The Daily Mirror story referenced above was shocking enough. The photograph below is familiar if you've browsed the photographs on this website. Below that is part of the story which discusses the private collections of exotic and protected wildlife common throughout the Middle East and now becoming a major issue in Egypt as well. The one linked to the Tower Hotel is owned by Omar Gamal an Egyptian business man. The hotel and Gamal Omar have regularly hosted Tony Blair and family (and other heads of state and important people) and it would appear the animals at the zoo including the apes have been shown off as part of a live 'Trophy Room'.

The Blairs holiday plans over the past few years have been widely discussed in the media ... see this BBC story and this telegraph story for details. Here are several photographs showing the ape facilities behind the Tower Club and the Blair luncheon set up within the Zoo.

A few years ago tourists to Spain were asked to refrain from paying for their picture to be taken with illegally imported chimp babies. The 'Spanish Beach Chimps' became a major animal welfare and conservation issue. This scene now seems to have moved to Egyptian Resorts and clearly if major policy makers do not know or are aware of the implications for animal welfare and conservation then the corresponding education campaign - as far as the average tourist is concerned - still has a long way to go.

Karl Ammann