Lower House wants Java monkeys back with AAP

The Dutch Lower House wants five rescued Java monkeys to permanently stay with the Dutch animal welfare organisation AAP. The animals, which were confiscated on the port of Rotterdam in 2014, have been looked after by the AAP foundation for 18 months and were recently sent off to the primate laboratory BPRC in Rijswijk. A majority in the Lower House finds this unacceptable and has supported a motion by the Party for the Animals to let these animals stay with AAP permanently.

In 2014, five Java monkeys were discovered on a ship from Malaysia. The extremely weakened animals were confiscated and brought to the AAP foundation, where they were allowed to regain their strength in the following eighteen months. The Ministry of Economic Affairs, owner of the animals, has decided to send the monkeys to the Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC) in Rijswijk, where they will be used as breeding animals.

The Lower House finds this unacceptable and wants the monkeys to be placed with the AAP foundation permanently. Party for the Animals MP Frank Wassenberg: “A primate laboratory is the very last place we should want to send these monkeys. Fortunately, the Lower House agrees that the BPRC is not appropriate as a shelter for these animals.”