ILLEGAL TRADE IN PRIMATES

In a fall 2000 article : Trafficking in Misery: The Primate Trade", Linda Howard & Dena Jones highlight the problem of the international trade in primates, including many species of monkeys, chimpanzees, and orangutans. In particular they emphasize that the illegal trafficking of primates is accelerating the decline of our closest living relatives to the point of near extinction. They also estimate that more than 30,000 wild-caught primates are sold on the international market each year and some conservative estimates are that over one-quarter of this trade is illegal. In fact, INTERPOL (the international police agency) maintains that illegal wildlife trade is a $5-billion-a-year business, second only to drugs as a worldwide black market. The animals are sold for food, for use in laboratory research, for exhibition, and for keeping by private individuals as companions.

Every year for more than a decade, the United States has imported about 1/3 of all primates sold internationally, a greater number of primates than the following four importing countries combined, with the United Kingdom consistently importing the second highest number of primates. Though the number of primates imported each year has fluctuated, Japan, Russia, The Netherlands, France, and Taiwan have long ranked among the top five importing countries. In recent years, wild-caught primates have been exported from many countries where they exist indigenously -- predominately from Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Thailand, and China.

We are very concerned about the illegal trafficking of primates. We see particular problems in Spain due to its close proximity to Africa which makes it an enticing point of entry for the illegal smuggling of exotic animals for distribution throughout Europe. There are thousands of illegal animals in Spain alone but remain in terrible conditions because the Spanish government cannot find the proper facilities to house them. We continue to work closely with local authorities in Spain to try to provide permanent homes to primates confiscated by the local police. Although our sanctuary is in a prime location to provide homes for many of these illegal primates we desperately need funds to expand to our current facilities to accomodate additional primate species.

Please help us now or these illegal primates will remain in terrible conditions for the rest of their lifes (considering chimps can live for fifty years, that's an awful prospect) or be destroyed.

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