Undercover of UNESCO: Animal Abuse in Marrakesh’s Medina
The Plaza Perception
When I first set foot in Marrakesh’s Jemaa el-Fnaa almost 18 years ago it was a complete cultural slap in the face. Oversized juice wagons, men imprisoned by baskets of sugar-coated peanuts, touts yelling from every direction, and henna artists reaching out their patterned hands like rug tassels drifting in the wind. All whilst the sounds of drums, flutes, symbols and folklore storytelling attacked my ears, the notes and quavers vying for my attention. As a twenty-two, somewhat naive backpacker on his first overland adventure, I saw most of it as the “cultural displays of Moroccan medina life” and with a dab of tourist flamboyance; not realising the real scope of the operation.
Then I saw it. Chains around the neck of a light-brown coloured monkey were dragging it along the ground. The Barbary Macaque (an endangered species) was clasping one of its hands around the chain, as if pulling up the slack to free it from forcing its neck forward. It was being forced towards me.
Within an instant, the handler and his counterpart had rushed me, the monkey was yanked up on to my shoulders and its hand were now buried in my hair. I motioned to the handler to call the monkey back whilst his partner tried to line up a photograph. I protested more adamantly and after a minute or two of back and forth, the incarcerated jester hopped back to his captor. If this was a part of the cultural traditions here…I didn’t want anything to do with it, I thought.
Then came the more subtle deception. Dodging further into the plaza, music like that of a high-pitched clarinet bounced between the drum beats. It was irritatingly melodic, as if whining about its own sound.
Bouncing along to the music was the swing and bob of the musicians head (a trance in and of itself) and at the base of his feet lay the Cobra, rigidly poised but swaying, as if hypnotised by the sound (somehow).
It’s easy to get lost in this scene: the traditional dress, the unfamiliar instrument, the exotic animal, and at the heart of it not only the mystery of why the snake “dances” but of how two “mortal enemies” unite for the production. How does the song do this? How did they figure this out? Are all snakes susceptible? The answers; much like the sellers of snake oil, are rooted in myth.
The Illusion of Tradition
Back in the days past there were indeed the Aissawa, a brotherhood of healers who roamed from medina to medina selling their home-made remedies with the snake as a their ultimate sales prop. You see, to prove they were worth listening to, they appealed to our greatest animal fear. The snake is the OG of foes, so to be able to demonstrate they had dominion over the deadly reptile, they “charmed” it. This display proved the nomads were “other-worldly” and their announcement of having anti-venom in their blood pretty much sealed the deal for future sales. But what a load of spiritual toot this turned out to be.
The Horrendous Truth
Today, as I stroll through the UNESCO listed medina I am shocked to see the Barbary Macaque and the Egyptian Cobra are still exploited in this way. The certification by this globally renowned body has inadvertently protected the practices under some pseudo-tradition, although completely illegal under Moroccan law.
It was painful to see policeman simply walk by as the creatures invisibly plea between their pimp sessions. I’m pretty sure the demand will stop the supply, but there’s always ignorant and fickle people in any crowd - which is worth a day or two in Dirham to the exhibitors.
Ironically, the horrors inflicted to these animals are born by the need to keep the tourists safe. The snakes, often de-fanged and done without anaesthesia, leads to life-ending infections. Many are also drugged or have their mouths sewn up with a small gap left for their tongues. Most survive only months, for some, only weeks. What’s worse is that four thousand five-hundred snakes are taken from the wild every year with the healthiest adults often captured, draining the gene pool of its strongest breeders and fuelling species decline.
Similarly, Barbary Macaques, too dangerous to be used as adults, are taken when they are young with the mother killed or injured in the process of the capture. The Macaques teeth are also either pulled or filed and due to their daily exposure to a busy, loud and hot marketplace, "stereotypies" (repetitive, obsessive movements), extreme stress and obesity and diabetes (due to the human food they are forced to eat) can set in. The role, put simply, is a death sentence. Today, only ten thousand Barbary Macaques are left in the wild, one for every potential photograph in 2026.
Dear Visit Morocco
You only have to look around Jemaa el-Fnaa to see the ingenuity, grit and dare I say, the “passion” to take money from tourists. I saw a French family fishing (with actual fishing poles) for giant bottles of lemonade: so the art has truly been perfected. This practice isn’t harmless, it is devastating to wildlife, and needs to stop. You have the responsibility to educate tourists to say no and encourage the practitioners to approach visitors with different talents. So how about we stop the exploitation of wild animals, have people visit them in Morocco’s beautiful national parks and wild refuges, and start a new tradition for the ages.
WATCH MY YOUTUBE VIDEO: ‘Exposing Marrakech’s Illegal Animal Scams | Cruel Tourism in Jemaa El-Fnaa’
