This is the moment an endangered baby gorilla was prevented from traveling out of Turkey, likely to never return back to its native lands. The seizure occurred in Istanbul, but the smuggling operation began in Nigeria. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
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00:00This video was recently captured by customs agents in Turkey, and this is the moment an
00:04endangered baby gorilla was prevented from traveling out of the country, likely to never
00:08return back to its native lands. The seizure occurred in Istanbul, but the smuggling operation
00:13may have begun in Nigeria. The crate was being smuggled to Thailand. However, customs enforcement
00:19teams from the Ministry of Trade were able to intercept and prevent its export. According to
00:23a statement from the team, they were tipped off to a cage-like item in a cargo shipment,
00:27so they got to work tracking and intercepting it, eventually finding the crate and the endangered
00:31baby gorilla inside. They say it is a Western Gorilla, a critically endangered species.
00:37Western Gorillas are listed specifically in the Convention of International Trade and
00:41Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. That convention and associated document aims to ensure
00:46the limit of trade in endangered species, so as to not further contribute to their decline.
00:51The baby gorilla has since been handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
00:56for rehabilitation.