Update on Charlie the chimpanzee

[Guest guest]

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Jason (kamman)

Wednesday, June 07, 2006 1:48 PM

Update on Charlie the chimpanzee

 

 

Dear all,

 

Thank you for your support of Charlie, the chimpanzee in Lebanon.

 

Below is a letter I received today from the Lebanese Minister of Environment,

Mr. Yaccoub Sarraf. While I appreciate his support, I do want to state that he

is the only Minister that has replied to this issue so far and unfortunately

Charlie's condition has not improved.

 

There has been a follow up article in the main French language newspaper which I

will forward on, and there is an Arabic article scheduled for this week.

 

Thanks again,

 

Jason Mier

 

 

--

 

 

 

Dear Mr. Mier,

 

 

 

I am writing to you in regard of Charlie, the orphan chimpanzee held at 'Animal

City Zoo'. I do want to confirm that I have received the various letters,

emails and reports sent about this issue and that the Ministy is pleased to see

the support given to this issue and the exposure in the national and

international media.

 

 

 

While the Ministry of Environment is primarily concerned with the envoronment of

Lebanon and issues directly affecting this, however, great effort is being

dedicated to tourism in general and Ecotourism in particular. Due to the large

amount of letters and support expressed by various organizations and

individuals throughout the world, the Ministry understands that chimpanzees are

highly endangered and that Lebanon wants to act in the manner which is best for

their long term survival in the wild and understands that the needs of

individual of chimpanzees in captivity.

 

 

 

I have been working closely on the issue of Charlie and discussed it with my

colleagues, Minister Sarkis and Minister Sahili. After review of the case, I

think it is best to first prove the illegality of Charlie's import into Lebanon,

though I recognize this has already been done in January 2006 through an

investigation by the Ministry of Agriculture, however, the official documents

and proceedings are still on the way. Based on this, I advised Ms. Shaarawi to

approach the Ministry of Agriculture with my full support.

 

 

 

Thus, I learned from Ms. Shaarawi that she met with Minister Sahili on the 6

June 2006 in regarding this issue and he expressed his cooperation and that the

case is being taking care of by the Ministry of Agriculture.

 

 

 

I will follow up on this case and assure you that you have the full support of

the Minsitry of Environment in this matter. Unfortunately the Ministry of

Environment can not act directly in this matter as it is more appropriately

dealt with by the Ministry of Agriculture, but I will still advise and assist

where appropriate.

 

 

 

I recognize your request for a meeting about this issue and schedules permitting

I would be pleased to meet with you to discuss this further during your next

visit to Lebanon. I would suggest that B.E.T.A. be our coordination officer,

especially that our cooperation with Ms. Shaarawi seems very fruitful.

 

 

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Yaacoub Sarraf

 

Minister of Environment

 

Lebanon