Article about gorillas

[Guest guest]

I took a subscription to Malaysiakini as I really enjoy reading it. So I

got access to the gorilla story which was great. Address for letters,

editor), Shirley

 

Malaysiakini.com

 

Cameroon wants gorillas back where they belong

 

Andrew Ong

12:45:35 PM Jan 31, 2004

 

Cameroon said that the four smuggled gorillas, dubbed the " Taiping Four, "

should be returned to their land of origin and not to a South African zoo.

 

Cameroonian officials was quoted in a Reuters report as saying that they

planned to turn the question of relocation of the animals into a " hot

issue " at the upcoming Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Species (CITES).

 

CITES is an international treaty that bans the selling or trading of apes

caught from the wild, which all four countries involved in the dispute -

Cameroon, Malaysia, South Africa and Nigeria - are parties to.

 

In July last year, Science Technology and Environment Minister Law Hieng

Deng <http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/2003070900111160.php>announced that

the four gorillas would be sent to Pretoria Zoo " as soon as possible " .

 

Cameroon, who has long insisted the return of the gorillas, however said

that if they were sent to Pretoria Zoo, they might only be there temporarily.

 

" 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 Cameroon

Environment Ministry who was quoted by Reuters.

 

Consider the alternatives

 

Responding to questions e-mailed by malaysiakini, International Primate

Protection League (IPPL) chairperson Shirley McGreal also expressed her

disapproval for the selection of Pretoria Zoo as the new home for the

gorillas.

 

" We don't understand how Pretoria Zoo was selected to receive the gorillas.

Its record with gorillas is not good (3 of 4 adults dead and 2 out of 2

babies died), " she said.

 

" Further, it is the national zoo of South Africa and the gorillas had been

smuggled through Johannesburg Airport in South Africa and had been carried

on South African Airways,

 

" It seems strange to us that Malaysia should decide where the illegally

obtained animals should go and that it should choose a zoo in a country

that took part in the original crime, " said McGreal.

 

She stressed that the IPPL considers the Limbe Wildlife Center in Cameroon

to be the best place for the gorillas as the center currently keeps 12

confiscated gorillas in " excellent condition " .

 

McGreal also said that the smuggling of wildlife primate is an

international crime which is driving certain animals into extinction.

 

" It is destroying species that have taken millions of years to evolve. In

the case of gorillas, they only breed every 5-6 years and so, the trade is

species-destructive, "

 

Gorillas near extinction

 

The four Western lowland gorillas, an endangered species, were believed to

have been smuggled out via Nigeria.

 

" The animals were smuggled from Nigeria on documents stating that they were

all born at the

 

University of Ibadan Zoo whose only gorilla is a lonely female. An official

Nigerian Presidential Investigative Commission confirmed that their true

country of origin was Cameroon, " explained McGreal.

 

They were then brought to Taiping Zoo in Jan 2002, a move which Environment

Minister Law claimed " some parties had deliberately misled " him into

signing an import permit containing a false declaration that the purchase

was approved by CITES.

 

Taiping Zoo had also earlier

<http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/200204260015385.php>claimed that the

acquisition of the gorillas was part of an exchange programme and that it

was not a trade, as they had the documents to support their claim.

 

An anonymous source from Taiping Zoo told malaysiakini that the gorillas,

currently aged four to seven, are well nurtured and have adapted well to

their present environment.

 

However, the source said that they were unable to exhibit the gorillas due

to the amount of controversy that surrounds the issue.

 

A Malaysiakini journalist was not allowed to see the gorillas during a

visit to the zoo last week.