An endangered pig-tailed macaque that had been kept illegally at a Singapore car workshop has been rehomed in a wildlife rescue centre.

It was transported from Singapore Zoo to Malaysia's Department of Wildlife and National Parks in Johor on Sunday, where it will be rehabilitated and quarantined.

It will also be assessed on its suitability to be released back to its natural habitat. The monkey was rescued by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) from a workshop at Defu Lane in May, where it had been kept chained in a cage.

AVA was tipped off by local wildlife rescue group Animals Concerns Research and Education Society.

It has been working with the society and Wildlife Reserves Singapore to rehome animals confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade.

The pig-tailed macaque is a protected South-east Asian species. Anyone found with it can be charged under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act and fined up to$50,000 per specimen and jailed for two years.

Lester Hio