SEPTEMBER 2008: After a decision by GAP Project International\’s Directive Committee, a new board of directors was elected and the world project for protection and defense of the great primates\’ rights has Brazil as the new headquarter.

Brazil has been producing very good results in the rescue work, treatment and rehoming of chimpanzees since the year 2000, when the first sanctuary for the animals was founded at Sorocaba, countryside of São Paulo state, by Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian. Today, GAP Brazil has four affiliated sanctuaries that are home for more than 70 chimpanzees, who were rescued from circus, zoos in bad states and people who used to exploit them with economic purposes.

The new Directive Committee of GAP Project International is composed by:

Honour President – Peter Singer
President – Pedro A. Ynterian
Directors: Paco Cuellar – Europe representant
                  Michele Stump – USA/ Canada representant

It\’s worth to point out that GAP Brazil\’s site is going to be converted to GAP international site, with the inclusion of new information and articles about the activities developed in other countries, presented in Portuguese, English and Spanish.

More information:
Jaqueline B. Ramos (GAP Brazil / International Communications Manager)
Telephones: +55 (11) 5564 9595, (12) 3923 4005, (12) 8134 5465
imprensa@projetogap.org.br
www.projetogap.org.br

THE GREAT PRIMATES\’ RIGHTS AND OUR MISSION

By Dr. Pedro A. Ynterian, GAP International President

When we were chosen to assume the Presidency of GAP Project International, turning Brazil to be its new headquarter, it can be understood that this is a sign of the importance of the work developed in the country by a group of men and women who has been dedicating a lot of time of their lives to the difficult fight, sometimes non-comprehended, of recognition of the basic rights for great primates in the human society.

During the last nine years of militancy in GAP Project, we have been achieving very good results in Brazil. Today we are recognized as a movement which fights with sense and strength for the rights of our brothers primates. We have founded or helped to found four Sanctuaries for great primatesω rehoming, where 74 chimpanzees live a decent life with love. The majority of these chimps were rescued from torture, abusement and incomprehension signed by humans. More than 70 TV programmes were produced during these years and helped to promote our mission. Our website is visited in an extraordinary frequency by all the societyωs sectors, which give us strength and courage so that we can continue our fight.

The creation of GAP Project was inspired by an idea of a great philosopher called Peter Singer, who launched it to the world in the last decade and started the mission that aims to provide a new status to great primates in the human society. In a few years, awareness has risen and the attitude of a lot of human beings towards the reality that the great primates are our brothers, genetic, of blood and of ancestors in common, has been changing.

It\’s not easy to change concepts in the human societies. Most of the times it takes centuries for us to achieve it. GAP Project managed to achieve it in less than two decades of existence. Fighting against all prejudice and against the exploitation of defenseless beings with the intention of raising profits to a few, the chimpanzees, in special in our country, are being awarded with people status. It\’s important to extend this to the world. GAP Project Spain, which fights for years for its recognition, was finally accepted and understood by the Parliament of that great country as a project that needs to be supported and put into practice. Currently, the Director of GAP Spain, Paco Cuellar, is at Senegal with a group of volunteers, getting close to the chimpanzees that live in the lowlands there and were discovered recently by the american primatologist Jill Pruetz. The existence of chimpanzees in wild areas, living in caves, no matter how much this way of life can be dangerous, is a proof that the chimpanzees – like human beings – are not citizens of a region, but citizens of the world. They have the right to live with decency and respect in any place of the Planet, without being exploited, abused, traded and slavered.