"Taiping Four" Gorillas to be Confiscated

November 2002

The Malaysian Minister of the Environment has decided that four gorillas being held by the Taiping Zoo will be confiscated from the zoo because the animals were shipped from Nigeria to Malaysia on falsified export documents.

Although many zoos would like to take these animals, IPPL believes that the Limbe Wildlife Center in Cameroon would be the best home for them. Limbe already has a wonderful group of gorillas and has proved that it knows how to care for apes. Further, there is little doubt that the gorillas were originally smuggled from Cameroon to Nigeria for onward shipment to Malaysia.

Background

In January 2002, four baby gorillas reached the Taiping Zoo, Malaysia, from Nigeria. In March 2002 IPPL received a tip-off about the presence of gorillas at the zoo and immediately started an investigation.

An IPPL investigator was sent to Taiping. She did not see the gorillas but a zoo-keeper confirmed that the animals were at the zoo, and were being held off-exhibit. This keeper claimed that a Taiping Zoo employee had been to Nigeria to accompany the gorillas to Malaysia, but that he had to return empty-handed as the young gorillas had not yet reached the Nigerian zoo.

A resident of Nigeria swung into action and managed to obtain copies of documents such as the Nigerian export permit and health certificates. These documents were published in the August 2002 issue of IPPL News and show 1) that the baby gorillas were declared to have been born in captivity at the Ibadan Zoo in Nigeria, and 2) that the gorillas belonged to a species not found in Nigeria, i.e., the Western Lowland gorilla. Only the Cross River gorilla, numbering around 300 in the wild, is found in Nigeria.

The Associated Press sent a Nigerian-based reporter to Ibadan Zoo. Keepers told him that many gorillas had been shipped through the zoo and that many had died. One keeper claimed that the gorillas reached Ibadan Zoo from Cameroon.

IPPL takes up gorillas' cause

It was obvious to IPPL that the gorillas had been "double-smuggled." First, they had been taken across the Cameroon-Nigeria border with no Cameroonian export permit, as required by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Second, they had been shipped from Nigeria to Malaysia on CITES "captive-born" documents, which were either forged or obtained from corrupt government officials.

IPPL immediately sent press releases to newspapers in Nigeria, Malaysia, and Cameroon, drawing attention to the shipment and calling for confiscation of the animals and punishment of any party found to have acted illegally. We also contacted wildlife magazines. BBC Wildlife ran an excellent article.

Information was posted on Internet lists such as Primfocus, Allo-Primate, and the Environmental News Network.

An Action Alert was mailed to all IPPL members around the world. The mailing included postcards addressed to government officials in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Malaysia. Thank you to all members who mailed letters or postcards.

Malaysian press announces that gorillas will leave Taiping

On 10 October 2002, reporter Hilary Chiew of the Malaysian newspaper The Star wrote:

Malaysia will surrender the four baby gorillas smuggled into the country in January by the Taiping Zoo through false declaration in official documents. Minister of Science, Technology and Environment Datuk Seri Law Hieng Ding told the Star that the primates, currently held by the zoo would be sent to a certified breeding facility recommended by the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. "We are very upset that this had happened. We were misled into believing that the transaction was above board. The issue has tarnished the country's image," he stated.

The Minister stated that the Penang animal dealing company involved in the shipment would be investigated and that the Taiping Zoo "would be warned."

The future of the gorillas

At the present time the future of the gorillas has not yet been decided. IPPL would prefer that they go to Limbe Wildlife Centre, preferably at the expense of the Malaysian state of Perak, since Taiping Zoo is operated by this state. However, it is likely that zoos around the world are going to be "standing in line" to get the "Taiping Four" since they are "high profile" animals, thanks for the most part to IPPL's work on the case.

CITES PRESS RELEASE

On 11 October 2002 the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species issued a press release extracted below.

The gorillas were imported into Malaysia from Nigeria by the Taiping Zoo on the basis of falsified documents...The CITES Secretariat took action after receiving information ... questioning whether the claim that the animals had been born in captivity was true...

It has been firmly established that the gorillas were traded illegally and in violation of the treaty.

The Secretariat will issue an alert to all national CITES management authorities as well as Interpol and the World Customs Organization to help enforcement officials better target such activities.