IELP Goes to The Hague to Protect Endangered Species

June 10, 2007

The Hague, Netherlands

Early this morning, the IELP crew headed out to visit the AAP Sanctuary for Exotic Animals (http://www.aap.nl/ int_english/index. php). AAP was founded in the 1960s and serves as a sanctuary for mammals which are non-native to the Netherlands. Many of these animals are listed under CITES, including chimpanzees, lemurs, and other primates. Many of the animals come from illegal trade, circuses, illegal zoos, and from private individuals.

AAP functions as a transit/rehabilitation facility for the animals which it houses. The sanctuary's mission is to take in animals to improve their welfare, rehabilitate them to interact with other members of their own species, and then try to find permanent, suitable homes for them. For instance, Freddy was a chimpanzee used in a traveling circus in Holland. He was trained at gunpoint, actually being shot several times, living in constantly fearing for his life. His reintroduction to other chimpanzees (some of whom had never seen another chimp!) has been amazingly successful. We even witnessed him enjoying a grooming session with another chimpanzee living in the sanctuary. Once he becomes accustomed to living within a chimpanzee social structure, AAP will attempt to find a larger sanctuary or a zoo with appropriate facilities and attitudes as a permanent home.

AAP also works very hard to make sure its animals are healthy, or that individuals who are infected with illness, do not come into contact with others of their species. As such, every animal must pass at least six weeks in a quarantine facility. Raccoons are especially prone to hosting various parasites and to transmitting them to others. Therefore, special care is taken to de-parasitize them.

The amount of illegal trade and private ownership of exotic species in Europe is frightening. Some species, such as the Barbary Macaque (from Northern Africa), are extremely threatened by such trade/ownership. AAP is fighting to improve animal welfare, and specifically, to encourage NGOs and Parties to educate their members, populations, and tourists about the dangers to species survival, human health, and individual animal welfare caused by illegal trade. In particular, AAP is fighting to list the Barbary Macaque, who are often kept as pets, under CITES. Scientists estimate that there are only 12,000 Barbary Macaques left.

In all, we learned a great deal about enforcement, confiscated specimen treatment, and came away with questions to ask other governments about their treatment of CITES species confiscated by customs officers. One of the greatest problems associated with illegal trade in endangered species is what to do with animals when they are confiscated. Very few appropriate destinations exist. Prof. Chris Wold, Paula, Bethany, and Jason will be better equipped to find answers to these questions thanks to our visit to the AAP Sanctuary.

With the weekend over, we are all geared up for the debates of the coming week. Stay tuned for more!!

Links

CITES Secretariat
Species Survival Network