The 'Taiping Four' Gorilla Deal: IPPL Exposes the Sordid Details

August 2002

IPPL has now obtained crucial documents pertaining to the shipment of four infant gorillas from Nigeria to Malaysia in January 2002. A preliminary report on the shipment appeared in the April 2002 issue of IPPL News.

IPPL was tipped off about the presence of four young gorillas at Taiping Zoo in March 2002 and immediately initiated an investigation into the circumstances of the shipment because gorillas are an endangered species.

IPPL's first enquiry went to the Malaysian Wildlife Department, which confirmed that it had issued an import permit for gorillas to Taiping Zoo. The official stated that the department was now concerned about the circumstances of the shipment and had withdrawn permission to the zoo to import two more gorillas pending further investigation.

Two gorilla sub-species

Investigating the "Taiping Four" shipment is complicated because there are two gorilla sub-species in Nigeria and its neighbor nation, Cameroon.

The Cross River gorilla (scientific name Gorilla gorilla diehli) lives only in Nigeria and a small area in Western Cameroon. The entire world population numbers only around 300.

The Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) is not found in Nigeria at all. It is found in Nigeria’s neighbor Cameroon. Yet this is the gorilla species specified in the Nigerian health certificates issued by the Professor M. O. Akusu, director of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at the University of Ibadan, and in correspondence to the firm NigerCom Solutions (apparently an animal dealer) from Kevin Lazarus, director of Taiping Zoo.

No gorilla of either species has ever been bred in captivity in Nigeria.

Click on images for larger views

Note how the Taiping Zoo director describes the gorillas as Gorilla gorilla gorilla, a species not found in Nigeria.

Malaysian High Commission facilitates the dubious gorilla deal.

If the animals were indeed Gorilla gorilla gorilla, they would probably have been smuggled from Cameroon into Nigeria prior to their eventual export. Regardless of the species involved, the gorilla shipment would have been extremely harmful to gorilla survival in the wild.

International press coverage

IPPL worked hard with colleagues in Nigeria, Malaysia, and South Africa to interest reporters in covering the gorilla shipment. Both the Associated Press and Agence France Presse have reporters assigned to cover Nigeria. IPPL worked with both agencies’ reporters. Since April, the "Taiping Four" situation has received worldwide press coverage.

A Malaysian reporter identified Ibadan Zoo, Oyo State, Nigeria, as the zoo from which the gorillas originated. AP reporter Glenn McKenzie and a Nigerian conservationist visited the zoo, and talked with zoo keepers. The zoo director would not talk with them.

Writing on 1 June 2002, McKenzie reported:
Malaysia’s government-funded Taiping Zoo denies any impropriety, saying the apes were bred in captivity in Nigeria and therefore liable to trade under world wildlife protection accords.

Workers at a Nigerian zoo…told the Associated Press this week that the four infant gorillas passed through their zoo after being caught wild in the forests of Cameroon.

Conservationists also independently challenge the Malaysia zoo’s account of the four apes’ origins – arguing, in part, that there are no known breeding programs for gorillas anywhere in Africa from which the animals could have been taken.

Mahtari Aminu-Kano, executive director of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, told McKenzie:
This is clearly a case of smuggling…the only real question is who is responsible.

McKenzie tried to get information from Taiping Zoo, but could get no official comment. He wrote:
Authorities at the Taiping Zoo, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur, have refused repeated requests for on-the-record comment about the animals’ origins. Speaking only on condition they not be identified, Taiping Zoo officials say they received the infant gorillas as part of a trade with a Nigerian zoo. They have repeatedly refused to identify the Nigerian zoo.

McKenzie was able to obtain copies of the Nigerian export documents, which listed the gorillas as having been bred at Nigeria’s University of Ibadan Zoological Gardens. However, he learned from the zoo that it had no breeding program for gorillas, and that the only gorilla currently at the zoo was a 37-year-old female long past breeding age.

Sire of four baby gorillas from Ibadan Zoo!??

The web site for Oyo State, where Ibadan is located, shows a gruesome picture of the zoo’s long-dead male gorilla, sitting embalmed at a table. www.oyostategov.com/tourism/zoo.htm

McKenzie interviewed Ibadan zoo keeper Olalekan Akanji, who reportedly said:
[The] four gorillas "came from the jungle in Cameroon" and spent several months at the zoo before flying to Malaysia in January. Akanji said he bottle-fed the young apes milk and sugar water, and even taught one to ride a tricycle. "If anyone else wants more gorillas, we can get some more," Akanji volunteered in front of several primate cages. "But they are very expensive."

McKenzie asked if the zoo had ever held other baby gorillas intended for trade. Akanji responded:
Yes, there have been many. But a lot of them died.

Another Ibadan Zoo employee, guide Friday Ndubisi Onwuka, also said the four gorillas came from "the forest" and spent time in Ibadan before flying to Malaysia.

McKenzie contacted Shirley McGreal of IPPL:
"They could not legitimately have been captive-bred," said Shirley McGreal, chairwoman of the Summerville, South Carolina-based International Primate Protection League. "Allowing the Malaysian zoo to keep the gorillas would set a disturbing precedent and touch off a flood of similar shipments further threatening the already endangered primates."

McKenzie’s article exposed to the world the disgraceful behavior of the Ibadan Zoo. It was carried in newspapers in many countries.

On getting confirmation that the Ibadan Zoo was procuring baby gorillas for export, IPPL sent a letter of protest to the zoo’s director, Dr. D. O. Akinboye, requesting that she provide information about how the zoo is procuring the gorillas it exports. It is obvious, from the zoo keepers’ comments, that the zoo has previously exported gorillas.

Press coverage in Nigeria

On May 20, 2002 Chinedu Uwaegbulam of the Nigerian newspaper The Guardian wrote a story about the gorilla deal. The story was written before IPPL obtained documents revealing details of the deal. Chinedu noted comments by Taiping Zoo director Kevin Lazarus that the zoo planned to help in captive breeding of gorillas and that, "There should be a good stable group of gorillas in South East Asia as there is none at the moment."

When the Nigerian press obtained documents pertaining to the shipment, there was a great deal of publicity in Nigeria. John Odey Aduma wrote articles about the shipment for 2 and 10 June issues of the Daily Times. Mr. Aduma reproduced in this two-part series all the crucial case documents and identified "all the conspirators in the deal."

On 10 June he concluded:
As I cried out on May 20, 2002, that cry is being re-echoed and the Federal Government must act fast to bring all the culprits to book. I have taken the pain to list all the conspirators in the gorilla fraud, so that nothing can be swept under the carpet in the course of investigation. There shouldn’t be any hiding place for all the conspirators. It is quite appalling that the Ministry of Environment charged with the responsibility of protecting the nation’s wildlife is the one aiding and abetting this crime in flagrant disregard for Decree No. 11 of 1985 and the CITES law in which Nigeria is a signatory.

The Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, the International Primate Protection League, the United Nations Environment Program, and all conscientious humanity should rise up with one voice and condemn this heinous crime forthwith.

Meanwhile the Federal Government should write a protest letter to the Malaysian Government condemning this illegality and ask for the return of the primates.

Yesterday Malaysia took our palm kernels and today we are importing oil from there. They have returned today to take away our gorillas and tomorrow we shall be importing gorillas from them.

On 3 July, the Daily Trust, a newspaper published in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, covered a press conference addressed by Nigeria’s Minister of the Environment, Alhaji Muhammadu Kabir Said. The Minister promised a review of wildlife regulations and improved law enforcement aimed at "bringing the culprits to book."

According to the article:
Alhaji Said said this move came in the wake of a series of letters to the Minister from various conservationists and environmentalists [emphasis added - note that most of these letters came from IPPL members] as well as from the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Switzerland over fraudulent activities of some unpatriotic Nigerians and their foreign collaborators who forge travel documents to perpetrate their heinous actions which involve cruel and ill-treatment of animals.

The Minister referred to the drowning of a baby gorilla and chimpanzee at Cairo Airport and the export of four gorillas to Taiping Zoo.

Click on images for larger views

Health certificate for Alice, described as Gorilla gorilla gorilla, a species not found in Nigeria, issued by the director of a veterinary teaching hospital.

CITES export permit for five gorillas, three chimpanzees and six duikers. Four gorillas were shipped. IPPL does not know if the chimpanzees were also shipped or what became of the fifth gorilla.

Press coverage in Malaysia

The Malaysian press has paid very little attention to the story of the four gorillas. The gorillas are kept off-exhibit and are not shown to the press.

Writing in the newspaper Malaysiakini, Kevin Tan quoted Taiping Zoo director Kevin Lazarus as saying that the transfer of the gorillas was "part of an exchange program and not a trade" and that, "we have all the proper documentation."

However, Lazarus refused to provide Tan with copies of any of the documents. Lazarus did state that Taiping Zoo planned to send sun bears, Malaysian tigers, and other animals to Ibadan Zoo. IPPL is appalled that Taiping Zoo would send any wildlife to a zoo that teaches baby gorillas to ride tricycles.

The Malaysian environmental group Sahabat Alam Malaysia has an ongoing investigation into the transaction. The group sent enquiries to Malaysia’s Minister of Science, Technology and Environment; the Nigerian Minister of Environment; and the Nigerian High Commissioner to Malaysia.

South African press

South African Airways carried the gorillas from Lagos, Nigeria, to Johannesburg, South Africa, and on to Bangkok, Thailand, where the shipment was transferred to a joint Thai Airways/Malaysian Airways flight to Penang, Malaysia. The original plan has been to ship the animals via Dubai, probably on Egyptair, but Egypt had been the subject of international protest over the September 2001 drownings of a baby gorilla and chimpanzee at Cairo Airport and may have refused the shipment.

Fiona McLeod of the Johannesburg Mail and Guardian discussed South Africa’s role in the shipment in an article dated 28 June 2002. The headline was "Blind Eye Turned to Gorilla Trade." McLeod noted that the South African Veterinary Services import-export division gave an import-export document covering the shipment.

The article quoted Sherryn Thompson of the Wildlife Action Group (WAG), who commented that it appeared neither CITES officials nor the law enforcement unit at Johannesburg International Airport was aware of the deal. WAG commented:
This case shows how weak our CITES enforcement is. 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.

South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, which handles CITES matters, told McLeod that it had never heard of the case. Superintendent Benedict Benson, head of the South African police’s endangered species unit, said it would investigate the case.

Click on images for larger views

South African veterinary permit for import-export of 5 gorillas

NigerCom Solutions letter raises questions about the financial aspects of the gorilla deal.

World Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums

The World Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums (WAZA) reacted to the shipment by suspending Taiping Zoo’s application for membership. In a press release dated 2 June 2002, WAZA President Alex Rubel stated that, while export and import documents existed, any claims that the gorillas were captive-bred are clearly false as no gorillas had been born at Ibadan Zoo.

WAZA stated:
Members of the World Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums (WAZA) have agreed to a strict Code of Ethics which guarantees the highest standard of care for the animals in their trust and to animals in general. The Code requests also that zoos acquiring animals be confident that such acquisitions will not be in violation of national or international law and will not have a deleterious effect upon the wild population. In case of doubt about the validity of a certificate issued under CITES, zoos should use all sources of information to ensure that all regulations have been respected.

Cooperative gorilla breeding programs are operated at a regional level by associations belonging to the WAZA network. They have a growing population of gorillas and enough founding members to insure a genetically healthy population in the foreseeable future. The coordinators of these programs were not consulted by Taiping Zoo when they decided to acquire the animals from Nigeria.

Those associations and zoological institutions which do not adhere to a strict code of ethics and to international law have no place in our organisation or in the professional zoo community.

The South East Asian Zoos Association

The South East Asian Zoos Association (SEAZA) has as members many of the area’s larger zoos. It maintains a web site at http://www.seaza.org.

The SEAZA site has an "Animal Exchange" section. As of 2 July 2002, the Taiping Zoo still listed "2.2 Western lowland gorilla (G. g. gorilla) any number" in the category "Wanted - Mammals" (the original listing was in 2001).

SEAZA held its annual conference in Singapore from 23-27 June 2002. The director of Taiping Zoo left the meeting before the session of the Ethics Committee. The gorilla case was discussed. SEAZA decided to accept any recommendation made by the CITES Secretariat regarding the gorillas’ future.

CITES Secretariat

The CITES Secretariat is headquartered in Switzerland. Its Legislation and Compliance Unit has asked the governments of Malaysia and Nigeria to provide information about the shipment. IPPL has provided the Secretariat with all documents in IPPL’s possession. The Secretariat investigation is not yet complete.

Difficult decisions

Without DNA testing that would identify the species to which each of the four gorillas belong, it will be difficult for the CITES Secretariat to make recommendations regarding the gorillas’ future.

Obviously it is undesirable that the gorillas remain at the Taiping Zoo, especially under its present management. Nobody associated with the zoo has publicly expressed any remorse for placing an order for "captive-born" animals without verifying whether the claims of captive birth were true, thus probably causing the deaths of the young gorillas’ mothers in the forests of Africa.

Even though there are good wildlife sanctuaries in Nigeria, it is unlikely that the gorillas now in Malaysia belong to the Cross River species found in Nigeria.

It is most likely that the animals were removed from the wild in Cameroon (the Ibadan zoo keepers would have no motive to have lied about the origin of the animals). There are sanctuaries in Cameroon that could accept the gorillas if provided with funds for their lifetime care in as natural a setting as possible.

IPPL believes that the Malaysian state of Perak, which operates Taiping Zoo, should provide funds for the rehabilitation of the gorillas.

IPPL in action!

IPPL has sent letters to many government officials in Nigeria and Malaysia. Hundreds of members and friends have contacted Nigerian and Malaysian officials based on a request for letters in the April 2002 issue of IPPL News and a separate mailing about the shipment sent to US members. IPPL friends in several countries have worked hard to obtain important documents and make on-the-spot investigations.

Click on image for larger view

First part of John Odey Aduma's outspoken articles denouncing the gorilla shipment.

Letters Needed to Help End Gorilla Trafficking Please send a letter to the Nigerian Embassy or High Commission in the capital city of your country of origin. Express your concern over the export of young wild-caught gorillas from Nigeria to Malaysia on export documents falsely stating that the animals were born in captivity at Ibadan Zoo. Request that the Embassy inform relevant law enforcement authorities in Nigeria about the shipment so that Ibadan Zoo and the officials behind issuance of the fraudulent export permits be investigated and punished. It is important also to request a response to your letter! His Excellency the Ambassador Federal Republic of Nigeria 1333 16th Street NW Washington DC 20036, USA Fax: 202-986-8449 The High Commissioner for Nigeria Nigeria House, 9 Northumberland Avenue London WC2N 5BX, United Kingdom Fax: 020-78839-8746 The High Commissioner for Nigeria 295 Metcalfe Street Ottawa Ontario K2P 1R9, Canada Fax: 613-236-0529 Please send a letter to the Embassy of Malaysia (embassies are called High Commissions in Commonwealth countries), expressing your concern that Malaysia issued a permit allowing the import of four purportedly captive-born gorillas from Nigeria by Taiping Zoo in January 2002, when it would have been easy for the government, the zoo, and its supplier to verify that the claims of captive birth were false. Request that Malaysia investigate carefully before issuing import permits for wildlife protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to which Malaysia belongs and that action be taken against anyone found to have acted improperly in connection with the gorilla deal. His Excellency the Ambassador of Malaysia 2401 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington DC 20038, USA Fax: 202-483-7661 The High Commissioner for Malaysia 45 Belgrave Square London SW1X 8QT, United Kingdom Fax: 020-7235-5161 The High Commissioner for Malaysia 60 Boteler Street Ottawa Ontario K1N 8Y7, Canada Fax: 613-241-5214 Please send a protest letter to the President of South African Airways expressing your concern at the airline having carried four gorillas from Nigeria via South Africa to Bangkok for onward shipment to Malaysia in January 2002. Request an investigation of how the animals were accepted as cargo. Note that gorillas from Nigeria are fully protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, of which South Africa is a member. Request also that South African Airways stop carrying any wildlife from Nigeria. Andre Viljoen, President, South African Airways Airways Patk Building, Jones Road Johannesburg International Airport Johannesburg, South Africa