FWD: Government to stick to decision on relocating gorillas

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This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my)

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http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2003/8/25/nation/6084707 & sec=nation

 

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Monday August 25, 2003

Government to stick to decision on relocating gorillas

BY HILARY CHIEW

 

PETALING JAYA: The Government will stick to its decision to send the confiscated

gorillas to the South African zoo in Pretoria if it does not receive new

information advising otherwise from the Convention on International Trade in

Endangered Species (Cites) secretariat.

 

Science, Technology and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Law Hieng Ding said

that despite calls from certain quarters to have the animals sent to the Limbe

Sanctuary in Cameroon, the government was not convinced that the sanctuary was a

better option than a zoo.

 

& #147;Our prime concern is the welfare of the animals and we are trying to make

sure that they end up in a place where they will be given the proper care and

protection.

 

& #147;We are sceptical of the sanctuary & #146;s idea of returning the animals to

the wild, especially with the unresolved bush meat problem in countries like

Cameroon and Nigeria. These infants are likely to fall prey to poachers, & #148;

he said in an interview recently.

 

Law was responding to objections from the international primate conservation

circle that sending the animals to the zoo would perpetuate further trafficking

of baby gorillas which are linked to unscrupulous zoos and private collectors.

 

Conservationists also charged that the zoo was taking advantage of the

situation to replenish its aging gorilla & #146;s gene pool.

 

Dubbed the Taiping Four, the western lowland gorillas are believed to have been

poached from the Cameroon forests and smuggled through Nigeria and South Africa

using a forged Cites export permit to the Taiping Zoo in January 2002.

 

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