Great Ape Project has recently asked the European Parliament to repeal the Royal Decree 1333/2006 which regulates the destiny of animals who are seized in Spain, for the decree is considered to go against the international rules from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). In fact, according to Article number 8 of the convention, fourth paragraph: “In case it was impossible or inaccurate to re-introduce a specimen into the wild, as well as to keep it in captivity or to donate it for research, or even in case they had an incurable, chronic or infectious ailment, it will be possible to kill them and, therefore, destroy the specimen.”

According to the article mentioned above, in case a chimpanzee or an elephant, for instance, could not be donated to institutions such as zoos or private institutions, they would be brought to Centres for Experimentation, or even sacrificed. For that reason, and from the point of view of this organization, the Royal Decree does not protect endangered specimens and it only uses CITES for economic purposes, only in order to smuggle, and never to protect them.

Since Great Ape Project has not been provided with an own private institution, the State keeps confiscated species in zoos and private institutions through previous agreements, as established in Article number 5 of the Royal Decree. Providing there was an inspection in those zoos or private institutions, how could inspectors act freely if they saw there are obviously irregularities, when those institutions keep the CITES animals that have been confiscated by the State? In most cases, these institutions do a big favour which is economically not awarded properly. On the other hand, particular institutions could release public campaigns and make the work of the CITES look bad for not earning enough money by the Administration to feed them, for confiscated animals are actually the State’s property.

“We have asked the European Parliament to take immediate action to repeal the Royal Decree, which gives way to sacrificing endangered animals just because a place to keep them has not been found. This is a joke to both the international and national catalogue of endangered species. There is only an economic interest which is applied by contraband, and therefore, the destiny and life of these animals that have been taken away from their protected ecosystem are being ignored. Given the actual situation of the CITES Administration in our country, animals who have been confiscated or moved are treated as only economic tools by people who are mostly not sensitive to animal suffering”, declared Pedro Pozas Terrados, International President and Executive Director of Great Ape Project in Spain.

From Pozas’s viewpoint, the CITES and everything related to endangered animals, both in Spain and in the whole world, should be included in Spain into a Deputy Direction General aimed to protecting animals inside the Ministry of Environment.

Great Ape Project’s manager wonders: how is it possible to dare press charges against someone who has been caught owning an animal from the CITES without permission? How dare the State sacrifice that same animal afterwards? Isn’t an animal protected by national and international laws? Isn’t the State committing a big infraction to the CITES for allowing the extermination of confiscated and endangered animals?

Because of all those reasons, Great Ape Project has often asked for the mentioned Royal Decree 1333/2006, which allows sacrificing endangered animals, to be repealed, and the Project has told the European Parliament about this infraction so that it is studied and, given the case, immediate action to prevent the Law from sacrificing innocent animals is taken, for they are considered to be nothing but economic tools. The Association has also asked the Parliament that the State makes its own institutions for rescue, without depending on people or particular institutions.