A Barbary macaque from Morocco captured in the middle of a town in Yvelines

The residents of Jouy-en-Josas were stunned after encountering a monkey on the morning of Sunday, November 16. They indeed crossed paths with the Barbary macaque in the commune of Yvelines and alerted the animal brigade of the firefighters of the department. They managed to capture the animal. "It took nearly two hours to capture the frightened animal, hidden in the trees, using their speed and a suitable net," the animal protection association Action protection animale said in a statement.

After a first examination, a veterinarian concluded that it was a female of about 1 year old. "Unidentified, this female necessarily comes from trafficking and was illegally detained," says Anne-Claire Chauvancy, president of Action protection animale, to 20 minutes. She was wearing a collar and a leash, so it is obvious that she escaped from a private individual." Her association emphasizes that "Barbary macaques, like many other wild species, pay the price of human selfishness. This species has been so and so impunely plundered in nature that there are now more in captivity than in the wild."

The Barbary macaque is the only macaque living outside of Asia, Géo informs, specifying that it was once present throughout North Africa, but is now found mainly in Morocco, in the mountainous areas of the Rif and the Middle Atlas. Its population is estimated between 3,000 and 10,000 individuals. "Taken by irresponsible people for their resemblance to humans and their antics, systematically detained in conditions incompatible with their most basic needs, the macaques become ’troublesome’, even dangerous for their owners as they grow up, and generally manage to escape or are deliberately abandoned in nature, risking the worst," the association explains.

Pending its transfer to Natuurhulpcentrum, a Belgian animal shelter in partnership with the association, the animal was urgently transported to the Parc des Félins de Lumigny (Seine-et-Marne), an establishment authorized to hold this species. "A procedure is underway with the Versailles police station, which has jurisdiction over the area, which has entrusted the custody of the animal to our association Action protection animale, which is filing a complaint for possession of a protected species," Chauvancy adds.