Having been with us for nearly two months, Chewy, Stany and Moyale were finally flown on Friday, 3 April to the Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary in the UK. After suffering in the zoo for years with inadequate food and care, in tiny cages under the winter rains and scorching summer sun, Animals Lebanon is finally giving these monkeys the second chance at life they so deserve.
MEA generously agreed to fly specially designed crates to transport the monkeys from London to Beirut, and to send the crated monkeys safely from Beirut to London.
?Middle East Airlines is a friendly airline to the environment in which it operates and takes special safe care in transporting live animals. This special care emanates form its belief to preserve the ecological balance in nature and to help in preserving rare species in the animal kingdom,? said Mohammed El-Hout, the CEO of MEA.
Chewy is a small female Mona monkey who quickly became a favorite. As she was so small and sick when we took her from the zoo we decided it was best to keep her indoors where we could watch her closely. While we don?t believe people should have monkeys or any other wild animals in their homes, this was only a very temporary arrangement until everything could be arranged with the sanctuary. A special cage was built just for her and she stayed in the house of one of the founders of AL. She quickly came around and showed her personality, and each week she surprised us by making new sounds and calls and developed a love for roasted chestnuts.
Stany and Moyale are two adult male Hamadryas baboons. Mona monkeys like Chewy are normally found in the rain forests of West Africa, while Hamadryas baboons are found in the Horn of Africa and parts of the Middle East. These baboons used to be revered in the Middle East, often referred to as Sacred baboons, and were depicted in ancient Egyptian art. Sadly, they are now regularly found being abused in substandard zoos and attractions or being sold in pet shops.
Animal Encounter, a Lebanese nonprofit working to advance the understanding of local wildlife, cared for Stany and Moyale since we rescued them from the zoo.
All primates are endangered, and there are laws which should prevent them from being smuggled and sold. Even though Animals Lebanon is a registered charity and the monkeys were being sent to a sanctuary which follows strict regulations, there is a huge amount of paperwork to be able to move the monkeys legally.
?These primates are highly endangered and protected under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which should have prevented them from being smuggled to Lebanon in the first place. They were forced, illegally, out of their natural habitat, smuggled to Lebanon through the black market, and then displayed at this dysfunctional zoo,? said the President of AL, Lana El-Khalil. ?Lebanon is one of the few countries which has not become part of CITES. It is time Lebanon takes the ethical and legal stand to ban such abusive and outdates practices."
