Gorilla warfare

Today I was pleased to read that four gorillas who have been at the centre of a five year international dispute will be returned to their native Cameroon, from Pretoria Zoo in South Africa. 

It is understood that the gorillas were captured as infants, as part of the bushmeat trade.  Whilst adult gorillas are often killed for their meat, the infants are then sold.  The infants were illegally smuggled to Taiping Zoo in Malaysia, via South Africa in 2002, where they gained the name the 'Taiping Four.'

 

Once the Malaysian government discovered the gorillas had been shipped into the country illegally they were sent back to South Africa and have been kept at Pretoria Zoo since 2004.

 

The South African government's decision to return the four gorillas to Cameroon has been the result of a long campaign by animal welfare activists.  The gorillas are due to be returned on 28^th November and will be sent to Cameroon's Limbe Wildlife Center Sanctuary.

 

Experts believe that there are fewer than 100,000 gorillas remaining in the wild in West Africa and the bushmeat trade is threatening gorillas in Cameroon in particular.

 

Ruth Timson

Press Officer and Secretary