A weeks-old green monkey advertised for sale on Facebook for $500 in Barbados has ignited some outrage among tourists and animal welfare campaigners, but according to the very organisation tasked with protecting animals in Barbados, there is nothing in law to stop it from happening.

Charmaine Hatcher, manager of the RSPCA, confirmed that green monkeys enjoy no legal protection whatsoever on the island; not from capture and not from sale.

“There’s no law to protect our Barbadian monkey at all,” she said.