Early Christmas: IFAW set to return four gorillas to Cameroon
(Pretoria, South Africa – 29 November 2007) Last minute preparations are underway for the Taiping 4 Gorillas ahead of
their return to Cameroon in the early hours of Friday 30 November.
“The full repatriation team has gathered and is on standby. We will wave the four young gorillas – Tinu, Izan, Oyin and
Abbey - goodbye late on Thursday,” said a joint statement from the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (NZG of
SA) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW – www.ifaw.org).
The return will effectively mark the end of a five-year saga surrounding the four gorillas. The one male and three
female gorillas have made international headlines ever since they were found to have been smuggled to the Taiping Zoo in
Malaysia using forged documents in 2002. The gorillas were subsequently confiscated by the Malaysia government and sent
for safekeeping to the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, in Pretoria.
“Although the exact circumstances of how the Taiping 4 gorillas were originally captured as infants remain unclear, what
is clear is that trade in endangered species and violating the rules of the Convention on the International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES) is fast leading to the extinction of entire species,” said Christina Pretorius of IFAW,
Southern Africa.
“The IUCN Red List recently moved the status Western Lowland gorillas from endangered to critically endangered, largely
as a result of being hunted, killed and captured for commercial use.”
The gorillas are being sent to the Limbe Wildlife Centre sanctuary, and the NZG of South Africa will send two of its
primate keepers to assist in the settling in process in the Cameroon. Limbe staff have worked at the NZG of SA for the
past weeks to prepare the gorillas for departure.
“We don’t anticipate any hitches in the coming few days and our veterinary team of experts and gorilla keepers are
confident that our work will ensure a seamless return for the gorillas to Cameroon,” said Dr Clifford Nxomani, the
Executive Director of the NZG of SA.
The return of the gorillas marks a watershed moment for cooperation between the governments of South Africa, Cameroon
and Malaysia, the international NGO community represented by IFAW, and civil society, who have worked closely to resolve
the issue of the T4.
Kenya Airways is sponsoring the return of the gorillas and the animals will be traveling on a scheduled flight from
Johannesburg, via Nairobi and onto Douala in the Cameroon on Friday. The gorilla’s ground transport to the airport has
been kindly provided by Imperial Truck Hire.
ENDS