WAZA press release - Taiping 4

[Guest guest]

World Association

of Zoos and Aquariums

 

 

 

MEDIA RELEASE

MEDIENMITTEILUNG

COMMUNICATION DE MÉDIAS

Bern, 17.07. 2003 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoos don't need gorillas - gorillas need zoos

 

 

 

Following a recommendation by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums

(WAZA), the Wildlife and National Parks Department for Peninsular Malaysia has

decided to send four confiscated gorillas known as the " Taiping Four " to the

National Zoological Gardens of South Africa. While certain interest groups

challenge this decision, WAZA maintains that there was no better option.

 

 

 

The Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) for Peninsular Malaysia

has informed the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and the National

Zoo of South Africa that the Government of Malaysia has finally decided to send

the confiscated gorillas known as the " Taiping Four " to the National Zoological

Gardens of South Africa (Pretoria Zoo). This decision was made taking into

account a recommendation by WAZA. To respond to certain criticisms, WAZA wishes

to make the following comments:

 

WAZA and its members are deeply committed to species conservation and animal

welfare. WAZA's Code of Ethics requires that obtaining animals from the wild

should be reduced to a minimum, and that each importation must be in full

compliance with the relevant national and international legislation. The two

zoos involved in the illegal transfer from West Africa to Malaysia of the

gorillas concerned are not members of WAZA.

 

It is WAZA's stated policy to support international conservation treaties.

Consequently, the WAZA Executive Office assisted the Secretariat of the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

(CITES) in the fact finding and suggested that Pretoria Zoo would be a suitable

place to accommodate the animals in case they would have to be confiscated and

could not be returned to their country of origin. At the Executive Office's

request, Pretoria Zoo submitted a comprehensive documentation allowing the

authorities to make an informed decision.

 

The following considerations are the basis for WAZA's recommendation:

 

· The keeping of gorillas is expensive. Any institution receiving them should

have a solid financial basis. Pretoria Zoo is the National Zoo of South Africa.

It has a well administered budget, and the costs exceeding the revenues from

gate fees etc. are covered by the National Government.

 

· Any facility accepting animals from a country outside the species' natural

range should be able to guarantee lifetime care. Pretoria Zoo was established in

1898, and has been continually and extensively renewed. It is thus a very a

long-term operation whose further existence is ensured by the fact that is

government-owned and that it receives a very large number of visitors.

 

· Lowland gorillas are endangered in the wild. Every year about 3000 gorillas

are slaughtered for the illegal bushmeat trade. The maintenance of viable

breeding populations in human care is therefore of utmost importance. For this

reason, an international studbook is kept under the auspices of WAZA, and two of

WAZA's Association Members (AZA and EAZA) operate co-ordinated ex situ

conservation breeding programmes. In 2002, the total of animals under control of

the WAZA Network was 825 gorillas kept by 144 zoos. Of these, 388 gorillas in 56

zoos belong to the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP), which also

includes Australia, and 373 gorillas in 53 zoos to the North American Species

Survival Plan (SSP). Pretoria Zoo has always registered its animals in the

International Studbook. The only gorilla currently at the zoo is a loan from the

European Endangered Species Programme (EEP). The zoo has a commitment to

cooperate with both, studbook and EEP also in future.

 

· Pretoria Zoo employs not only dedicated and experienced animal keepers, but

also two fully salaried staff veterinarians and a veterinary nurse. The zoo has

its own animal hospital, it can count on the cooperation of the world-renowned

Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty, which is only a few minutes drive away, and

there are numerous human medicine institutes and hospitals in Pretoria, which

could be consulted if necessary.

 

· Animals taken out of their original range may attract pathogens, often

without becoming clinically ill themselves. This may be a problem for the wild

population if the animals would be returned to their home land, and would have

to be addressed by adequate veterinary expertise and appropriate quarantine

facilities. Pretoria Zoo, apart from having the veterinary experience and

facilities available, lies outside the gorilla's range, i.e. no disease could be

transmitted to wild gorillas.

 

· Those who promote the transfer of the gorillas to a sanctuary instead of a

zoo claim that a strong message needs to be sent to zoos to the effect that

illegal trade in gorillas will not be rewarded. WAZA is not aware of any of its

member zoos having accepted gorillas from illegal sources within at least the

past twenty years. 73 % of the gorillas currently kept by zoos are born in human

care, many of them are second or third generation animals. Only nine gorillas

from the wild were added to the studbook during the past ten years. This

includes animals confiscated by the authorities and subsequently entrusted to a

zoo pursuant to article VIII.4 of CITES.

 

· The Taping gorillas have to tell a story by which they would promote CITES

and conservation in general. However, for telling a story, an audience is

needed. Pretoria Zoo has an attendance of 600'000 to 800'000 visitors per year

forming a huge audience. In addition, there are a number of outreach activities.

South Africa is often blamed for having allowed the transit of illegally traded

CITES specimens. Having the four gorillas at Pretoria Zoo in combination with

the activities envisaged will help to create awareness among the general public,

but also among airline personnel, customs officers, border veterinarians etc.

and thus help to prevent similar cases in future.

 

· The visitors meeting the gorillas at Pretoria Zoo may be disposed to donate

money for gorilla conservation. Pretoria Zoo will undertake to establish a

Gorilla Conservation Fund subject to official audit and to scrutiny by CITES.

This fund will be used to support conservation projects in the gorilla range

states of West and Central Africa.

 

Sanctuaries, seen by certain interest groups as the preferred option for the

future housing of the " Taiping Four " , could hardly give the same guarantees for

a long-term keeping of the animals, could not provide better facilities and

care, and would not be able to reach a very big audience. They keep their

animals in cages or enclosures too, they are not designed for receiving animals

from ex situ sources, they may have problems with the keeping of fully-grown

apes, and they prevent the animals in their care from breeding. Sanctuaries are

primarily intended to take care of orphaned animals collected or confiscated

locally, and WAZA fully recognizes that they can fulfil a very useful role from

an animal welfare and, to a certain extent, species conservation standpoint, and

encourages zoos to continue to cooperate with and to support sanctuaries also in

future.

 

Those who oppose the transfer of the gorillas to Pretoria Zoo argue that sending

victims of one zoo's misconduct to reward or award another zoo would not be

acceptable, and they suggest that zoos want to purchase gorillas for economic

profit. These arguments are not pertinent, as they are based on an antiquated

understanding of justice implying a collective guilt of zoos, and a complete

lack of understanding of the economic relevance of keeping gorillas in a zoo.

 

Of course, gorillas are a high profile species, and opening a new gorilla

exhibit or adding a group of gorillas to the collection will always result in an

increase of visitor numbers. However, zoos having given up the keeping of

gorillas to make more space available for other species, such as Aalborg,

Copenhagen or Rome Zoo, have seen no negative impact on visitor numbers, and in

zoos having built new and attractive gorilla exhibits, visitor numbers returned

more or less to normal after a while. It should also be noted that most zoos

keeping gorillas are non-profit establishments operated by governments,

foundation, charities or non-profit companies, and that any financial surplus

would be reinvested into the operation or used for conservation projects.

 

Zoos can do without mammoths, without sabre-toothed tigers and without dodos.

Zoos could also do perfectly well without gorillas. In fact 85 % of the zoos

organised in the WAZA Network don't keep gorillas, and most of them have no

intention of ever adding this species to their collection. On the other hand,

the gorillas with their steadily decreasing population and shrinking habitat may

have to rely on a healthy zoo population in order to survive as a species in the

longer term.

 

- E N D S -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For further information please contact

 

o Peter Dollinger, Executive Director, World Association of Zoos and

Aquaria, Executive Office,

Tel: ++41-31-300 20 30, Fax ++41-31-300 20 31, Email: waza.director

 

o Willie Labuschagne, Director, National Zoological Gardens of South

Africa

Tel: ++27 12 328 3265 (Office hours); ++ 27 12 326 6734 (After Hours); Fax:

++27 12 323 4540;

Cellphone no: 082 901 0003 (South Africa); E-mail: wlab

 

Notes to Editors

 

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) was founded in 1946 in

Rotterdam as International Union of Directors of Zoological Gardens. It promotes

effective stewardship of the natural world by encouraging its members to bring

people close to living animals, applying and advancing in situ and ex situ

conservation, science and education, and setting standards of excellence in

animal welfare and environmental responsibilities. WAZA unifies close to 200

major zoos (institutional members) and 16 regional or national federations

representing another 800 zoos and aquariums. The headquarters of the

organisation are located at Berne, Switzerland.