"Taiping 4" Gorillas to Finally Head Home

In early December 2006, the generosity of IFAW’s donors will enable the so-called "Taiping 4" gorillas to be boarded onto an aeroplane in South Africa to be flown back to their native Cameroon in West Africa.

The gorillas are the innocent victims of the lucrative wildlife trade that endangers some of the world’s most rare species, and the saga of the "Taiping 4" (as they have come to be known) has been a political embarrassment for all countries involved.

Snatched from their mothers under circumstances we can only guess, the gorillas were smuggled from the forests of the Cameroon and taken to a zoo in neighbouring Nigeria. From there they became pawns in the murky world of the illegal trade in endangered species. As wild-caught animals they could not be traded legally, so they quickly became “captive bred” with the documentation to boot and offered to a zoo in Malaysia.

But the sudden arrival of four young gorillas on the international zoo scene was bound to raise suspicion, and it didn’t take long for animal welfare investigators to uncover and make public the illegality of their capture and export.

Caught in the act

Heads rolled. The curator and other officials of the Nigerian zoo involved were fired, and the Malaysian Government confiscated the gorillas. Despite joint appeals from both the Cameroon and Nigerian governments to have the gorillas returned to Cameroon, a decision was taken by Malaysia with the approval of the Secretariat of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to move the gorillas to Pretoria in South Africa.

This was despite the terms of CITES regulations which clearly state that, wherever possible, confiscated animals are to be returned to their native land.

And it is in the National Zoological Gardens (NZG) in Pretoria where the four youngsters – three females Izan, Abbey and Tinu, and one male Oyin, all aged between about five and eight years – have found themselves since April 2004.

The Government of Cameroon has continued to call for the return of its gorillas since then, and IFAW and a consortium of wildlife conservation and welfare organisations including the Born Free Foundation, the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), the International Primates Protection League (IPPL) and the Last Great Ape Organisation (LAGA) have campaigned in support of Cameroon’s right to the return of its natural heritage.

Finally, after two separate DNA tests have proven the country of origin of the gorillas to be Cameroon, the four youngsters are set to go home. In July 2006 the Government of Malaysia (which retained practical “ownership” of the gorillas while they were in Pretoria) asked the zoo to return the gorillas to Cameroon.

The "Taiping 4" will leave South Africa in early December 2006 for the Limbe Wildlife Centre sanctuary in Cameroon. The gorillas will first be quarantined before eventually being introduced into Limbe’s resident gorilla group.

“IFAW is delighted by this turn of events and looks forward to a happy outcome to the saga of Izan, Abbey, Tinu and Oyin who have captured the imaginations of animal lovers worldwide for nearly three years,” said IFAW’s Christina Pretorius.

“The return of the "Taiping 4" sends a strong message that raises awareness of the scourge of the illegal trade in wildlife. It also sends a message that the regulations of CITES must be observed and adhered to.”

Note: Gorillas are highly endangered and could be extinct in the wild within 50 years, according to experts.