The Taiping Zoo gorilla deal

[Guest guest]

Previous posts have reported the arrival of four young gorillas from

Nigeria at a Malaysian zoo. Dubious claims that the almost-certainly

wild-caught gorillas were born in captivity have been made by people trying

to " whitewash " the suspect shipment. The Abuja Zoo in Nigeria was initially

mentioned, but the zoo was only opened in September 2001, and has two

monkeys and no gorillas at all. So that justification fell apart. The

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species is less restrictive

on dealings in captive-born animals than in wild-caught ones, hence all the

gyrations.

 

I was told by a Malaysian reporter covering the story that a Malaysian

government official had told her that the gorillas were born at the Ibadan

Zoo in Nigeria.

 

In the past this zoo had a very old pair of gorillas. The male was

castrated and died years ago. The female, if still living, would be very old.

 

I did a web search and came across the photo of the supposed " father " of

the young gorillas exported from Nigeria to Malaysia in January. Check out:

 

http://www.oyostategov.com/tourism/zoo.htm

 

" Daddy " is sitting on a chair in front of a table. But he is dead and

EMBALMED - and thus continues to entertain the public.

 

I also located a 1999 story mentioning the then-old male gorilla by a

google search

 

http://www.ngex.com/personalities/ganja/pf/tur.htm

 

This story appeared in 1999.

 

" Death By Turkey

 

" Im say, this uprising will bring out the beast in us! "

 

Fela Anikulakpo Kuti

 

It was a brisk harmattan evening in Ibadan as I awaited my father's

return from Sabo. The air was dry,

and Vaseline did nothing to balm my lips. In the distance I could

hear the evening prayers from the

church at Agbowo. I could understand their wanting to pray, but who

informed them that everyone

within a 12-million mile radius particularly cared for the shrill,

shrieking voice of the pastor?

 

My father, as I mentioned, had gone to Sabo to purchase a turkey, or

as we called it, " Tolo-tolo " for our

annual Christmas meal. Every Christmas we'd have a large assembly at

our house. Patrick, his brothers

and his father would come over from Ojo barracks, as well as Noruwa

and whomever agreed to partake

in the celebration. This Christmas tradition almost always culminated

in a trip to the University of Ibadan

Zoo.

 

I don't know why Nigerians seem to think that a holiday is not

complete without a trip to the zoo. And at

the zoo it was always the same thing, people gasping, " ooh " ing and

" ah " ing at Haruna the big gorilla.

They had named it after the popular singer, Haruna Ishola, having

claimed that it was the only singing

gorilla in Africa. I never heard it sing, though. Actually, Haruna

was pretty mellow.

 

He never threw human waste at people and seemed to be less than

amused at the whole spectacle of

people making ape faces and dancing in front of him. To think of it,

the people who did their act, trying

to seduce Haruna into action, looked more like gorillas than Haruna.

And, of course, there was always

the fool who wanted to bait the crocodiles into motion, and ended up

almost being Christmas meat for

them. "

 

 

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