Update on the Taiping Four

[Guest guest]

From the 27 April issue of The Guardian.

 

South Africa, Cameroon set June date for return of 'Taiping Four' gorillas

 

By Chinedu Uwaegbulam

 

DISTURBED by the negative publicity and global concern for four young

gorillas returned to South Africa from Malaysia instead of their original

home, authorities in the South African zoo may have reached an agreement to

repatriate the primates to Cameroon in June.

The western lowland gorillas were poached three years ago from

Cameroon. They were smuggled first to Nigeria, and then traded for a

reported $1m to a zoo in Taiping, Malaysia.

When this illegal deal was exposed, Malaysia's authorities chose to

send the animals to the Pretoria zoo in South Africa, and a 4 million rand

($650,000) state-of-the-art special enclosure was built for it.

The fate of the gorillas has infuriated animal rights groups who want

them sent back to their natural habitat. Animal activists and

conservationists including the International Primate Protection League

(IPPL) had recently prodded the governments of Cameroon and Nigeria to

demand that the four apes be sent to a sanctuary in Limbe, Cameroon.

Conservationists felt let down by what they perceive as South Africa

and Malaysia's failure to send a strong signal to animal traffickers.

Mary Fosi, a senior official at Cameroon's Ministry of Environment

and Nature Protection, confirmed that said South Africa had promised to

return the gorillas, known as the " Taiping Four " , after the Malaysian zoo

where they appeared after being smuggled out of Cameroon in 2002.

" We are waiting now for the South African government to respect its

engagement to bring back the gorillas to Cameroon by June 2005, " Fosi said.

IPPL President, Dr. Shirley McGreal told The Guardian that the

diplomatic negotiations had been the solution to the row over the gorillas.

" This is the solution IPPL has recommended since that day in March 2002

when a visitor to IPPL headquarters opened up his laptop and showed us the

photos of the gorillas at Taiping Zoo, Malaysia, " she said.

Dr. McGreal pointed out that the information box on the gorillas

exhibited at Pretoria Zoo said nothing about their illegal origin.

Recently, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) criticised the

South African Government for failing to convene a technical committee to

facilitate the return of the Taiping Four gorillas to West Africa as

promised. Instead the government is allowing preparations to continue for

placing the gorillas on public display.

In a statement issued on April 14 to mark the first anniversary of the

animals' arrival in South Africa, Ifaw said its investigators could easily

gain access to the still-under-construction gorilla enclosure at the zoo

and were able to view and photograph the young animals.

" The gorillas are already on public display as foreign tourists are

taking pictures of the animals, unsupervised in the indoor enclosure of the

new facility, " said Christina Pretorius, Ifaw's Southern Africa

communications manager.

The population of lowland gorillas, numbering several thousand in

Cameroon, Central African Republic, the two Congos, Gabon and Nigeria, is

rapidly declining because of hunting and logging, trading in pets and the

deadly Ebola virus.

Activists say the apes should be returned under the Convention on

International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which regulates the

global trade in threatened wildlife. Fosi said facilities at the Limbe

Centre had already been upgraded for their return.

" The centre has successfully put in place a family group of gorillas and

the " Taiping Four " will be integrated into the resident gorilla

population, " she said.

Ifaw urged South Africa, a signatory to CITES, to uphold the convention

resolution that specimens confiscated from illegal trade should be returned

to the country of origin upon request. " But two separate requests by the

Cameroon Government have been ignored by South Africa, " he added.

Working with IPPL, Pasa, the Last Great Ape Organisation, the Limbe

Wildlife Centre and the Born Free Foundation, IFAW is working towards

securing the return of the animals to West Africa and the long-term care of

the gorillas.

The organisations had identified Limbe Wildlife Centre as an

appropriate place for the animals to be cared for in the long term. Run in

conjunction with the Cameroon Government, Limbe is said to have an

impeccable record in the care and husbandry of gorillas and is currently

caring for 12 gorillas.

 

Shirley McGreal

International Primate Protection League

PO Box 766, Summerville, SC 29484, USA

Phone - 843-871-2280, Fax- 843-871-7988

E-mail - smcgreal, Web: www.ippl.org