PETITION TARGET: UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany
Endangered Barbary macaques used as props for tourist photographs helplessly pulled against their chains and desperately clawed at the mesh-covered openings of tiny transport boxes.
Handlers dressed the monkeys in costumes, lifted them by chains around their necks, and hit them with sticks and rags. A few also appeared very thin. The captive animals suffered in the extreme heat at Jemaa el-Fna Square in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Lady Freethinker’s investigation at this historic site documented more than a dozen macaques exploited for photo opportunities and exposed the cruelty of this practice.
Some business owners defend the macaque attractions as a cultural tradition, but tradition must never excuse animal abuse.
While UNESCO recognizes the square’s cultural space as intangible cultural heritage, it told National Geographic that it “does not insist on maintaining the monkeys” because the square has many other forms of intangible cultural heritage.
Barbary macaques are intelligent, social animals who naturally live in groups and form close bonds with their young. They deserve the freedom to explore, raise their offspring, and interact with other macaques without being exploited for entertainment.
Sign this petition to urge UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany to issue an official statement condemning the exploitation of endangered Barbary macaques at Jemaa el-Fna Square.
