11 Sep, 2014 @ 16:37
1 min read

Southern Spain is the animal trafficking gateway to Europe

monkey e

ALGECIRAS has emerged as the animal trafficking gateway to Europe from Africa as Spain’s illegal animal trade booms.

Exotic animals – predominantly monkeys – are increasingly being smuggled across the Strait of Gibraltar into the busy southern port as criminal organisations turn to trafficking animals rather than drugs or women.

Although the majority of smugglers use ferries to transport their goods, one airline passenger was recently arrested after a routine luggage search found a small monkey bound and gagged inside her handbag.

A spokesperson from primate rescue centre Primadomus Spain said that ‘mafia type gangs’ were largely to blame for the increased trafficking but also said European tourists needed to understand the dangers of smuggling animals.

“Tourists see an animal in the markets, especially in Morocco, and feel pity for it, they want to save it,” she said.

“Primates are not like dogs and cats. They have the intelligence of a four- or five-year-old human child but they are five to eight times stronger than an adult human. They can break a bone with a bite.

“They cannot cope in a domesticated environment, as they get older they start to show their natural instincts to be strong and dominant to establish themselves in the group hierarchy, and they attack their human group.

“The owner doesn’t know how to handle them, so they lock them into a small cage and leave them.”

Many smuggled animals are picked up by authorities in Spain who then home them at Primadomus Spain’s primate rescue centre situated in a small green valley sheltered by low mountains.

The unassuming 450-acre complex was built six years ago near Villena and homes more than 60 primates rescued from abuse and neglect. The centre has become a key player in the fight to halt illegal animal trading through the Iberian Peninsula.

 

Rob Horgan

DO YOU HAVE NEWS FOR US at Spain’s most popular English newspaper - the Olive Press? Contact us now via email: newsdesk@theolivepress.es or call 951 273 575. To contact the newsdesk out of regular office hours please call +34 665 798 618.

9 Comments

  1. article says “Exotic animals – predominantly monkeys – are increasingly being smuggled across the Strait of Gibraltar into the busy southern port as criminal organisations turn to trafficking animals rather than drugs or women”

    Which busy southern port across the Straits of Gibraltar is the article referring to?

  2. Cheers Fred!

    Now we know Algeciras takes top prize for everything they are accusing Gibraltar of! Not a day goes by when there isn’t something in the local press about tons of Cocaine hidden in containers inside fruit and veg or anywhere else for that matter, People hidden in car boots or trucks trying to get into Europe, containers full of illegal tobacco, guns, a hotspot for jihadists coming and going and now the latest, exotic animals. Mind it must be quite a headache for them with the amount of containers they handle. Could do with all the extra manpower they expend at the Gibraltar frontier harassing workers, tourists and small time four packets at a time tobacco smugglers.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

shaking hands e
Previous Story

Launch of new women’s networking event in Manilva

contador
Next Story

Froome closes in on Contador at the Vuelta a Espana

Latest from Cadiz

Go toTop

More From The Olive Press

Watch: Spanish YouTubers ‘are threatened with a huge fine’ in Gibraltar while trying to ‘conquer the Rock’

SPANISH YouTubers claim they were ‘threatened with a huge fine’
Spain launches crackdown on Chinese mafia: Police make 22 arrests in Catalunya

Spain launches crackdown on Chinese mafia: Police make 22 arrests in Catalunya

A MASSIVE police sting against a Chinese drug trafficking and