Cameroon is best for 'Taiping Four', Jane Goodall tells minister

[Guest guest]

Cameroon is best for 'Taiping Four', gorilla expert tells minister

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/200211010018022.php

 

Wong Joon Ian

12:06pm Fri Nov 1st, 2002

 

Noted scientist Jane Goodall has written to Science, Technology and

Environment Minister Law Hieng Ding and the Convention on International

Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) secretariat asking them to send the four

rare gorillas which were imported illegally from Nigeria and currently kept

at Taiping Zoo to a wildlife sanctuary in Cameroon.

 

The Cites secretariat is responsible for enforcing the rules that govern

trade in endangered species internationally.

 

Goodall is well known for her research into chimpanzee behaviour at the

Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Her work there began in 1960, making inroads

for future primate studies, and continues to this day.

 

In an Oct 30 letter sent from the Jane Goodall Institute in Southampton, UK,

Goodall said that the four baby lowland gorillas should be sent to Cameroon

as they had probably been captured there before being shipped to Malaysia

via Nigeria.

 

She recommended the Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon as a suitable home for

the animals because the staff there were experienced in caring for gorillas

that have been rescued from local or international trade.

 

She noted that the centre already had eight gorillas which were nursed back

to health despite having arrived " sick and traumatised " . They are now living

as a group in a large enclosure there.