Two gorillas repatriated to Cameroon

Nigeria on Friday repatriated two gorillas recovered from animal smugglers to eastern neighbour Cameroon, where they will be returned to their natural habitat in the Limbe Wild Life Park. The two species of Western Lowland gorillas of central Africa's tropical high forests were estimated to have been brought to Nigeria about seven years ago by animal smugglers intent on taking them out of the country. Paul Raad, a Lebanese-born businessman who described himself as "an animal lover" said he bought the gorillas nicknamed Brighter and Twiggy shortly after, with the aim of returning them to the wild. In December last year their plight came to the attention of the Nigerian government, which subsequently speeded up the process to repatriate the primates with funding provided by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Ian Redmond, an official of UNEP's Great Apes Survival Project, who was at the Lagos airport to see off the primates, described the repatriation as an important precedent to break the smuggling chain. "There is a well-trodden path of smuggling of apes from Cameroon," he told IRIN. "The species are highly endangered and their numbers are declining year by year." Only 30,000 of the lowland gorillas are estimated to remain in Africa. In Nigeria, a specie known as the Cross River gorilla is thought to number under 200. Nigeria's outgoing Minister of State for Environment, Ime Okopido, said the government was seeking the assistance of UN primate experts to secure the remaining gorillas found in the country's remaining rainforests in the southeast. [ENDS]