[gorillakeepers] Taiping 4 Gorilla Crime

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Hope, and others, who have expressed similar support privately.

It's clear peoples' voices are being heard and officials with the power to

" do the right thing " will have to think twice before trying to sweep this

under the rug, since it's not going away and no one will forget.

 

Unfortunately, due to the rather complicated nature of politics, the simple

solution of returning these gorillas to their native homeland is made more

complicated by people claiming " it's not my job " or " it's out of my control "

instead of one loud voice in CITES or the Zoo World standing up and ending

this now, by returning the gorillas to Cameroon. Seems there are a lot of

Sgt Schultzes out there - baffoons protecting criminals.

 

Jane

 

-

" Hope Walker " <gorillas

<gorillakeepers >

Saturday, December 20, 2003 2:21 PM

RE: [gorillakeepers] Taiping 4 Gorilla Crime

 

 

> Good for you, Jane. The " what you talkin' about, Willis? " responses I've

> received have really been more than enough. CITES is suppossed to be

working

> FOR wildlife, not against it.

>

> Best,

> Hope Walker

>

>

> Jane T. R. Dewar [jdewar]

> Saturday, December 20, 2003 8:54 AM

> Francois Rogers T4-Cam; Musa Nordin T4-M; Sonia Meintjes T4-SACITES

> Cc: Peter Dollinger, Director WAZA; Wharton #2; primfocus;

> gorillakeepers ; Asian Animal Protection;

> alloprimate ; New Limbe; Shirley McGreal IPPL new; CESD A;

> John Sellar CITES; Doug Cress PASA; Ape Alliance; Pandrillus Limbe

> [gorillakeepers] Taiping 4 Gorilla Crime

>

>

> Sonia Meintjes, CITES official South Africa

> and Francois Rogers, MINEF official in Cameroon

> and Musa Nordin, Environmental official in Malaysia

>

> If you've been watching the internet, you'll know I've been closely

> monitoring this situation from its inception. Unlike people at IPPL, who

> have been protecting animals and exposing criminals in government and

animal

> trade for 30 years now, I'm relatively new to the politics, intrigue and

> unabashed self-serving done in the name of animal conservation.

>

> I'm still trying to figure out who the " good guys " are, versus the ones

with

> vested interests who pretend to don the white hat of animal

> conservation-good-guys, while helping disreputable animal traders and

> dealers, and the few unscrupulous zoos who use them, get away with

murder -

> ie: the countless gorillas slaughtered so 4 babies could end up in

Taiping,

> or even Pretoria Zoo.

>

> While researching a story for the Gorilla Gazette, Taiping's zoo director,

> Kevin Lazarus, first confirmed to me Taiping had 4 baby gorillas. I was

> excited ... but confused. You see, I know where ALL approximately 800+

> captive gorillas are, since that is my " business, " so to speak. I asked

Dr.

> Lazarus to provide me details of these 4 babies - sire, dam, birth dates,

> and he was always too busy to answer with these details, so it was quickly

> obvious there was something a LOT of people were trying to hide.

>

> Well, thanks to the Internet, there's no hiding for very long. How or why

> South Africa, as one of the 3 countries responsible for the transport of

> these 4 gorilla babies, believes the gorillas belong in their National Zoo

> is bewildering to me and my many, many, good friends in animal

conservation

> in South Africa. Indeed, for many of the " white hat good guys " I know in

> South Africa, bringing the T4 gorillas to Pretoria is embarrassing and

> shameful. It sends out a bad message for the children of the future - that

> is: " Help by turning a blind eye to a crime, and you'll be rewarded with

> the loot from the crime, if you know the right people in power and play

the

> game right.... "

>

> In the old American TV comedy " Hogan's Heros " the baffoonish German

prison

> guard, Sgt Schultz, would roll his eyes and declare " I know nothing! " as

his

> prisoners left the prison, and conducted their illicit business under his

> nose. It was a great comic foil, since everyone was aware Schultz knew

> exactly what was going on, however exposing it would have meant more

trouble

> for him with his superiors than it was worth. I'm thinking the same thing

> happened when 4 gorilla babies transitted through South Africa, a country

> long attempting to get more gorillas for their zoos via the EEP. For

CITES

> officials in South Africa not to notice or question the " captive born "

> status of the 4 baby gorillas from Ibadan Zoo in Nigeria, shows either a

Sgt

> Schultz mentality or worse - total ineptitude.

>

> In the past, there were no good sanctuaries in range countries to take

back

> great apes brutally stolen from their country's jungles. Now there are.

> These gorillas belong in Cameroon. Cameroon's government has repeatedly

> asked for them back. How or why people in Malaysia and South Africa - 2

of

> the 3 countries involved in this crime in one form or another - get to

> decide these gorillas' fate is another mystery to me. Cameroon and

Nigeria

> have worked together to repatriate other gorillas stolen from Cameroon's

> forests and I was privileged to be at Limbe Wildlife Centre in May to

watch

> the return of Twiggy and Brighter - a great day in the history of two

> African great ape range countries making a clear stand to STOP the

> slaughter.

>

> Nigeria is the only country to actively pursue and prosecute people

involved

> in the T4 case, while South Africa claims no responsibilty (other than the

> fact the animals transitted right under CITES noses and were carried on

> South African Airways), and Malaysia is playing victim to a con, licking

> their wounds as if they're the victim, not the responsible party who

> initiated this crime in the first place.

>

> Why this has gone on as long as this has, is another mystery. Clearly,

> there's big money and other vested interests of tit for tat, payback, etc,

> involving more than just these 4 gorillas, despite protestations from

WAZA's

> director, who claims gorillas aren't big draws in zoos - a position no one

> else in the zoo world seems to support.

>

> I know from personal email exchanges with some officials, everyone is sick

> of this case and wants it to " go away " ... Bill Clinton wanted the Monica

> Lewinsky case to go away too, as did Richard Nixon and Watergate. But in

> the end, only by exposing and admitting the TRUTH and doing the right

thing,

> will this case " go away. "

>

> DO THE RIGHT THING: RETURN THE GORILLAS TO CAMEROON ...

>

> It really is that simple.

>

> Thank you for your time.

>

> Jane Dewar

> Founder, Gorilla Haven www.gorilla-haven.org

> Publisher, Gorilla Gazette

> President, Dewar Wildlife Trust, Inc.

>

>