Guest guest Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 This response from CITES South Africa, is precisely the problem ... it's the " Sergeant Schultz " (from the TV show Hogan's Heroes) excuse: " I know nothing! I see nothing! " That way they can claim innocence when 4 rare gorillas pass through their country with " captive born " status from Nigeria, a country without any captive breeding program! Taiping Zoo did the same " innocence " act when confronted with their " purchase " of the four gorillas known now as the Taiping 4. For a zoo who had publicly advertised its desire and urgency for gorillas for years (much like Pretoria Zoo in South Africa, ironically), to all of a sudden discover FOUR BABY GORILLAS from a zoo with no previous record of captive breeding, but no one questions this good fortune?? And allegedly Taiping zoo staff visited Ibadan Zoo before the transfer, so even an idiot might wonder where the sire and dam to the 4 babies were, but no one questioned anything or suspected any foul play, they'd like you to believe.... In that same vein of not questioning anything, the Sgt Schultz of CITES South Africa now claims it wasn't their job to question official papers from another CITES authority. Well, maybe it SHOULD BE, especially since it's now clear that some in CITES aren't beyond falsifying papers and/or not verifying information before allowing endangered gorillas (and god-knows-what-else) to be shipped across the globe, in the guise of legitimacy. Still, I find it incredulous that no one in CITES South Africa thought to question even the most beautifully presented CITES papers from Nigeria or Malaysia, transferring *gorillas* - an animal that rarely, if ever, passes through South African borders ... Claiming they were following all the rules, doing their job, etc, is just another way of saying " loophole! loophole! As long as it wasn't South African CITES with bogus papers, it's not our problem! " File this reply as your standard BS from a bureaucrat, who's either trying to cover something up or who needs to remedial training in identifying the very animals that CITES is supposed to be protecting. CITES needs to revisit their own laws and rules, since it's clear to me and many others that these " loopholes " are allowing animals to be shipped out to the highest bidder. Jane Dewar - " Jill Gershen " <jgershen <primfocus Friday, January 30, 2004 7:27 PM primfocus: response from Sonja Meintjes > Hello everyone; > > Here is the response I received from Sonja Meintjes in reference to my plea > that Cameroon's requests be addressed. Any ideas on how I should respond to > this??? Or should I respond at all? > > Thanks - > > Jill Gershen > > " Sonja Meintjes " <Smeintjes wrote: > > Dear Ms Gershen > > Thank you for your message regarding the 4 gorillas which are currently > in Malaysia. > > I would like to inform you that South Africa was merely a transit point > for the gorillas and at the time when the CITES permits were presented > with the application for a veterinary transit permit, the permits were > accepted because they seemed to be authentic. There was no concern from > the authorities in South Africa that the permits were not authentic as > it was issued by both CITES Management Authorities. It was only after > the CITES Secretariat has been alerted that the animals may not have > been captive bred that an investigation had been done. > > Malaysia followed the guidelines accepted by the Conference of Parties > (CoP) for the disposal of live confiscated animals after they received > amongst others information from the CITES Secretariat on the incident. > This was echoed by the CITES Secretariat in a press release in July > 2003. > > The decision to send the animals to Pretoria Zoo was thus made > according to the recommendations of a CoP. > > Yours sincerely > > Sonja Meintjes > > Sonja Meintjes > Assistant Director: Trade and Regulation > Office of the CITES Management Authority: South Africa > Tel +2712 - 3103545 > Fax +2712 -3207026 > Mobile phone 082 655 4711 > E-mail: smeintjes > > Sonja Meintjes > Assistant Director: Trade and Regulation > Office of the CITES Management Authority: South Africa > Tel +2712 - 3103545 > Fax +2712 -3207026 > Mobile phone 082 655 4711 > E-mail: smeintjes > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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