Date: September 27, 2007
VERVET
MONKEYS SLAUGHTERED IN THEIR CAGES
ON NATURE CONSERVATION ORDERS.
WRITE TO:
Complaint addresses are:
peterlloyd@xnets.co.za
lbaadjies@capenature.co.za,
capenature@tourismcapetown.co.za
Mr.
Riaan Aucamp
raucamp@deat.gov.za
Deo
Hignett Western Cape HQ
dkleinhans@capenature.co.za
Cape CROW is a primate rehab centre run by Peter and Nola Fraser at
Barrydale, not far from Cape Town, in South Africa.
THE FACTS (straight from a witness)
The morning it happened, Nola happily informed us all that they
(the vervet monkeys) were going to be released onto the property
next door, as agreed by Wayne, the owner of the safari lodge.
Peter phoned all the authorities that needed to give their
permission and everybody agreed to it except the last one - Peter
Lloyd (from Nature Conservation, I think), he had the final
say.
He couldn't allow them to be released as there was no record of
where they'd originally come from (remember, they were confiscated
from Stephanie's place), so the Frasers were instructed to
euthanase them instead of releasing them!
It was devastating news - we'd been ecstatic about their imminent
release and suddenly they were going to die!
Nola and I were both in tears. Wayne, the next door owner, came to
do the job and said he'd use a silencer.
I stayed with Adam on the verandah with tears streaming down my
face and waited for it to be over.
Suddenly I heard 3 shots ring out - the last three were not shot
with a silencer!
I grabbed Adam and ran as far away as I could, down to the bottom
of the Labyrinth, where I stayed until Nola found me.
Could they not have just stayed permanently at the Sanctuary?
I still can't understand why they had to be killed and such a
terrible way ... I can't stop thinking how traumatised and
terrified they must have felt, watching their mates being shot
right in front of them and waiting for the gun to be pointed their
way!
COMMENT
It is our belief based on the information which was given to us by
Nola that these monkeys were releasable and should have been given
the opportunity to be released.
Their aggression (vervets are notoriously aggressive) would have
been channelled into survival in the wild.
In South Africa,
autocratic Nature Conservation officials habitually frustrate
perfectly feasible releases for ill-understood and irrelevant
genetic considerations, to the detriment of animal welfare.
Because they have no
expertise in rehabilitation, conservation officials in SA should
not be allowed to interfere in the process.
Self regulation has been granted to the hunting industry by the new
TOPS regulations which legalise canned hunting in SA, and if animal
abusers can be allowed to regulate themselves, why should animal
carers not be given the same freedom?
Chris Mercer
Campaign Against Canned Hunting.