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http://www.vox.gi/Local/NEEDLESS_SLAUGHTER_APES_ROW_CONTINUES-14112008.html

THE  NEEDLESS SLAUGHTER OF THE APES: ROW CONTINUES

Vox Online on 13 November,  2008 10:40:00

Experts and politicians condemn Government ‘smokescreen' on  killings. 

As the row surrounding the needless slaughter of  Barbary  macaques which had 
plagued residents of Catalan Bay escalated this week, both  the PDP and the 
official Opposition attacked the Government's handling of the  issue...and 
the 
UK director of the International Primate Protection League  issued a robust 
response to threats from No 6.

"Attacking a  well-respected organisation and one of its spokespeople does 
more to damage the  reputation of the Gibraltar government than it does to 
affect IPPL," the  League's Helen Thirlway said in London. "Denigrating the 
person 
who has spoken  out publicly is an attempt to damage that individual's 
credibility while  side-stepping the issue at hand. The government's 
statement also 
demonstrates an  intention to intimidate. The fact remains that there has 
still 
been no denial of  the recent culling."

The failure to deny the culling - and the  implication that this had not been 
carried out secretly - drew a sharp rebuke  from the PDP, who rejected the 
Government's refusal to provide further  information [on the killing of the 
apes] because "it was not in the best  interests of Gibraltar." And 
Opposition 
spokesman Fabian Picardo joined the  attack, pointing out that the Caruana 
regime 
had typically avoided   "accepting that it has acted in an unacceptable 
manner as a result of its own  inability to put in place a proper ape 
management 
programme."

Last week  in a clumsy and ill-conceived attempt to lay a smokescreen over 
the slaughter -  and a patently inaccurate claim that the IPPL had not 
approach 
the responsible  Minister Ernest Britto -  a Government statement said it 
rejected  Thirlway's accusation of "secret culling of apes in Gibraltar".

" The  Government has always made it publicly known that it acts on the 
advice of local  experts who, acting under contract to the Government, are 
responsible for ape  management in Gibraltar," the No 6 statement read in 
part. 
However, one of the  consultants confirmed to VOX this week that dealing with 
the 
Government  over  the issue of the apes' future was "like battering one's 
head 
against  a brick wall". 

The Government statement also reiterated the claim it  made in answer to a 
recent Parliamentary question [by Picardo] that "it was not  in the best 
interests of Gibraltar to publicly provide further information on  this 
subject".

It also denied that the IPPL "and others in a coalition of  animal welfare 
and conservation groups" had found a home for the condemned  primates back in 
May and were discussing the terms of a relocation plan with the  Government.

Instead, it claimed that IPPL proposals had been made to  GONHS, who were 
responsible for the Ape Management Plan under contract to the  Government. 
"However, agreement by IPPL to coordinate the exportation of these  monkeys 
was 
subject to a set of preconditions demanded by the IPPL in respect of  
Gibraltar's 
Ape Management Plan. These proposals have not been formally  presented to the 
Government by IPPL or GONHS pending the successful conclusion  of the ongoing 
discussions between them".

And, with remarkable  effrontery, the statement concluded: "The scurrilous 
remarks made by Ms Thirlway  in her Press Release final paragraph imputing 
improper behaviour by the  Government in respect of Government finances and 
in 
protecting the interests of  ‘wealthy property developers' are potentially 
libelous and the Government  reserves all its rights in this respect. In 
addition 
they serve to put into  context the credibility that should be afforded to Ms 
Thirlway's statements' and  views generally".

Responding to the Government's ill-judged attack on the  IPPL and herself Ms 
Thirlway said this week:

"A recent statement of the  Gibraltar government referred to agreement to 
export a group of monkeys as  ‘subject to a set of preconditions demanded by 
the 
IPPL in respect of  Gibraltar's Ape Management Plan'. It is standard practice 
for any responsible  NGO that relocation of animals only takes place if 
measures are established to  ensure that the situation does not reoccur. If 
sanctuaries regularly took in  animals without taking these steps they would 
quickly 
become inundated. They  would also be accused of encouraging malpractice by 
taking surplus animals  without addressing the root of the problem.

"Both IPPL and the AAP rescue  centre adhere to such a policy and it is 
considered best practice in the field.  It is due to this professionalism 
that both 
organisations are well respected  internationally and AAP is an official 
rescue centre for the Dutch authorities.  The proposal had been approved as a 
first draft by John Cortes, Head of GONHS,  to commence negotiations and it 
was 
anticipated that he, and the Minister, would  suggest some changes.

"The question of possible motives for this decision  to cull, without prior 
warning to John Cortes or the other parties involved, is  a valid one that 
remains unanswered. The NGOs that were engaged in securing the  survival of 
these 
monkeys are entitled to explore the possibilities publicly  when the 
government will not provide an answer. The government was given the  
opportunity to 
respond to our queries privately and did not do so."

And  in a statement the PDP  pointed out that in its reply to the accusation 
of  whether ape culling has recently taken place the Government "has fallen 
well  short of a denial. Rather it has reiterated the position it took in 
Parliament  earlier this year when it said that it would not provide further 
information  because ‘t was not in the best interests of Gibraltar.'

"The PDP  fundamentally disagree. This is not an issue of internal security, 
crime  prevention or of a pressing social or economic reason where lack of 
disclosure  would be justifiable. The PDP condemns the Government for hiding 
facts from the  electorate under the guise of the public interest when all it 
is 
doing is not  being open with things that might be unpopular.

"The Government should be  much more open about what it is doing. It is a 
fact that there is a serious ape  management problem. It has built up over 
decades. Radical action needs to be  taken. As a last resort the PDP has 
stated that 
culling may be necessary. But  these should be kept to a minimum and going 
forward that policy should be phased  out. That can only happen if proper ape 
management policies are carried out  now.

"While policy pre-conditions that have nothing to do with the  exportation of 
macaques should not be set by any entity when arranging  exportation to 
another country the

Government must listen to  international bodies that are expert in the field 
rather than threaten them. It  also should voluntarily take the policy 
decisions necessary to properly manage  the ape situation. It is the fact 
that 
Government is not taking the adequate  policy decisions that is frustrating 
many 
people in Gibraltar.

"Neither  people who are suffering the nuisance issues from lack of proper 
ape management  nor people who are against culling are happy with the status 
quo.  The

Government should clearly present its strategy to properly manage the  ape 
population, eliminate the nuisance problems and abandon any need for  
culling. 
Its policy that it is "not in the best interests of Gibraltar to  publicly 
provide further information on this subject" is not achieving anything  other 
than 
confirming to many people that the Government has no real  strategy.

And Opposition spokesman on the Environment Fabian Picardo  added that it had 
been able to independently confirm that the GSD Government had  actioned its 
policy of killing apes. "These killings are evidence of the GSD  Government's 
failure to properly manage the ape population and confirms the  statements 
made by Helen Thirlway of the IPPL.

"The public will now be in  a better position to understand exactly the 
meaning of the refusal by the GSD  Minister for the Environment, Mr Britto, 
to 
confirm or deny in Parliament or to  the media whether he had authorised the 
further killing of apes.

"Given  that the IPPL had actually found a location for the apes to be 
transferred to,  it is clear that the killings have gone ahead not ‘as a last 
resort' as the  Minister had told Parliament would be the case. There was 
clearly an 
alternative  to the killing, namely taking up the IPPL's offer for the 
relocation of the apes  which also would provide for future ape management 
solutions. The killings have  taken place only because Government would not 
accept the 
IPPL's requirements for  the relocation and not as a ‘last resort'. The 
statement by Minister Britto in  Parliament has therefore clearly had the 
effect of 
misleading the Parliament and  - in the government's later references to it - 
the media and the  public."

To make matters worse, the killings had not cured the problems  experienced 
by tenants of areas where the apes roam after being attracted by  open 
rubbish 
dumps.  These still were not enclosed and the Government's  failure to act on 
the dumps demonstrated that the GSD was unable to act quickly  even to 
provide 
"simple and necessary solutions to the everyday problems being  experienced 
by people".

"In the circumstances the Government's  unprecedented fury in its attack on 
Ms Thirlway is no more than an attempt to  create a smokescreen to hide Mr 
Britto's continued killing of  mammals that  are most closely identified with 
Gibraltar.  This is especially the case  when we use the image of the apes to 
promote Gibraltar as the government did  this very weekend at the Lord Mayors 
Parade in London, whilst secretly killing  the apes on the Rock. 

"I find the statement of the Government to be  entirely in keeping with the 
GSD approach to avoid accepting that it has acted  in an unacceptable manner 
as 
a result of its own inability to put in place a  proper ape management 
programme," Picardo added. "As for the suggestion that  anything that Helen 
Thirlway 
has said might be libellous, that simply is further  bluster on the part of 
the Government.

"Ms Thirlway is entirely entitled  to her opinion as to the manner in which 
the GSD acts to protect the interest of  wealthy property developers and 
nothing that she has said is in our opinion  defamatory or libellous. I am 
sure that 
Helen Thirlway will have no difficulty  whatsoever defeating any libel action 
which the Government might foolishly  decide to commence against her. Ms 
Thirlway should nevertheless have little fear  of such empty threats from the 
Government and should continue her sterling work  in defence of Gibraltar's 
apes.

"We are committed to working with both  our home grown (and world class) 
experts in their field and with the IPPL in  putting in place an effective 
ape 
management programme that does away with the  need to kill any more apes.

"Ironically, Mr Britto has issued his press  release attempting to intimidate 
Helen Thirlway into silence in the same week  that he has said that - despite 
twelve and a half years of GSD Government in  which to act - Gibraltar's 
tourist product needs to be improved. Perhaps Mr  Britto should start that 
work by 
thinking of alternatives to killing more of our  apes which are recognised as 
our greatest tourist attraction.  Until then,  this episode will go down in 
our history as one of the most shameful instances  of a government trying to 
rely on a claim of "national interest" to avoid its  own shortcomings."





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