The message has been delivered! Armed with 25,737 signatures against the illegal trade in Barbary apes, AAP director David van Gennep traveled to Brussels this week. Here he had an appointment with Commissioner Karmenu Vella (portfolio Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries) and he seized this opportunity with both hands to hand over the collected signatures.
David: “Commissioner Vella plays an important role in Europe when it comes to granting protection status to animals. So the perfect person to sit at the table with.”
At the end of September, AAP started a petition with the aim of encouraging the highest protection status for Barbary macaques. The Barbary macaque is the most confiscated, living mammal species in Europe. Many Barbary macaques are stolen away from their mothers as babies and end up in the illegal trade. A clear example of this is Juma, the public face of the campaign.
But he is definitely not the only one: every year, hundreds of baby Barbary macaques are snatched from the wild and smuggled into Europe. After a traumatic time as a pet, it turns out once again that monkeys are absolutely unsuitable to keep at home and are consequently dumped.
