Nearly 500 years after Dutch sailors are believed to imported the first macaques to Mauritius, claims of a need to control them as an alleged invasive species have become a front line of defense for the booming Mauritian macaque export industry-- which captures some macaques from the wild, but breeds them in captivity to comply with U.S. and international laws that prohibit or restrict the use of wild-caught animals in labs.

Six Mauritian companies export macaques. The largest may be Noveprim, founded in 1980. "Monkeys are not indigenous to Mauritius," emphasized Noveprim chief executive Gerald de Senneville in an October 2007 interview by Nasseem Ackbarally of the Inter Press Service, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Ackbarally found quick agreement from Mauritian Wildlife Foundation executive director Jacques Julienne and conservation manager Vikash Tattayah.

"The monkeys are a nuisance from a conservation point of view," said Julienne. "They eat birds' eggs, kill small and adult birds alike, and attack indigenous plants." Added Tattayah, "Endangered species like the pink pigeon, the echo parakeet and even the Mauritian kestrel are regular monkey victims. Their impact on our forests is disastrous." The Mauritian National Parks & Conservation Fund collects an export tax of $70 per monkey.

The conservation argument, if globally persuasive, could buy Mauritius and other island nations that export non-native monkeys a political edge in competition with nations that sell native monkey species to labs.

"Breeding monkeys are captured between Septem-ber and December, when food is rare in the wild," wrote Ackbarally. "The captured animals are checked for diseases such as tuberculosis. If found fit for breeding, they are kept in quarantine. Eight to twelve months later, they give birth. Two years later, the small monkeys are quarantined, checked for diseases and then exported."

The captures leave more food for the macaques who escape capture, who then are able to birth and raise more young the next year. Rather than lastingly reducing the population, the captures amount to "sustainable yield" cropping.

Mauritius exports about 10,000 monkeys from the island to the U.S., Britain, and Japan, generating foreign exchange revenue of more than $20 million a year, Mauritian agro-industry minister Arvin Boolell told Ackbarally.

Source:  http://www.africanconservation.org/content/view/154/406/


Once again the animal rights movement finds itself in direct conflict with so called "conservationists" who have long since sold their allegiances to the highest bidder and totally forsaken the interests of the animals they claim to protect.

Mauritius is the 4th largest exporter of monkeys for "scientific" research, and the largest exporter of "wild-caught" monkeys (ie monkeys taken directly from nature and shipped to unimaginable horrors in laboratories). The use of wild-caught monkeys is considered so unconscionable that even the pro-vivisection British government has outlawed the practice, however regressive nations such as France, the USA and Japan still use them.

The government of Mauritius, acting on the advice of so called conservationists, is taking $20 million in export taxes for their involvement in this disgusting trade....which makes a mockery of their claims to be unable to intervene because it is the actions of private companies, however the last few years do show a downward trend in the exports of monkey from Mauritius so maybe the Mauritian government is finally seeing the light.

In 2005 Mauritius exported 10,842 monkeys, (of which 3,213 were wild-caught). In 2006 that figure had reduced to 7,548 monkeys, (of which 1,207 were wild-caught), and in 2007 the figure more than halved to 3,039 monkeys, (with only 285 wild caught animals).

It is possible to trace the decline in the Mauritius monkey exports back to the time when the Gateway to Hell campaign was launched against Mauritius. There are doubtlessly numerous reasons for the reduction of monkeys being exported from Mauritius, such as the rise of China as an exporter [with monkeys initially imported from Mauritius!], however it appears the Mauritian monkey exports are in steep decline and therefore the financial interests [in the form of taxes], for the Mauritian government.

We can then factor in the fact that the vast majority of the exports, over 90%, are bred in captivity and the main justification for the exports [the one they have relied on for years] collapses. The Mauritian government is not only culpable for the exports of hundreds of thousands of innocent animals to vivisection laboratories across Europe, the US and Asia, but they are also sensitive to protests and no longer have any viable to be acting for "conservation" of the species.

The figures speak for themselves, this is a campaign that can be won. We recognise the amount of campaigns people are involved in, and the repression you all suffer there, but we ask an hour a month to put them under pressure and really make them rethink their ideas about the export of animals.

High Commission of Mauritius in London, United Kingdom
32/33 Elvaston Place
London SW7 5NW
United Kingdom

Phone: 02075810294/5
Fax: 02078238437
Email:  londonmhc@btinternet.com

This is the English tanslation of an international call to action which is being forwarded to the, (admittedly few), countries that host one of Mauritius' embassies. There have been regular protests at the embassy of Mauritius in Belgium since the start of the G2H campaign, and no doubt they've always worried it was going to spread to other cities.

What seemed virtually impossible a few years ago really could become a reality, we really could see Mauritius ending the export of monkeys to vivisection laboratories! Campaign materials are available to anyone who wants to arrange demos at the Mauritian embassy in London, (just send us an email).

In solidarity with all the UK prisoners and defendants,