Happy New Year!

As 2014 comes to an end, we want to thank all our supporters for helping us make it a great year for Barbary macaque conservation in Morocco.

With your help, support and donations we've achieved a huge amount over the past 12 months.  Here are just some highlights, chosen by the BMAC team.

Grateful thanks to Lisette Keetman for creating the photo montage above, and to the organisations and people whose photos feature in it.  Credits to NaturZoo Rheine, AAP Primadomus, La Vallee des Singes, Andrew Walmsley and Folly Farm.

Macaque rescues
In collaboration with the Tangier-Tetouan forestry authorities, we have continued our work to confiscate illegally held Barbary macaques who would otherwise suffer as pets or photo props as part of the illegal wildlife trade.  We have been particularly delighted to be able to release these macaques back into the wild, where they have joined large groups and quickly started foraging for natural foods in the forest.



Conservation and education centre
With kind donations of money and materials from many individuals and organisations, we have been able to make great strides in the construction of our conservation and education centre in Bouhachem.  Every step closer to completion hastens our progress towards providing a centre for conservation, training, capacity building and public health that will be the first of its kind in Morocco and will be of huge benefit to Barbary macaques, other wild and domestic animals and people alike.



Tangier-Tetouan survey: final phase
In October, we began the final phase of our survey of the Tangier-Tetouan region, designed to help us establish whether the population mainly concentrated in Talassemtane National Park is connected to the population we have already confirmed extending from Tetouan to Talem Bot.  We had great success with our survey activity in October and November, gaining information on macaque group location from interviews with local shepherds and confirming several groups with macaque sightings and signs.  We are looking forward to completing the survey in Spring 2015.

Adding to our team and increasing our supporter base
This year, we have welcomed several new members to the BMAC team.  Ahmed Chetwan, a former shepherd from Taliamine, joined the team in November as a field assistant and is making huge contributions to our research work in Bouhachem.  We also have two new communication and PR volunteers, Lisette Keetman and Marjolaine Abgrall, who are generously lending their expertise to our social media and web presence, sharing some fantastic ideas and helping us to reach a recent milestone of 2,500 Facebook followers.



We wish you a very happy and successful 2015, and would like to extend our sincerest thanks for your support throughout 2014.  We couldn't do it without you!  

With best wishes,
The BMAC Team.

www.facebook.com/BarbaryMacaqueAwarenessandConservation
www.twitter.com/barbarymacaque
http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/bmac