Orphaned gorillas adjust to SA
2004-04-19 20:14
Johannesburg - 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."
- AP