South African press investigates Taiping Four gorilla case

[Guest guest]

> http://allafrica.com/stories/200206270682.html

>

> Blind Eye Turned to Gorilla Trade

>

> Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg)

> June 28, 2002

>

> Posted to the web June 27, 2002

>

> SA authorities didn't question the origins of four endangered primates en

> route to Malaysia

> International wildlife groups are investigating South Africa's role in the

> shipment of highly endangered gorillas to Malaysia by an

endangered-species

> smuggling ring known as " The Nigerian Connection " .

> Four young gorillas aged between 18 and 48 months passed through

> Johannesburg International airport earlier this year en route to a zoo

near

> Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. They were exported from Nigeria on

> documents claiming they were born in captivity at a new Nigerian zoo --but

> there are no recognised captive-breeding programmes for gorillas anywhere

> in Africa.

>

> Conservation groups believe they were captured illegally in the forests of

> Central Africa and smuggled via Nigeria to Malaysia. A keeper at the

> University of Ibadan Zoological Gardens near Lagos, which arranged the

> export documents, has admitted the young gorillas " came from the jungle in

> Cameroon " and spent seve-ral months at the zoo before flying to Malaysia.

> Collectors, poaching and the bush-meat trade are responsible for making

> Africa's great apes among the world's most threatened species. The gorilla

> subspecies found in Nigeria and Cameroon -- the western lowland gorilla --

> is particularly endangered, with an estimated 200 to 250 left.

>

> The Nigerian zookeeper confirmed to a reporter from Associated Press late

> last month that his zoo serves as a way station for captured wild

primates.

> " If anyone wants more gorillas, we can get them some more. But they are

> very expensive, " he said.

>

> Shirley McGreal, chairperson of the United States-based International

> Primate Protection League, says South African officials should have picked

> up that the deal was suspicious.

>

> " It is commonly known that baby gorillas are caught by mother-killing and

> are totally banned from trade. The animals should have been seized by

> Johannesburg's authorities. "

>

> McGreal says Nigeria has long been a pipeline for the smuggling of

> endangered wildlife out of Africa. She has a copy of a Nigerian dealer's

> price list offering four baby gorillas for $1,6-million, though she is not

> sure this was the same dealer involved in the Malaysian transaction.

>

> After being tipped off that four gorillas had appeared at the

> government-funded Taiping Zoo in January, McGreal's league alerted the

head

> of Malaysia's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

> (Cites) unit.

>

> Gorillas are listed on Appendix I of Cites, which bans trade for

commercial

> purposes and allows export only between recognised zoos if it is not

> detrimental to survival of the species in the wild.

>

> The Taiping Zoo maintains the gorillas are part of a legitimate

> animal-exchange programme with Nigeria, but outrage over the transaction

> has been mounting among global environmental watchdogs in the past months.

>

> The Nigerian Conservation Foundation and the World Association of Zoos and

> Aquariums are calling for the gorillas to be returned to a sanctuary in

> Africa, while the Cites secretariat in Switzerland has asked the Nigerian

> and Malaysian governments to " cooperate in an investigation " that may lead

> to the two countries being banned from any trade in endangered species.

>

> Officials at the South African Department of Agriculture and Land

Affairs's

> directorate of veterinary services import-export control say they approved

> the shipment after the Cites permits appeared to be in order.

>

> " We got involved because of the disease implications of the shipment, "

says

> the department's acting director, Willie Ungerer, " but we have nothing to

> do with the protection of endangered species. "

>

> Members of the local NGO Wildlife Action Group (WAG) say it appears

neither

> Cites officials nor the law-enforcement unit at Johannesburg International

> Airport was aware of the deal.

>

> " This case shows how weak our Cites enforcement is, " says WAG's Sherryn

> Thompson. " The moment veterinary services received

> the applications they should have notified Cites and the airport. Instead,

> they were totally ignorant of the significance of the deal. "

>

> The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, under which the Cites

> division falls, said this week it was unaware of the case. Spokesperson

> Phindile Makwakwa added the department encourages parties who know about

> such deals to report them.

>

> Superintendent Benedict Benson, head of the South African Police

Services's

> endangered species unit, said it will look into the case.

>

> McGreal criticises South African Airways for moving the gorillas after

> another airline refused to carry the shipment via Dubai. Officials did not

> even question why the permits were granted for five gorillas, while only

> four arrived. " The Nigerian export document was clearly suspect, but the

> gorillas sailed right through Johannesburg International. Our concern is

> that since this method of shipment of smuggled animals worked, it will be

> tried again. "

>

> She says that there is evidence of a fresh onslaught on Africa's great

apes

> in recent months, probably for illegal trafficking. After years of no

> poaching in Rwanda's national gorilla park, two nursing female gorillas

> were killed by poachers last month and one of their infants was stolen.

>

> Two chimpanzees being smuggled into Lagos for export were confiscated on

> the Cameroon border a few weeks ago. Last September a baby gorilla and a

> baby chimpanzee were intercepted on a flight from Nigeria to Cairo and

were

> drowned in a vat of chemicals by officials who believed they carried

> diseases -- effectively shutting down The Nigerian Connection's Egyptian

link.

>

> McGreal warns that a decline in Asian primates has put pressure on zoos to

> find African gorillas -- and increased the efforts of sophisticated

> Nigerian middlemen to market these rare species.

>

> Dr. Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman

> International Primate Protection League

> POB 766, Summerville SC 29484-0766, USA

> Ph. 843-871-2280 Fax. 843-871-7988

> E-mail: ippl. Website www.ippl.org

>

> " We need not think alike to love alike. " Francis David

>

>