News of Taiping Four - it's Pretoria

[Guest guest]

Not very good news, South Africa can " have them for now. " Shirley

 

Cameroon Says Malaysia Zoo Gorillas Must Come Back

Thu January 29, 2004 02:49 PM ET

 

By Tansa Musa

 

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - Cameroon said on Thursday home meant home for four of

its gorillas spirited away to a Malaysian zoo, and a plan to send them back

to their native continent -- but to far-away South Africa -- was not good

enough.

 

The row highlights the problem of trafficking in endangered or rare species

across Africa.

 

The central African country says the Western lowland gorillas, a fast

dwindling species, were smuggled out via Nigeria two years ago and surfaced

in the zoo in Taiping, north Malaysia.

 

Cameroon has long demanded their return and on Thursday said that if they

went to South Africa, where a zoo in the capital Pretoria is expecting

them, it could only be a temporary stop.

 

" South Africa can go ahead and build the best infrastructure in the world

and have them for now. Our concern is that in the end they come back to

Cameroon, " said Stephen Takang Ebai, director of wildlife at the Ministry

of Environment.

 

The National Zoological Gardens of South Africa said the gorillas would

find a good home there and it expected to receive them within a month, but

gave no details of the agreement.

 

A zoo official said import and export permits had been issued for the

so-called " Taiping Four, " and bringing them to Pretoria would further

gorilla conservation and education.

 

Malaysia declined to comment. Media reports say authorities there acquired

the gorillas in good faith, understanding them to have been bred in captivity.

 

Cameroonian officials said they planned to make the problem a " hot issue "

at the next meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Species (CITES).

 

Cameroon, Malaysia, South Africa and Nigeria are all parties to CITES, an

international accord which among other things bans selling or trading apes

caught in the wild.

 

Smuggling is just one threat to the population of wild apes in central and

west Africa, where numbers have shrunk over the past 20 years due to

indiscriminate hunting and logging, trading in pets and the deadly Ebola virus.

 

Western lowland gorillas are found in Cameroon, Central African Republic,

the two Congos, Gabon and Nigeria. There is an estimated population of

10,000, but it is decreasing rapidly.

 

Cameroon has enacted legislation against killing, capturing or trading

gorillas, but they are prized as a bushmeat delicacy for rich city dwellers

and provide the main source of protein for many impoverished villagers.

(Additional reporting by Ed Stoddard in Johannesburg)