning the use of elephants to transport wood.

Others ''could be forced to beg on the streets,'' he said.