Smuggled gorillas cause poser
2005-04-07 23:01
Pretoria - Four gorillas smuggled to Malaysia in 2002 were at the centre of a debate in the zoological community on Thursday about where they rightly belonged.
The South African government was asked to return the four gorillas being housed at Pretoria Zoo to Cameroon by primate experts, while the zoo's head contested their claim to the animals.
Forty primate health, conservation and genetic experts from 16 countries issued a statement asking the South African government to return the four gorillas, nicknamed the "Taiping Four" to Cameroon.
Meeting in Limbe, Cameroon, at the Pan-African Sanctuaries Alliance (Pasa) 2005 veterinary healthcare workshop, the group said:
"We respectfully ask that the government of South Africa honours the request of the government of Cameroon for the return of the four gorillas that were smuggled out of West Africa in 2002.
Illegally taken to Malaysia
"The gorillas are an important part of Cameroon's natural heritage, and the Limbe Wildlife Centre, which has successfully cared for orphan gorillas since 1992, would be the ideal destination."
The gorillas were illegally taken to Taiping in Malaysia in 2002 before being diverted to the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria.
They were believed by some to have been captured in the jungles of Cameroon.
The Pretoria Zoo has held the gorillas since their arrival on April 14 last year.
"The arrangement when the gorillas arrived here in 2004 was that they were to stay at the zoo permanently.
"There was no arrangement to have them given to the Cameroonian authorities," said the executive director of the Pretoria Zoo, Willie Labuschagne.
Labuschagne said that although there had been speculation about their origin, there was no evidence the gorillas had originally come from Cameroon.
Malaysia decided on Pretoria Zoo
He said protocol dictated that when animals were confiscated in a certain country, in this case Malaysia, that country had the privilege and right to choose where the animals could be sent to live on a permanent basis.
"The Malaysian authorities accepted an offer from the Pretoria Zoo to house the gorillas and have them stay here permanently," he said.
Labuschagne said the four gorillas were estimated from their sizes to be between four and six years old.
The environmental affairs and tourism department could not be reached for comment.
- SAPA