AR-News: Gorillas: IFAW (South Africa) joins the fray

[Shirley McGreal]

Daily news
'Pretoria Zoo gorillas should go'

Tuesday April 20, 2004 14:42 - (SA)

An animal rights group accused South Africa of breaching international 
conventions by sheltering four young gorillas in a Pretoria zoo.

Christina Pretorius, spokeswoman for the International Fund for Animal 
Welfare (IFAW), said: "South Africa has flouted the same international 
conventions it helped form by allowing the so-called Taiping Four gorillas 
to be moved to a Pretoria zoo instead of returned to Cameroon, their 
country of origin."

It would seem the gorillas first came to light in 2001 when they were 
"illegally" exported to the Taiping Zoo in Malaysia. They were then 
confiscated by the authorities.

Pretoria Zoo then submitted an application to the Malaysians offering to 
take care of the primates. They finally arrived in South Africa on April 14 
and are now in quarantine at the Pretoria Zoo.

Pretorius said the IFAW had called for the South African government to 
respect the Convention on Trade in International Species (Cites) which 
said: "Where the country of origin desires the return of the animals, this 
desire should be respected."

Said Jason Bell-Leask, director of IFAW South Africa: "Annex One makes it 
very clear that the Taiping Four should ideally be returned to Cameroon, 
from where they were originally caught and smuggled out to the Taiping Zoo, 
Malaysia, on fraudulent documentation.

"And, while Annex One is not binding, as a signatory to Cites and in the 
spirit of international co-operation, South Africa should respect the 
conventions it helped put in place to safeguard endangered species."

Bell-Leask said Cameroon was well within its rights to demand the return of 
the gorillas and that there should be no hesitation on South Africa's part 
in making plans to send them back.

Willie Labuschagne, executive director of the National Zoological Gardens 
of South Africa (Pretoria Zoo), said following the illegal transportation 
of the gorillas to Malaysia, an application had been made to consider 
Pretoria Zoo as a suitable home for the animals.

The application was successful.

Labuschagne said extensive preparations were made to ensure the safe 
transportation to, and well-being of, the gorillas at the zoo.

He said a vet had been sent from Malaysia to inspect the facilities in 
South Africa. A cargo of special food was flown in to give the gorillas 
time to adjust to the local diet and there was round the clock monitoring 
of the animals.

In addition the existing facilities were extensively modified to 
accommodate all their needs including regulating heat and humidity.

"We have spent a considerable amount of money on them," said Labuschagne.

He said some animal rights groups were saying the gorillas - who were 
between the ages of three and four years - should be sent to the Limbe 
gorilla orphanage in Cameroon.

However, he pointed out it was not certain that they had originated in 
Cameroon in the first place and that Limbe did not have a breeding 
programme while Pretoria Zoo was part of an international gorilla breeding 
scheme.

He warned that gorillas faced extinction.

"Projections suggest the last gorilla (in the wild) will be killed in the 
next 10 years."

Pretorius said while the situation was "difficult and complicated," the 
bottom line was, in terms of Cites, the Taiping Four should be returned to 
Cameroon and that the threat of extinction would be overcome if poaching 
was stamped out.

Sapa
-

Dr. Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman
International Primate Protection League
PO Box 766
Summerville, SC 29484, USA
Phone - 843-871-2280, Fax- 843-871-7988
E-mail - smcgreal at ippl.org, Web: www.ippl.org

"He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. 
He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord 
would suffice."
         --Albert Einstein