Animal rights activist Ingrid Visser constantly doesn’t understand the CITES permit and the regulations of this institution especially the regulation 338/97 that transposes the CITES Convention to the European system. Her interpretation is completely wrong – she already failed on eight occasions in front of different administrative and judicial bodies in the Netherland, who all rejected the claim of her and her Foundation.
Now she aims to talk to the EU Parliament’s Petitions Commission and present it again. Of cause, she wants money to do that and a campaign was started to get money from those, who apparently don’t know that Free Morgan Foundation was never able to clarify how the breeding of a species in Annex A in a zoo can be harmful or negatively affect the conservation of the species. In any case, the existence of specimens under human care reduces and limits the future need for captures of specimens for scientific use, which is undoubtedly beneficial for the species. Therefore, the breeding of Morgan, or any other species of Annex A cannot contravene Article 338/97 or the CITES Convention.
The main argument, which is repeated over and over again, can be summarized in one sentence: The EU has not adequately transposed the regulation 338/97 in the forms of the regulations 865/2006 and 792/2010. Visser and her collaborators from the animal rights industry claim the preprinted forms do not reflect the strict prohibitions of Regulation 338/97. Actually, this is a misinterpretation and bases on (intentional?) misunderstanding by the Free Morgan Foundation. The activist act as if they wouldn’t know the fact, that the prohibitions of the regulation are very clear in article 8 (1) of the regulation, and it is also clear in the 8 (3) that if any of the exceptional circumstances occur, the prohibitions do not apply. The radical animal rights activists persist in interpreting the exceptions to the application of regulation 338/97 as conditions of use, which are also exclusive. When the Free Morgan Foundation has exposed this interpretation to the CITES Management Authorities they have replied that it is wrong.
So, Visser and all those, who collect money, seem to know that they are wrong, they heard it from CITES, many judges and experts again and again. They never gave this information to their followers and donators, at least as far as we know. That’s why there are still people donating to this untrustworthy foundation. Some could say, these people are betrayed, because Visser and the animal rights industry never told them the truth, but we want to let you make your own decision and would like it if you’d share it with us in the comments.
