Guest guest Posted August 24, 2007 Report Share Posted August 24, 2007 Letter to the Editor New Straits Times 24 August 2007 Exporting Macaques: We can do without this sort of monkey business By : DR P. VANAJA for Petpositive THE Malaysian Animal-Assisted Therapy for the Disabled & Elderly Association (Petpositive) is alarmed by the decision recently to lift the 23-year-old ban on the capture and export of long-tailed macaques as a means to reduce the monkey population in urban areas in Malaysia. Macaques have been successfully domesticated over the years so much so they are a popular attraction in some tourist spots as well as in certain rural areas where farmers have " employed " them to harvest fruit and pick up vegetables. Here are further reasons why the prohibition ban on monkey trade ought to be reinforced immediately: The authorities especially those on wildlife should be doing all they can to protect our biodiversity, not make it easier for unscrupulous traders to use the hapless monkeys for exotic food purposes or lab research. They should not be creating opportunities for illegal licensing for hunting, export and other purposes. Otherwise, Malaysia could be mistakenly seen not only as encouraging the proliferation of illegal traders in exotic wildlife but also condoning animal testing in foreign laboratories. How is it possible to target urban monkeys from forest primates? How is one able to tell the difference? Lifting the ban on the basis of isolated cases of so-called monkey attacks is unacceptable as we all know that primates are not aggressive animals by nature. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/Letters/20070824083000/Article/ind\ ex_html Dr. Shirley McGreal, Founder International Primate Protection League PO Box 766 Summerville, SC 29484, USA Phone - 843-871-2280, Fax- 843-871-798 E-mail - smcgreal, Web: www.ippl.org Working to Protect All Primates Since 1973 One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries. ~ AA Milne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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