Three adorable golden monkeys in a park in Zhouzhi, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, seem to be discussing something on Sunday morning. Photo: IC

A vlogger from Taizhou, East China's Jiangsu Province, has been summoned by the police after she drew ire from netizens for giving monkeys makeup to attract attention during a livestream. The program has now been removed from the internet. Officials warned the vlogger and her zoo that "monkeys cannot be used to broadcast live for long periods of time."

The questionable acts were first exposed on People's Daily, when a netizen left a comment saying that a female vlogger from a zoo in Taizhou has been using monkeys in her videos on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. 

"I personally think this is inappropriate. The monkeys in the videos are treated even better than human, drinking milks, eating strawberries, durians and all sorts of fruit, wearing diapers and taking showers … Is this a good ethos? Getting special treatment is not in line with our social values, and we cannot disregard the social impact for the sake of profit," the netizen said. 

The Cyberspace Administration of Taizhou replied on Friday that they have talked with relevant parties about the matter, urged them to take down the products with the contents, and asked them not to put makeup on monkeys and not to use monkeys to livestream for a long period of time.