AR-News: South African press covers gorillas' arrival

[Shirley McGreal]

There is a photo on the web site. 
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1514637,00.html


- Four young African gorillas, captured illegally and held at a Malaysia 
zoo, are adjusting well to their new home at Pretoria National Zoological 
Gardens, officials said on Monday.

However, animal activists said they would be better off at a sanctuary in 
the west African nation of Cameroon, where they were believed to have been 
caught.

The gorillas - a male and three females about 3-4 years old - arrived at 
the Pretoria zoo on Wednesday after a 12-hour flight.

"Within half an hour, they had settled in, started eating and were doing 
well," said Willie Labuschagne, the zoo's executive director.

Two of their Malaysian keepers and a veterinarian accompanied the apes for 
the trip and will remain in South Africa until they are satisfied they have 
adjusted, said Labuschagne.

The young orphans will be held in quarantine for six weeks in an exact 
replica of the facility in which they were housed at northern Malaysia's 
government-run Taiping Zoo.

"State of the art" exhibition centre

The Pretoria zoo has also shipped in large quantities of food from Malaysia 
so the animals can be gradually introduced to their new diet.

After quarantine, they will be transferred to the zoo's gorilla enclosure, 
which is being refurbished to a "state of the art" exhibition centre, 
Labuschagne said.

Pretoria zoo has one other gorilla, a male named Hobbit, who is almost 30 
years old.

Despite the planned improvements, the National Society for the Prevention 
of Cruelty to Animals said it would be preferable to return the gorillas to 
Cameroon, as demanded by that country's government.

Rick Allan, the organisation's national wildlife manager, said the apes 
could be accommodated at the country's Limbe Primate Sanctuary, where their 
offspring would have a good chance of being reintroduced to the wild.

South Africa has no native gorillas, so any offspring born here would 
remain in captivity.

Cameroon's ministry of environment and forestry says it has proof poachers 
illegally captured the gorillas in the southwestern rain forests.

Conceded the papers may have been forged

They were initially transferred to neighbouring Nigeria, before being sent 
to Malaysia in January 2002.

Malaysian officials initially insisted the purchase of the gorillas was 
legal, but conceded in October 2002 that the trade papers may have been 
forged.

Last July, Malaysian authorities ordered the zoo to send them back to 
Africa, but selected South Africa over Cameroon, saying it could best care 
for the apes.

"We did not buy the animals," Labuschagne said. "There was no exchange of 
money, and I believe we have the capability of taking care of them."

Edited by Iaine Harper