Nigerian press covers Taiping Four

[Guest guest]

Conservationists petition South Africa, seek return of smuggled " Taiping

four " gorillas

 

By Chinedu Uwaegbulam, Housing & Environment Correspondent (With agency

reports)

 

INTERNATIONAL groups of conservationists have been petitioning the South

African government over plans to move four young gorillas now at Taiping

Zoo in Malaysia to the country, in defiance of a plea by Nigeria and

Cameroon to return the animals to their

country of origin. They are also requesting that a minimum of $1 million in

compensation be paid to the Limbe Wildlife Rescue Centre in Cameroon.

Two of the groups, under the auspices of International Primate

Protection League (IPPL) are expressing their reservations on the deal

between the South African Zoo and the Malaysian Zoo.

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) apparently supports

sending the animals to become part of the captive breeding pool, while IPPL

favours the sanctuary option, as preferred by the governments of Cameroon

and Nigeria.

The Guardian had reported recently the plan by the Malaysian Zoo to

export the animals to South Africa. The Malaysian Government had approved

plans to transfer the four illegally acquired baby gorillas to the national

zoo in South Africa.

DNA testing on the animals had proved that they are indigenous to

Cameroon. Western lowland gorillas are found in the area between the Congo

River and Southern Nigeria. The young are dependent on their mothers until

four or five years of age. The primary threat to the species is from man,

through hunting and deforestation.

Essentially, the British authority on primates, Dr. Jane Goodall, has

written to Malaysian Science, Technology and Environment Minister Law Hieng

Ding, asking him to intervene and send the baby apes to a wildlife centre

in Cameroon and IPPL frowns at the exporting of the animals to a third

country.

" Clearly, gorillas with a huge commercial value and are

near-unobtainable would be considered a " prize " by any zoo. I have visited

Limbe and believe the gorillas would receive excellent care, joining the

ten confiscated gorillas already there.

" However, if a zoo is to receive the animals, we believe it should

provide at least the value of the animals (minimum, $1 million), as well as

ongoing support to Limbe Wildlife Rescue Centre in Cameroon. Very few zoos

have provided any help to hard-working African sanctuaries, so most zoos

hardly deserve an unearned bonanza of a high-profile animals belonging to a

high-profile species, " says Dr. Shirley McGreal, chairperson of IPPL.

But the Malaysian authorities have disagreed with the suggestion. Ding

says the South African zoo is best equipped to care for the animals, " who

would struggle to survive if returned to the wild. "

In fact, the Malaysian minister has said he was tricked into signing an

import permit for the primates, which were bought by a local zoo after

being caught by smugglers in West Africa.

The conservationists, however, have blamed the South African government

for the porous nature of its airport. According to IPPL, on 7 January 2002,

four gorillas were loaded on to South African Airways Flight No. 204 (air

waybill no. 083-067-15295), for

" baby gorilla gorilla lowland gorilla, 4 pieces. "

" They were flown non-stop from Lagos to Johannesburg. Apparently because

of their transit status, no import/export permits were issued by South

African CITES authorities who, I am sure, would have immediately taken

action, such as warning the CITES

Secretariat, if they were aware a " hot " shipment was passing through their

nation, even in transit. However, a South African veterinary

import/re-export certificate for FIVE gorillas was issued on 7 January

2002 " , the group said.

The group wrote to the South African government to investigate the

matter. The letter, endorsed by Dr. McGreal, read thus: " It is IPPL's

understanding that the four gorillas, now confiscated but still held at

Taiping, may be sent to South Africa. In fact they

have already visited South Africa in January 2002, on their way to Malaysia!

" We hope that an investigation will uncover exactly how the animals

slipped through the country and request that any legal loophole that

facilitated their transit be closed. Way back in 1987 another group of

infant gorillas bound for Taipei Zoo were shipped via South Africa.

" The three gorillas were smuggled from Cameroon on export documents

calling them " monkeys. " Sadly two had died of asphyxiation by the time the

gorillas reached Kinshasa. IPPL was contacted by the insurance company

handling the highly insured shipment and was able to prove the animals were

" contraband " and hence the huge claim on the dead babies was never paid

since you can't insure contraband. The one surviving gorilla proceeded to

Taiwan via Johannesburg as planned and sadly suffered greatly. The exact

nature of the South African involvement in this shipment, if any, was never

uncovered.

" As you know, gorillas are fully protected under CITES. That four

young gorillas certainly brought into captivity by the slaughter of their

mothers and any protective adults in their family group could be shipped

internationally in 2002, nearly three decades after the treaty came into

effect, is a tragedy.

" It is very important that all facts surrounding this case be brought

forward to prevent any recurrence. It is equally important that any

solution for these four individual animals be engineered, not only to

protect the well being of these animals - but also to attempt to prevent

recurrence of similar incidents. This is why IPPL believes the animals

should be sent to one of the African sanctuaries for

rehabilitation and education of the public and maybe eventual release into

a protected area " , IPPL chairperson added.

IPPL suggests that South Africa bans transit of CITES Appendix I

species or require prior issuance of a transit permit issued only after

careful examination of the facts and verification of the legitimacy of the

proposed export with the CITES Secretariat.

" That transit of animals travelling on fraudulent documentation is

allowed under the treaty was certainly an oversight by those who drafted

CITES and unfortunately has to be addressed by domestic legislation by

individual nations " , the groups observed.

Meanwhile, the Pan African Sanctuaries Alliance (PASA) at the weekend

also called on international wildlife officials to re-consider the decision

to allocate the four confiscated gorillas from Malaysia to the National Zoo

in Pretoria, South Africa, arguing that it does nothing to discourage the

illegal trade in endangered great apes.

PASA instead proposes that the gorillas be placed in a sanctuary near

their range lands in central Africa, where they might one day be released

back into the wild.

" This is an opportunity to send a clear message to poachers, traders,

dealers, zoos, and all those involved in the black-market animal trade:

Traffic in endangered animals and nobody profits, " said Doug Cress,

secretary of PASA, the consortium of 20 primate

sanctuaries in Africa. " Instead, the Pretoria Zoo will now receive the

gorillas, even though South Africa itself ­ perhaps unwittingly -- was a

party to this smuggling operation. Where is the punishment in that? "

According to results of an investigation conducted by the International

Primate Protection League (IPPL), the four infant gorillas - who are

believed to have been captured in Cameroon - were smuggled in late 2002

through Nigeria and South Africa with forged permits to the Taiping Zoo in

Malaysia, where the gorillas have been held since they were confiscated.

The government of South Africa issued transit permits for the gorillas,

which were transported on South African Airways from Nigeria.

On July 9, Malaysian wildlife authorities, after consulting with the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), announced

a decision to award the gorillas to the National Zoo in Pretoria. The

gorillas carry a reported value of $1.6 million, and will be used to

re-start the zoo's languishing gorilla programme.

The gorillas' future has since become the subject of an intense

international debate, pitting zoos, animal relief and welfare

organisations, and international agencies against one another.

PASA, which proposed the Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon as a final

Dr. Jane Goodall, IPPL, the governments of Cameroon

and Nigeria, and a host of international animal welfare agencies supported

destination for the gorillas. Limbe is a not-for-profit charity jointly

operated by the Pandrillus Foundation and the government of Cameroon.

Limbe already cares for 10 gorillas -- including two that were

confiscated recently after being held illegally in Nigeria -- and will soon

embark upon a gradual release programme. Gorilla re-introductions are

extremely slow and difficult procedures, but PASA

sanctuaries have recently joined the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to

initiate such programmes to counter threats of over-crowding.

" At Limbe, the gorillas could one day be released back into the wild,

back into the range country where they belong, " Cress said.

" But at the Pretoria Zoo, not only are they destined to remain in captivity

forever, they are also thousands of kilometres from their homelands.

" If CITES and other international wildlife agencies are ever going to

crack-down on the poaching and black-market trading of

endangered species, then they must start now -- by removing the profit

motive altogether. "

 

 

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: smcgreal, Website www.ippl.org

 

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