Outrage over alleged plan to export rare animals from Congo to China
Fury among wildlife groups as leaked letter to Congolese minister suggests Chinese zoos want gorillas and other endangered species
Mountain gorillas and other endangered species from the Democratic Republic of the Congo are at risk of being taken from the wild and exported to Chinese zoos, conservation groups have alleged.
A leaked letter from the DRC’s environment minister to a Chinese company, apparently referring to a request for a number of rare species, has sparked outrage from wildlife charity Born Free and other organisations.
The correspondence, posted on Twitter by an environmental activist, refers to a request for a dozen mountain gorillas, 16 pygmy chimpanzees or “bonobos”, 16 chimpanzees, eight African manatees and 20 okapi. The animals, all of which belong t...