Releasing confiscated Barbary macaques to improve national awareness of the illegal pet trade in Morocco

Summary

The Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus), Endangered and threatened mainly by infant capture for Morocco's illegal pet and tourist-photo trade, became the focus of a 2013 collaboration between the NGO Barbary Macaque Awareness & Conservation and Moroccan forestry authorities to confiscate illegally held macaques in the Tangier-Tétouan region; when Morocco's only wildlife-confiscation center reached capacity, the NGO decided to try releasing suitable confiscated infants directly into wild macaque groups in Bouhachem forest. After two confiscated female infants, one likely poached from a habituated research group in Ifrane National Park, initially fled in fear when released near wild males, one was recovered and placed in an improvised howdy cage near the group for four days so it could see and hear, but not be touched by, group members; on release, she was calmly absorbed into the group and adopted by an adult male who became her primary caretaker, though year-long monitoring recorded occasional aggression from sub-adult males and signs of nutritional stress. Two later confiscated infants, an eight-month male and an 18-month female showing no fear of conspecifics, were released directly without a cage and both immediately integrated into wild groups, the female still observed with her adopted group over a year later. Major obstacles included the lack of quarantine facilities, fear responses in infants held too long in captivity, and no funding for post-release tracking. The project rates the Ifrane release and its public-awareness efforts a qualified success, noting the males' unusual alloparental caretaking made release into non-natal groups possible, while stressing the need for a dedicated Moroccan rescue center.