Rights groups going ape over Gibraltar's licence to cull
GIBRALTAR (AFP) — Animal rights groups have expressed outrage over a plan by Gibraltar's government to cull its famous Barbary Apes, which are posing a hazard as they roam the town in search of food.
The government of the tiny British territory off Spain's southern coast plans to cull 25 of the simians, whose population has exploded to around 200.
The mischievous primates climb over cars and pull out antennas, open rubbish bags and rifle through handbags left unattended in the popular tourist destination.
Officially, the management of the apes is the responsibility of the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society (GONHS), on contract from the government. But the society said it has not approved the cull.
"Our policy is that culling can be a population management solution but only in extreme cases when there is no other more suitable option," GONHS general secretary Dr. John Cortes said on Tuesday.
"We would only ever recommend a cull after very careful assessment of the situation from a veterinary and a genetic point of view."
However, Environment Minister Ernest Britto said a licence has been issued for the cull and two of the apes have already been given lethal injections.
Helen Thirlway, the head of Britain's International Primate Protection League, said the government was failing to manage the apes "in a responsible manner."
"There have been many advances and pilot studies in recent years on different methods of controlling free-roaming monkeys," she was quoted as saying in the local media Wednesday.
"We are more than happy to work with the government of Gibraltar and with GONHS to help them develop more efficient, alternative solutions, but this needless slaughter has to stop."
According to legend, if the apes disappear, Britain will lose control of Gibraltar.
When wartime British prime minister Winston Churchill heard their population was low, British consuls in North Africa -- from where the apes originally came -- were tasked with sending new young simians to the Rock.
At one time, the apes were looked after by the British army stationed in Gibraltar, which selected a place up the Rock where they were fed daily to keep them from loitering downtown.
Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713, but has retained a constitutional claim should Britain renounce sovereignty.
The vast majority of the 30,000 people want to retain their links with Britain.
