A Cameroonian delegation, representing three government ministries, will arrive in South Africa on Saturday to take home four of their gorillas residing at the Pretoria Zoo.
Week-long talks are scheduled to secure their repatriation.
The four young Western Lowland gorillas were illegally captured in Cameroon in 2002 and sent to the Taiping Zoo in Malaysia with forged documentation.
The gorillas were transferred to the National Zoological Gardens in Pretoria in 2004, after being confiscated by the Malaysian government.
However, Cameroon has repeatedly called for the return of their ”Taiping 4” in terms of the regulations of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).
The Cameroon delegation, representing the ministries of Forestry and Wildlife, Environment and Protection of Nature, and External Affairs, will meet with the South African Department of Environment and Tourism between Monday and Friday next week.
”Cameroon’s initiative is supported by a consortium of wildlife conservation and welfare organisations,” said spokesperson Christina Pretorius.
She said the Western Lowland gorilla was classified as endangered and it was estimated that as few as 110 000 animals remain in the wild in Central Africa. – Sapa