“If nothing is done, this species will disappear within 10 years,” warns a poster on Ahmed Harrad’s ageing four-wheeler, showing Morocco’s famed Barbary macaque monkey.
Mr. Harrad spends his time criss-crossing northern Morocco to try to convince locals to protect the endangered monkey.
The only species of macaque outside Asia, which lives on leaves and fruits and can weigh up to 20 kg, was once found throughout North Africa and parts of Europe.
Danger of extinction
But having disappeared from Libya and Tunisia, it is now restricted to the mountainous regions of Algeria and Morocco’s northern Rif region.
Another semi-wild population of about 200 individuals in Gibraltar are the only free-ranging monkeys in Europe.
Today, the only native primate north of the Sahara, apart from humans, is in danger of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Conservationists blame illegal poaching, tourists who feed the monkeys and overexploitation of the cedar and oak forests that form the species’ natural habitat.
Formulating census
In response, Morocco has launched a campaign to save the species.
“We are working on two areas — monitoring and making a census of the species in the Rif and raising awareness among locals so that they actively help rescue it,” Mr. Harrad said.
As head of a local association, Barbary Macaque Awareness & Conservation, Mr. Harrad has become a tireless advocate for the animal. He says it is often sold to buyers in Europe for between $110 and $330 despite laws forbidding the trade. “A lot of foreigners buy monkeys as pets.”
Seen as quiet and cute when it is young, the adult monkey can become a burden, Mr. Harrad said.
“It breaks things, bites, fights with children and climbs the curtains,” prompting many owners to abandon their pets, he said.
