Britto prefers ‘ostrich behaviour’ to Barbary Macaques
• Gibraltar Barbary Macaques culling controversy - Make your view known to Government
It appears that Gibraltar’s Environment and Tourism Minister Ernest Britto does not have his finger correctly on the pulse of public opinion in Gibraltar.
Apparently Mr Britto has told Helen Thirlway, the Head of the UK’s International Primate Protection League (IPPL), that he still believes the majority of Gibraltarians support the Government’s recent decison to cull a 25 strong group of Gibraltar’s Barbary Macaques.
Mr Britto says the reason he believes this to be the case is because the Gibraltar public have not “completely inundated” his office with letters and emails against it.
Mr Britto should take a closer look around him. He need not look much further than our own forum topic and Poll, “Are you in favour of culling our Barbary Macaques?“, the IPPL’s own online Petition, Stop the culling of Macaques in Gibraltar which now has over one thousand signatories, or the Facebook group, No to Ape Culling, launched last week by members of Facebook’s Gibraltar Network, that now has 735 members as I write.
One might wonder how Mr Britto is forming his opinon. Is it a question of ‘no news is good news’ for him? Is Mr Britto, ostrich like, burying his head under the sand, or his desk? Is this another Government Minister heading for yet another embarassing realisation of the truth?
Why not tell Mr Britto, emphatically… what you think? Here’s four suggestions on how you can do this and how you can object to the Gibraltar Government Culling decision:
- Comment and/or Vote on our Forum Poll Topic - Are you in favour of culling our Barbary Macaques?
- Vote on the GibFocus Poll - Ape Poll
- Sign the Online Petition: GoPetitions > Stop the culling of Macaques in Gibraltar
- Email Mr Britto’s Office PA: jessica.alecio@gibraltar.gov.gi
The latter idea has been suggested today by Facebook Gibraltar Network’s No to Ape Culling Group, who are urging Members to “completely inundate” Mr Britto’s office with objections to the cull. The “more the better” they say and we wholeheartedly agree.
One further piece of excellent advice from the Group, with which we also agree is for emailers to moderate their tone carefully when writing:
“Please put your views across in a sensible manner. Do NOT use foul language. Please do NOT use this as an excuse to attack the Minister in an inappropriate manner. This will be totally counter productive to our cause!”
Sounds like excellent advice to me. The important thing is to make sure Mr Britto is under no misapprehension of the strength of feeling there is in the community at large… so please add your voice to the weight of public opinion, and take a few minutes to follow our suggestions listed above. You never know, your voice just might go some way towards revoking this ‘knee jerk’ reaction by Government to resolve a problem where, most experts agree, there are other more humane and viable alternatives.
Related Articles and Links:
Tell us what you think - Comment and/or Vote on this news report in our Forum - Are you in favour of culling our Barbary Macaques?
Sign the Petition: GoPetitions > Stop the culling of Macaques in Gibraltar
Gibraltar Ornithological & Natural History Society (GONHS )
International Primate Protection League (IPPL)
BBC - Science & Nature - Wildfacts - Barbary ape, Barbary macaque
Gibraltar Barbary Macaques - Information from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
28 April 2008 - Illegal poaching traps found on East side of the Rock of Gibraltar
21 April 2008 - GONHS state their position on Barbary Macaques culling controversy
18 April 2008 - Worldwide uproar over planned cull of Gibraltar’s Barbary Macaques
25 September 2006 - Ape shooting: 71 year old Catalan Bay resident arrested
21 August 2006 - Oldest Rock Ape found shot dead
30 August 2006 - Barbary ape gives tourist a ‘hair raising’ moment
23 August 2006 - Apes: Attraction or public nuisance?
19 August 2006 - RGP warn public of penalties for feeding Rock Apes
27 March 2006 - GONHS comment on Ape Injuries statistics
24 February 2006 - Ape bite warning in UK newspaper
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