BUAV Urges Mauritius Holidaymakers to Help End Cruel Monkey Trade

LONDON, October 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

The BUAV has today launched a new tourist awareness campaign calling on holidaymakers to help save the monkeys of Mauritius.

    (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20111011/486773 )

Mauritius is a top holiday destination for families, sun-seekers and honeymooners alike. Yet most visitors are completely unaware of the cruelty and suffering that is inflicted on the country's monkey population. At the centre of the campaign, the BUAV has unveiled a striking advert that reveals a dark secret behind the holidaymakers' paradise - a cruel trade in monkeys to research laboratories. The message is simple but powerful; like the visitors, the monkeys do not want to leave.

The BUAV is urging holidaymakers to contact the Prime Minister of Mauritius and the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority and Mauritian Embassy in their own country to call for an end to this cruel trade. The BUAV advertising campaign will unfold over the coming months.

The BUAV's recent undercover investigation in Mauritius has revealed a shocking industry that rips monkeys from their jungle homes, imprisons them for life as breeding machines and exports their offspring on long journeys overseas where they will suffer and die in cruel experiments. Up to 10,000 monkeys are exported to the UK, EU and the USA every year.

BUAV Chief Executive, Michelle Thew, states: "Visitors will be shocked to discover the dark secret to this idyllic island. We urge holidaymakers to ask Prime Minister Dr Navin Ramgoolam to stop the trapping, breeding and export of monkeys for research.The international reputation of Mauritius as a paradise for tourists can only be tarnished by association with such animal cruelty."

For further information and copy of the advert, please contact BUAV's press office:

Email: fleur.dawes@buav.org, Telephone: +44(0)7850-510-955 or +44(0)207-619-6978

To see the advert: http://www.buav.org/mauritius