An animal rights group on Tuesday accused South Africa of breaching international conventions by sheltering four young gorillas in a Pretoria zoo.
Christina Pretorius, spokesperson 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 has called for the South African government to respect the Convention on Trade in International Species (Cites), which says: ”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 cooperation, South Africa should respect the conventions it helped put in place to safeguard endangered species.”
Bell-Leask said Cameroon is 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 are saying the gorillas — who are between the ages of three and four years — should be sent to the Limbe gorilla orphanage in Cameroon.
However, he pointed out it is not certain that they originated in Cameroon in the first place and that Limbe does not have a breeding programme while Pretoria Zoo is part of an international gorilla breeding scheme.
He warned that gorillas face extinction.
”Projections suggest the last gorilla [in the wild] will be killed in the next 10 years.”
Pretorius said while the situation is ”difficult and complicated”, the bottom line is, in terms of Cites, the Taiping Four should be returned to Cameroon and that the threat of extinction can be overcome if poaching is stamped out. — Sapa