Suffering of exotic pets must be prevented
AAP can create a solid positive list methodology thanks to extra gift
AAP rescues exotic animals in need and advocates for better legislation to prevent animal suffering throughout Europe. In addition to the annual contribution, the foundation receives an additional donation of 750,000 euros from the Dutch Postcode Lottery. With this extra gift, AAP will develop an assessment system allowing independent experts to indicate which animals may be traded and kept as pets. This will prevent poignant cases of animal suffering when trading and keeping exotic pets.
David van Gennep, CEO of AAP, was lost for words when he received the cheque during a TV interview: “We’ve been fighting for a positive list for pets for as long as I’ve been working for AAP. It has been proven the best tool to prevent all kinds of exotic animals falling through the loopholes of current legislation and ending up in living rooms. With all the suffering and risks that entails. Governments have struggled to present a methodology that is legally sound and that works in practice. While our rescue centers are running up against their limits time and again we have to keep animals in need waiting for a place. If we combine our expertise with legal experts, we can create something that does work. Not only in the Netherlands, but throughout the EU. This gift makes it possible for us to create our best export product ever. We and the animals cannot thank the participants of the Dutch Postcode Lottery enough for that.”
Alejandra San Quirico, Head of Public Policy at AAP, is delighted that the request for this project was honored: “After many years working on improving legislation for exotic pets in Europe, we now have the opportunity to fund the development of a model Positive List methodology. This will be a game changer for all those member states that want to regulate the exotic pet trade with a Positive List, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. We look forward to facilitating this groundbreaking work over the coming months and are very grateful to the Dutch Postcode Lottery for the opportunity”
