Recent meetings
| Date | Commissioner / Cabinet | Topic | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06 May 2025 | Cristina De Avila Head of Unit | AAP presentation ahead of CITES COP | — |
| 06 May 2025 | Cristina De Avila Head of Unit | AAP presentation ahead of CITES COP | SRC |
Mission & Goals
AAP, Animal Advocacy and Protection, is a European animal welfare organization based in the Netherlands and Spain. For over 50 years, we have been dedicated to protecting the welfare of wild ("exotic") animals through rescues, providing solutions for law enforcement, and advocating for comprehensive regulations to address the inherent risks to the wildlife pet trade. Through close collaboration with governments and civil society, our ambitions include tackling the private ownership of wild animals, the illegal wild animal trade, and the use of wild animals for entertainment purposes fairly and sustainably.
EU Legislative Interests
- EU Positive List Feasibility Study - PETI Committee Petition - EU Dogs & Cats Proposal - EU Action Plan Against Wildlife Trafficking - EU Wildlife Trade Regulations & CITES - Animal Health Law & Delegated Acts - Protection of animals during transport - Invasive Alien Species Regulations - Zoo Directive - EU Animal Welfare Laws and Regulations
Communication Activities
- Meetings with MEP offices on PETI Committee petition - Q1 and Q2 2026 - Meetings MEPs4Wildlife - Q1 2026 - Meetings with MEP offices on Transport file - Q1 2026 - Attending events in the European Parliament related to policy files (ongoing) - Meetings with the European Parliament, Commission, and Member States/Council on the Dogs and Cats Proposal, Action Plan Against Wildlife Trafficking, CITES, and other relevant policy files (2025) - Participated in public consultations of EU Positive List Feasibility study (2024-2025), Demand Reduction study (2025), and CITES (ongoing). - Submitted petition to PETI Commission - June 2025, petition is currently open - Organized event in the European Parliament to launch the AAP Dashboard and Report offering a comparative European perspective on exotic pet ownership and the transformative role of positive lists in Member States where they are already in place - June 2025 - Launched our public #WildAnimalsNotPets campaign - June 2025 - Meetings with the Commission about CITES and wildlife trade - May 2025 - Provided input on public consultations for MFF and Invasive Species - April/May 2025 - Co-organized an event with Eurogroup for Animals to launch a White Paper on the feasibility of an EU Positive List for Pets - March 2023 - Gave a presentation in a hearing of the European Parliament PETI Committee on our petition no.0786/2020 for an EU Positive List for pets (petition submitted in December 2020) - May 2022 - Input to public and expert consultations on the revision of the EU Action Plan Against Wildlife Trafficking - December 2021 - Handover petition with 1 million signatures for an EU ban on the use of wild animals in circuses to the European Parliament - October 2021 - Call with EU Commission officials on the unregulated exotic pet trade in the EU and the need for an EU Positive List - June 2021 - Presentation of the report "Infected & Undetected" at an online event on the unregulated exotic pet trade in the EU + European press release about the report - June 2021 - Communications and advocacy actions around the adoption of the European Parliament resolution on the EU Biodiversity Strategy - May & June 2021 - Submission to the public consultation on the EU Environmental Crime Directive revision - March 2021 - Communication and campaigning actions on joint campaign #EUStopCircusSuffering for EU ban on wild animals in circuses - March 2021 ongoing - Submission of petition for an EU Positive List to European Parliament PETI Committee - December 2020 - Communications and advocacy actions around the release of the EU Biodiversity Strategy - May & July 2020 - Awareness about the need for an EU-Positive List for pets to help prevent future pandemics - March & July 2020 - Breaking Point: The European Wildlife Rescue Crisis - conference in the European Parliament - November 2019 - Release of report "The Big Cat in the Room" about exotic pet keeping regulations in the EU - June 2019 - European press release about European elections and animal welfare commitments of MEPs - June 2019 - European press release about poll re: attitudes toward wild animals in circuses - October 2018 - Think Positive: Why Europe needs Positive lists to regulate the sale and keeping of exotic pets - February 2017 - Exotic pet trade in the EU - European Parliament event, June 2016
Interests Represented
Does not represent commercial interests
Member Of
- Eurogroup for Animals - www.eurogroupforanimals.org - European Alliance of Rescue Centres and Sanctuaries - www.ears.org - Species Survival Network - www.ssn.org - Dierencoalitie (Netherlands) - www.dierencoalitie.nl - InfoCircos (Spain) - www.infocircos.org - Positie List Coalition (Spain) - www.listadopositivo.org
Organisation Members
n/a