As well as founding the Ealing Animal Charities Fair, Marion Garnett has also, since 2011, written a weekly Animal Rescue column which is published in the West London local paper, the Gazette. Columns published since January 2019 are now available online here.
If you would like to see any of the columns published before 2019, please contact Marion directly (see Contacts page).
Are you glad Christmas is over? If there’s one thing Christmas does, it makes us think about where we belong and, for some, this is painful. Feeling as though we belong, whether it’s in a family group, support bubble or a place where we have roots can help us feel secure. But Christmas can make the feelings of not belonging and loneliness worse.
Of course, there are places, where no humans belong. Just before Tier 4 came into operation, I visited the London Wetland Centre and, on one gate, was the sign “Wildlife Only”. Humans clearly didn’t belong beyond that point. It’s not surprising there were some places we couldn’t go as the Centre is a haven for wildlife.
Notices such as these are a reminder that wildlife and humans shouldn’t always mix. Another example of this is when wildlife such as primates are kept as pets in people’s homes.
At present, over 85 species of primate can be legally kept as pets in the UK. The
government estimate there are currently between 1000-
For example, Leo was kept as a pet in London. This Marmoset was only two months old
when the world-
Leo was fortunate as a place was found for him at Monkey World. At present this rescue centre has over 100 primates from the pet trade on its waiting list. These include many monkeys who, as they have grown older, their owners have realised they cannot give these animals the care they need.
Many readers will be familiar with the work of Monkey World as their Director, Alison Cronin, has given presentations at the Ealing Animal Charities Fair. Alison and her team have long campaigned to stop primates being kept as pets and now there is a chance to stop this trade. Last month the government initiated a public consultation where, if we think monkeys don’t belong in people’s homes as pets, we can say so. If you want to know more and take part in the consultation, go to the Monkey World website (monkeyworld.org) and click on the link “Click here to have your say”.
Column 13 January 2021
Column 20 January 2021
Column 27 January 2021
January 2021
Participating groups 2020 | |
Participating groups 2019 |
Map |
Car parking |
Subject Index |