Nigeria-Malaysia gorilla deal

[Guest guest]

SUMMARY: The International Primate Protection League has called for an

investigation of the circumstances under which four young gorillas were

shipped from Nigeria to Malaysia in January 2002, despite gorillas being

legally protected in Nigeria and both nations belonging to a treaty which

bans trade in highly endangered animals, including gorillas.

 

DETAILS: The International Primate Protection League has asked the

Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

(CITES) and Malaysian and Nigerian wildlife authorities to investigate the

shipment of four young gorillas from Nigeria to Malaysia in January 2002.

 

The gorillas are presently residing at the Taiping Zoo.

Gorillas are a highly endangered species listed on Appendix I of CITES.

This is CITES' most restrictive category and all commercial trade is

banned. Gorillas live in groups. To catch baby gorillas for trade, mother

gorillas are shot and often the silverback male and other gorillas are also

killed while protecting their families.

 

On being tipped off that four gorillas had appeared at Taiping Zoo, the

International Protection League began an investigation of the

circumstances. On learning that a notorious Nigerian animal dealer might be

involved, IPPL contacted the Malaysian CITES unit and provided the unit

with a copy of the Nigerian dealer's price list which offered four baby

gorillas for US $1.6 million dollars (it is not yet known whether this

dealer was involved in the transaction).

 

On 11 April 2002, Ms Khairiah Mohd Shariff, head of Malaysia's CITES unit,

informed IPPL that,

 

" The Department did issue import permits for the importation of gorillas

for zoo purposes last year. In fact the gorillas are already in Taiping

Zoo. We are taking steps to stop the importation of the other two gorillas.

We are now very concerned by what has been disclosed by you about the

source of the gorillas. We will investigate further and will take the

necessary action against the importer. We will keep you posted about this

case. "

 

IPPL has learned that the four gorillas may have been exported from Nigeria on

documents claiming that they were born in captivity at a new Nigerian zoo.

No Nigerian zoo has ever bred any gorilla. Further, there are only 200-250

members of the sub-species of gorilla found in Nigeria and a corner of

Western Cameroon. If the gorillas belonged to this sub-species, there would

be no way for Nigerian authorities to make a finding that the animals were

obtained legally and in a way not detrimental to the survival of their

species in the wild. Such a finding is required by the terms of CITES.

 

Another and more likely possibility is that the gorillas were illegally

caught from the forest in Cameroon and " laundered " by smugglers across the

Cameroon-Nigeria border. This suspicion is increased by the confiscation on

22 April of two baby chimpanzees from smugglers on the border between

Cameroon and Nigeria. The chimps were on their way to Lagos, Nigeria, and

may have been intended for export. The sick babies are now residing at a

rescue center operated by the group Pandrillus.

 

In 17 April response to an IPPL enquiry, Kevin Lazarus, director of the

Taiping Zoo, informed IPPL that,

 

" We feel that there should be a good stable group of gorillas in South

East Asia as there is none at the moment. It will help in captive breeding

of these animals. It will also be good for education as well as to create

awareness about the need for conservation, the realities of bush meat trade

etc. "

 

Dr. Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman of the International Primate Protection

League, commented,

 

" IPPL is shocked at the zoo director claiming that gorillas should be

moved from Africa to Malaysia. The animals are young and may well die

before reaching maturity. Most of the gorillas imported to Asia have died

of a ground pathogen called pseudomonas pseudomallei and we worry about

these young animals. Further, there is no guarantee they will breed. The

sad reality is that, in acquiring what were certainly wild-caught gorillas,

the Taiping Zoo was acting in a species-destructive manner and it is very

likely that the mother gorillas were eaten after being shot, which would

mean that the zoo was participating in the bushmeat trade it deplores. "

 

She added that,

 

" Rather than seeking to further conservation by acquiring members of a

highly endangered species illegally removed from the wild, Taiping Zoo (and

other Asian zoos) should be working to protect orangutans, leaf monkeys and

other endangered species resident to Southeast Asia. CITES was designed to

prevent exactly the kind of transaction represented by this gorilla deal. "

 

Should the gorillas be confiscated by Malaysian authorities, CITES

recommends as the first option their return to their country of origin.

Pandrillus has sanctuaries in both Nigeria and Cameroon and could provide

an appropriate home for the animals once their DNA had been studied to

determine their species.

 

Nigeria has long been a pipeline for the smuggling of endangered wildlife

out of Africa. IPPL calls this smuggling route " The Nigerian Connection. "

In September 2001, a baby gorilla and baby chimpanzee arriving on a flight

from Nigeria to Cairo were confiscated by Egyptian authorities and drowned

in a vat of chemicals because Egyptian officials thought the babies might

be carrying diseases. In 2001 two chimpanzees exported from Nigeria were

seized at Doha Airport, Qatar, and returned to an African sanctuary. In

1995 an infant gorilla was confiscated from smugglers at Manila Airport but

died before he could be returned to an African sanctuary.

 

What you can do

 

Please send a letter (overseas postage from the US is 80 cents per ounce)

requesting that the Nigerian Government investigate the shipment of four

young gorillas to Malaysia in January 2002, and that the Government of

Nigeria demand the transfer of the animals to a Nigerian sanctuary, to:

 

The Honorable Minister

Federal Ministry of the Environment

P.M.B. 265

Abuja, Nigeria

 

Please contact Malaysia's Minister of Science, Technology and the

Environment, expressing your approval of the ongoing Malaysian

investigation of the circumstances of the January 2002 shipment of gorillas

from Nigeria and request that the Malaysian CITES Authority issue no more

permits for importation of gorillas or other CITES-protected primates.

 

Datuk Seri Law Hieng Ding

Minister of Science, Technology and the Environment

Tingkat 6. Blok C5

Pusat Pentabiran Persekutian 62502

Putrakaya, Malaysia

 

--

 

Dr. Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman

International Primate Protection League

POB 766, Summerville SC 29484-0766, USA

Ph. 843-871-2280 Fax. 843-871-7988

E-mail: ippl. Website www.ippl.org

 

" We need not think alike to love alike. " Francis David