News & blogs

The European Union is feeling green this week! Virtual events are being held all across the EU and in the European capital Brussels this week to talk about one thing: How the EU can better protect and restore nature and biodiversity.

We’re so happy to see that the EU recognizes that we can’t discus biodiversity protection without also looking at the millions of exotic animals that belong in the wild, but still end up in European homes as pets.

Today, EU officials and experts met online to discuss whether the EU is doing enough when it comes to regulating...

Good news from Spain! In the autonomous region Castilla-La Mancha, a new animal protection law has passed that prohibits circus shows with wild animals. With this region added, more than three quarters of the Spanish population now lives in a region or municipality without circuses with wild animals!

It took four years to include this regulation in the new law, after earlier efforts to ban it in the main municipalities in the region. Castilla-La Mancha is the 11th autonomous region (next to the autonomous city of Ceuta) that bans circus shows with wild animals. Six...

‘The European Commission’s passive attitude towards this matter is extremely concerning’ 

EU citizens from six surveyed countries overwhelmingly support better regulation of the exotic pet trade within the EU, according to an opinion poll by Savanta ComRes for Eurogroup for Animals and AAP Animal Advocacy and Protection. However, the new EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, published last week, fails to include any clear actions to respond to these concerns and tackle the booming trade in exotic species.

An overwhelming...

The COVID-19 crisis has prompted decision makers to clamp down on the legal and illegal trade of exotic animals in the EU.

Describing the COVID-19 crisis as a “man-made catastrophe caused by the booming international trade in wild animals”, leading Brussels news outlet POLITICO claimed on Friday that MEP Agnès Evren (EPP) fully supports the idea of a ‘Positive List’ approach to fight wildlife trafficking and to effectively regulate the exotic pet trade in the EU. A Positive List states which animal species are suitable and safe to be kept as pets – but...

April 7th was World Health Day 2020. This year, there was an extra emphasis on this day as the world is engaged in an unprecedented battle against a new infectious coronavirus. That is the reason why 240 organizations, including AAP Animal Advocacy and Protection, are calling on the World Health Organization (WHO) to limit global wildlife trade.

Initiated by World Animal Protection, the animal welfare organizations are launching an urgent appeal because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The new coronavirus has spread to humans from a wild animal, most likely traded on a...