Fw: from SAM-letters against sending gorillas to Pretoria zoo

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ACTION ALERT FROM SAM

 

Dear Friends,

 

 

PLEASE URGE THE MALAYSIAN ENVIRONMENT MINISTER TO

RE-CONSIDER SENDING THE 'TAIPING FOUR' GORILLAS TO

PRETORIA ZOO

 

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) a non-governmental

organisation dedicated to the conservation of wildlife

and its habitat is requesting for international

support and pressure regarding a recent decision by

the Malaysian Minister of Science, Technology and

Environment to allocate four confiscated gorillas from

Malaysia to the National Zoo in Pretoria, South

Africa.

 

The saga of the four gorillas otherwise known as the

" Taiping Four " came to light following a tip-off to

International Primate Protection League (IPPL) upon

the arrival of the infants to the Taiping Zoo.

 

According to results of an investigation conducted by

IPPL the four infant gorillas were believed to have

been captured in Cameroon, smuggled through Nigeria

and South Africa with forged permits and arriving at

the Taiping Zoo in Malaysia in January 2002 where the

gorillas have been held since.

 

IPPL's first query went to the Malaysian Wildlife

Department which confirmed that it had issued an

import permit for gorillas to Taiping Zoo. Following

disclosure by IPPL on the circumstances surrounding

the shipment, the department stopped shipment of the

remaining two gorillas pending further investigation.

 

Meanwhile Taiping Zoo in response to a statement from

SAM, insisted the gorillas were on a zoo exchange

programme with Ibadan University Zoo and brought into

Malaysia with all the proper documents. As part of

the exchange programme the zoo would be sending

tigers, sun bears, and other animals to its Nigerian

counterpart.

 

However IPPL disputed any evidence of any captive

gorilla breeding programme in Nigeria since there are

no breeding program for gorillas and the only gorilla

currently at the zoo a a 37 year old female long past

breeding age.

 

The Malaysian Convention for International Trade in

Endangered Species (CITES) management unit apparently

gave approval for the import of the gorillas on

seeing that the documents stated the animals to be

captive-bred, claiming ignorance and trust in the word

of the documents.

 

After intense pressure and continuous questionings by

primate conservation groups and NGOs, the Minister of

Science, Technology and Environment finally decided to

surrender the animals to the Pretoria Zoo. The

decision was undertaken after much convincing from the

World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and

with the support of CITES.

 

SAM was extremely shocked and dismayed at the

decision to send these gorillas to a zoo instead of a

sanctuary close to their habitat where there is every

possibility of returning them back to the wild. We

fully support Dr. Jane Goodal, IPPL, the governments

of Cameroon and Nigeria, and a host of international

animal welfare for proposing the Limbe Wildlife

Center in Cameroon as a final destination for the

gorillas.

 

Only through the confiscation of the species and

sending them to a sanctuary would send a clear message

to poachers, traders, dealers, zoos, and all those

involved in the black-market animal trade that no one

profits from traffic in endangered animals.

 

By sending them back to zoos it will encourage more

zoos and potential buyers to acquire highly endangered

species illegally benefiting those involved in the

trade. It is our stand that no zoos should not profit

from the misdeeds of another zoo and getting the

animals free, when the animals are worth a million

dollars.

 

The decision by WAZA to settle on Pretoria Zoo is

highly questionable considering that three out of four

gorillas had died over the past decade.

 

These animals were:

 

2.10.89 Maswi Female, Parents Betty and Hobbit.

Died 8.10.89. Death due to a fractured skull

 

13.8.90 unnamed infant, male, parents Betty and

Hobbit. Died 30.8.90

 

Therefore the reputation of the recipient zoo and its

solid tradition of successful care of gorillas has to

be seriously questioned.

 

Furthermore the decision by WAZA and CITES in their

choice of Pretoria Zoo over Limbe is puzzling as

given a choice of zoos worldwide, a zoo without any

record of successful care of gorillas is selected.

This is evidently clear that WAZA had all along

wanted gorillas to remain in zoos. By acquiring wild

caught gorillas, zoos are aiding in species

destruction which does not justify zoos' claims that

they are into conservation of species.

 

Again the role of CITES is doubtful and the Malaysian

Cites unit does not produce effective result.

Obviously SAM believes that loopholes and problems

exist which no one in CITES or WAZA seem to

acknowledge or address while decisions continue to be

made based on erroneous or misleading information

without first questioning or verifying the truth. If

CITES are sincere in cracking down on poaching and

black-market trading of endangered species, they must

start by removing the profit motive altogether.

 

LETTERS NEEDED.

 

Please send letters/email to the Malaysian Minister of

Science, Technology and Environment requesting him to

re-consider his recent decision to allocate four

confiscated gorillas from Malaysia to the National Zoo

in Pretoria, South Africa. This will not discourage

trade in endangered great apes in the future.

 

Dato' Seri Law Hieng Ding

Minister of Science, Technology and Environment

Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment

Aras 1 - 7, Blok C5, Parcel C

Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan

62662 Putrajaya

Malaysia

email: lhd

 

 

Please question the Malaysian CITES authority on the

action taken against those involved in the gorilla

dealings and the measures taken to ensure no future

recurrences

 

 

The Director-General of Wildlife and National Parks

Malaysian CITES Management Unit

Headquarters of the Wildlife and National Parks

KM 10 Jalan Cheras

56100 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

email: musa and to

khairiah

 

 

Please send letters/email to CITES to question their

role in conservation and the result of their

investigation into this illegal trade.

 

Mr. John Seller

CITES Secretariat

International Environment House, Chemin des Anemones

Ch-1219 Chatelaine

Geneva

Switzerland.

email: john.sellar

 

 

Please send letters/email to question WAZA for their

choice of Pretoria zoo over the Limbe or other

sanctuaries.

 

 

Dr. Peter Dollinger

The Executive Director

Waza Executive Office

World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA)

P O Box 23

CH-3097 Liebefeld-Berne

Switzerland

email: waza.director

 

 

Kindly send us a copy of your letters/email

 

 

We thank you for your time and effort.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

S M Mohd Idris

President

Friends of the Earth Malaysia (Sahabat Alam Malaysia -

SAM)

9 Solok Mas

11600 Penang, Malaysia

Tel: 604-6576932/6596930 Fax: 604-6596931